Iraq ready to attack Israel: intelligence reports

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Iraq ready to attack Israel: intelligence reports

Source: AFP|Published: Wednesday October 17, 8:51 AM

JERUSALEM - Iraq will strike Israel if the United States threatens Saddam Hussein, head of Israeli intelligence General Amos Malkha said today.

The Iraqi president "will attack Israel if he feels the United States is threatening his control of Iraq", Malkha told the parliamentary foreign and defence committee, Israeli television reported.

The statement follows growing Israeli expectations of a US attack on the Arab country, but Washington has promised to warn Israel before any such action.

The United States plans to expand its war on terror beyond Afghanistan and is closely monitoring Iraq, US National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice said today.

The United States was "worried" by Saddam's attempts to reconstitute his mass destruction weapons capability, Rice said in an interview with Qatar's Al-Jazeera television.

"There is no doubt that Iraq is in the sights of the United States and sooner or later the Americans will take this country on, but for the moment we are in the dark and we have to wait," Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Dalia Rabin-Pelossof said last week.

Washington has warned Iraq not to exploit the crisis over Afghanistan and threaten its neighbours or ethnic minorities with weapons of mass destruction.

Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer also said last week the country was ready should the United States broaden its attacks against the perpetrators of the September 11 terror strikes to include Iraq.

"We do not take any risks and we have taken into account the possibility that the war will spread to Iraq, and this time we are well prepared because we have drawn all the right conclusions," Ben Eliezer said.

He was referring to the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait when Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles at Israeli territory, killing two and leaving dozens injured as hundreds of houses were damaged in the Tel Aviv region.

Under intense pressure from the United States, which led a coalition including Arab states in evicting Iraqi occupation forces from Kuwait, Israel refrained from retaliating to the strikes.

http://www.smh.com.au/breaking/2001/10/17/FFXB2JY0WSC.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 17, 2001

Answers

I'm getting dizzy trying to stay up with all these crazy, mixed up warring factions in the Middle East, and our trying to be 'diplomatic' with all of them.

I strongly favor plowing ahead with Bush's initial reacton to Sept. 11, either you're with us, or you're with the terrorists, and proceed accordingly. This vastly simplifies everything and boils it down to basic right or wrong.

-- Dell Whitworth (dwhitworth@cyberview.com), October 17, 2001.


I believe this was posted here,

I don't have the URL..just my "copy".

JB

========================== Times of London

Israel 'will hit back' if attacked by Saddam

FROM CHRISTOPHER WALKER IN JERUSALEM

FEAR of a new Middle East war front arose yesterday with the disclosure that Israel has made clear to the US that it retains the right to self-defence and will take “all actions to defend itself” if attacked.

The warning, delivered by Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, to Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, referred particularly to any action by Iraq after strong hints from Washington that President Saddam Hussein could be next in line for strikes from allied air power.

Senior members of the Bush Administration are understood to share the view of Tel Aviv’s top military planners that Israel has good reason to fear that if the campaign widens to take in Iraq, the Iraqis will attack Israel in direct retaliation. During the Gulf War the Iraqis aimed 39 Scud missiles at the Jewish state and throughout raised the prospect that any one of the missiles could be tipped with biological or chemical weapons.

Although it has never been confirmed publicly, senior Western intelligence sources say that Israel made clear to Iraq through a third party at the time of the Gulf War that any biological or chemical attack on Israel would result in a tactical nuclear response.

Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, the Defence Minister, said that Israel has taken into account the possible extension of the current war to Iraq and added: “This time, we are much better prepared. The citizens of Israel can feel calm.”

In addition to a new conflict involving Iraq in which Israel is unlikely to show such restraint and stay on the sidelines as it did in 1991, Mr Ben-Eliezer also raised the prospect that Osama bin Laden’s terror network, al-Qaeda, may launch large-scale attacks against Israel in retaliation for the campaign against him.

He said that Israeli targets and Jewish institutions at home and abroad could become possible targets for bin Laden.

“We are readying ourselves accordingly,” he added, in a remark that aides later said placed all Israeli and Jewish institutions abroad on a special alert.

There was also a chance that Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, would try to increase tensions along Israel’s northern border, Mr Ben- Eliezer said.

Senior sources in the Defence Ministry emphasised that Israel expected an early warning if the US were to decide to attack a country in the vicinity, with Iraq seen as the most likely target.

The sources said that President Bush had told Mr Sharon of the intended attack on Afghanistan about an hour in advance, noting that such limited notice would be insufficient for Israel to prepare itself if the US were to launch an attack on a Middle Eastern country.

The Israelis would hope for four to five hours’ notice of an impending attack on Iraq, which officials in Israel’s Foreign and Defence Ministries believe would be time to prepare for possible action.

The officials believe that the latest anthrax scare in the US has increased the chances of action against Iraq, where a long-term programme to use the disease as a weapon was once revealed.

[snip non-applicable info]

-- Jackson Brown (Jackson_Brown@deja.com), October 17, 2001.


We're really getting enmeshed in a fruitcake of mixed emotions in the Middle East. I'm afraid the whole region can quickly become inflamed in warfare, which would put us in a highly vulnerable position due to our dependence on Med-East oil.

-- Art Esman (artesman@wetwo.com), October 17, 2001.

Shucks, we got enough oil in Texas alone to take care of our needs if only the environmentalists would leave us alone and let us go after it.

-- Buck (bigbuck@trailways.net), October 17, 2001.

Only logical alignment I can see is the civilized world against the barbarians. Unfortunately, it is seeming more and more that Saudi Arabia, through its strident muslimism copupled with corruption, is lining up on the side of the barbarians. This is most ungood for the balance of world oil supplies.

Looks like Isreal is going to be caught in the middle. That means nuke retaliation, and, who knows what will happen after that.

-- Billiver (billiver@aol.com), October 17, 2001.



I'm glad I still have a lot of my y2k supplies.

-- LillyLP (lillyLP@ail.com), October 17, 2001.

I'm getting pretty sick of this obvious Isreali war-mongering.

Wonder who's really behind these anthrax attacks.

-- clivus (clivus@attglobal.net), October 17, 2001.


clivus,

The proper spelling of the Hebrew nation - Israel.

-- Phil Maley (maley@cnw.com), October 17, 2001.


If one looks carefully, you will see that the one constant with "progressives" is their anti-Semitism.

(actually with a great many, you don't have to look hard at all, the anti-Semitism overwhelms you).

JB

-- Jackson Brown (Jackson_Brown@deja.com), October 17, 2001.


I believe the Arabs are also Semitic.

-- David Williams (DAVIDWILL@prodigy.net), October 18, 2001.


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