News, Views, and Analysis Governments,
Lobbies, and the Corporate Media Don't Want You To Know
MER
| MER World | Forum | MER-TV | Search • MER@MiddleEast.Org •
(202) 362-5266 • 28 Oct 2003
To
receive MER regularly and free click here
Exclusive Insights, Information, and Analysis
available nowhere else
TARGET IRAN
It's a semi-secret joint US-Israel
Operation
US
MISSILES TARGETED AGAINST IRAN BY ISRAEL
US Harpoon missiles armed with nuclear warheads are now aimed by
Israeli’s fleet of Dolphin-class submarines against Iran’s nuclear
facilities. Following
September’s exclusive report in American Free Press
about Israel’s submarine nuclear attack capability, over 100 Harpoon
cruise missiles have been secretly flown to the remote island of Diego
Garcia, a joint UK-US base in the Indian Ocean.
The
three Israeli submarines which arrived at the base early this
month were each loaded with 24 Harpoon missiles. They then set sail for the Gulf
of Oman – bringing Iran’s nuclear
facilities all within range of their submarines’ multi-payloads.
The
decision to launch them is entirely in the hands of Israel’s
prime minister, Ariel Sharon. Just as he gave Washington only a short
warning he was going to attack an alleged terrorist camp deep inside
Syria, Sharon has made it clear to Washington that the same rule of
engagement will apply if it comes to launching the Harpoon missiles.
Sharon made his position clear in a telephone call to President
Bush the day after the attack on Syria. According to one Israeli source, Bush
said he “just wanted to be
kept informed”.
Credible intelligence sources say the reality is that Sharon
believes he would have the support of Bush if he did launch an attack.
But an indication of
the deepening concern that some members of
the Bush Administration now feel, is that national security advisor
Condoleezza Rice last weekend allowed one of her senior aides to
confirm our September report to the Los Angeles Times and London’s
Guardian newspaper.
Both drew heavily on the original American Free Press story. The
senior Pentagon and State department sources for our first story, about
Israel’s Dolphin class submarines, have told us exclusively that, in
the words of one high-level Pentagon source, “matters have now advanced
considerably and for the first time Rice is sounding alarm bells in the
Oval Office”.
Rice’s
decision to leak is also the first clear indication of her
concerns over Israel – as well as her own direct challenge to the
authority of Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld.
She is
now engaged in an internal power struggle with Rumsfeld –
and has chosen to use what she sees as his failure in the Middle East
to harness Sharon’s behaviour as her launch pad to have the Secretary
of State ousted.
“Rice has a long-term strategy to become Secretary of State.
While Rumsfeld is no supporter of Powell, he knows that having Rice in
charge of State would give her more power than she even has now. And
there is also the ultimate ambition for Condi, to be Bush’s running
mate, if not in this election, then in the one afterwards. Her own
inner circle say that she would relish a face-off with Hillary Clinton
in 2008. If Condi became vice-President, then she is but a step away
from becoming the first Black woman in the White House. That is what is
driving her,” said a senior Washington analyst.
Meantime, Rice’s concerns have deepened following Sharon’s stark
warning last Sunday that “states harbouring terrorists are legitimate
targets”. Aides
in Tel Aviv have confirmed to American Free Press that
“Iran and Syria are top of that list – with Iran in the top spot”. The revelation comes at a time of
rapidly escalating tensions in
the region.
Israel’s
senior Foreign Ministry spokesman, Gideon Meir, insisted
“any country that harbours a threat to Israel is a legitimate target
for us out of self-defence”.
Today, American Free Press can reveal, again for the first time,
that a team of US computer specialists flew to Diego Garcia to fit the
latest version of the software known as “over the horizon”. This would
allow a Harpoon missile to hit any of Iran’s nuclear establishments
with pin-point accuracy.
Originally developed by Inslaw, the Washington based specialist
computer software company, the “over the horizon” capability has been
enhanced to handle the sophisticated electronics of the Harpoon
missiles. In the
meantime, Sharon has ordered Mossad to put together a specialist
team to prepare. by Gordon
Thomas - 27 October 2003
P.S. MER exclusively reported nearly
three years ago now that the
Israelis had received new conventionally-powered submarines, made and financed in Germany
in fact, which they were planning to fit
with nuclear-tipped missiles despite earlier assurances given the Germans they would not do
so; and that Israel also has an extensive super-secret
biological and chemical weapons program.
|
|
|
|
MER - IF you
don't get it, you just don't
get IT!
To receive MER
free
and easy
email MERList@MiddleEast.Org
with subject SUBSCRIBE
Comment on
this
article and
other MER Articles in the MER
FORUM
|