IS ISRAEL IN OUR SIGHTS?

The author of the first article from Asia News makes the argument that there is a connection between the sudden outburst of coverage about the Catholic abuse scandal along with all of the attention suddenly being placed on the Pope, and the coming war in Iran. He believes that the media, particularly The New York Times, is helping to bury the story about Iran by pumping the story about the Church.

On the surface this seems far fetched but then when I think about the way the media in America has worked hand in hand with this administration on every other issue, like health care, why wouldn't they help in the run up to war?

The Obama administration has gone out of its way to isolate Israel over the last few weeks. Why? Is the hope that Israel will feel that it has no choice but to act on its own and thus attack Iran? And if it does, who do we side with? Would we use this as an excuse to attack our longtime ally in an attempt to ingratiate ourselves with the Muslim world?

With the current administration, nothing, no matter how crazy, is off the table.

"...The fact that that the Times applies a double standard is not a problem since few people view the paper as a good authority anymore. British hypocrisy over its own dirty secrets is also unimportant because it is expected. What is more worrisome is the fact that on the day Laurie Goodstein’s article was published, Reuters ran a story out of Jerusalem, reprinted on 26 March 2010 by the Washington Post,5 a story that eventually disappeared from the “independent” Anglo-American press and that of almost all of the rest of the world, namely the possibility that Israel might use tactical nuclear weapons in a preventive attack against Iran.

This is linked to other news that appeared two weeks earlier, which also disappeared from the “independent” press, namely that US President Obama had special “bunker-buster” bombs, originally destined for Israel, diverted to the US base in Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean, for possible use in an attack on Iran.6 Located about a thousand miles south of India, between Mauritius and the Persian Gulf, the island is ideally placed to launch an air strike against Iran. According to an expert, US bombers are already capable of hitting 10,000 objectives in Iran in just a few hours, and totally destroy the country.7 Once the weapons are deployed (presumably in one or two months), the disposition for attack will be in place and a military operation could be ordered at any time. In other words, the United States wants to have all options available, whilst Israel wants to press the accelerator and threatens to use tactical nuclear weapons if the US decides not to do what Israel wants.

On 9 April 2010, Russia and the United States signed an agreement in which the two parties agree not to use atomic weapons against countries that have signed the non-proliferation treaty (leaving out Iran and North Korea as well as Israel, although this is not said). Recently, Obama and Sarkozy have worked together to get an international consensus on new sanctions against Iran. This might be achieved in a few weeks, or even a few days. It is thus clear that sanctions could be followed by a catastrophic attack against Iran."
Asia News

"From the Sunday Herald in Scotland: “Hundreds of powerful US bunker-buster bombs are being shipped from California to the British island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in preparation for a possible attack on Iran. The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 Blu bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures.”

Hmm.

How did a newspaper in Scotland of all places learn of this? From the story: “Contract details for the shipment to Diego Garcia were posted on an international tenders’ website by the US navy. A shipping company based in Florida, Superior Maritime Services, will be paid $699,500 to carry many thousands of military items from Concord, California, to Diego Garcia. Crucially, the cargo includes 195 smart, guided, Blu-110 bombs and 192 massive 2000lb Blu-117 bombs.”
Daily Mail

"Deeply concerned as it is by the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran, Israel has never even hinted at using atomic weapons to forestall the perceived threat.

But now a respected Washington think tank has said that low-radioactive yield "tactical" nuclear warheads would be one way for the Israelis to destroy Iranian uranium- enrichment plants in remote, dug-in fortifications.

Despite the 65-year-old taboo against carrying out - or, for that matter, mooting - nuclear strikes, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says in a new report that "some believe that nuclear weapons are the only weapons that can destroy targets deep underground or in tunnels."
Montreal Gazette