Bush to Visit Israel: Eyes (and Weapons) Fixed on Iran

By Kenneth J. Theisen

President Bush is scheduled to visit Israel next week to celebrate the
60th anniversary of the founding of that Zionist state.  He is also to
make stop-overs in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, two other U.S. allies in the
region.  While the White House states that the purpose of the trip is
mainly ceremonial, we can not overlook that it is happening at a time
that the Bush regime is rapidly escalating tensions with Iran, with
continuing political attacks, increased economic sanctions, and actual
military preparations for a possible attack on Iran. The Bush regime
has gone out of its way to accuse Iran of supporting terrorism in
Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lebanon; interfering with the
“stability” of Iraq by supplying and training “special groups” there;
of being associated with al-Qaeda, and of attempting to acquire nukes,
etc.  Iran has also been accused of wanting to annihilate Israel. 

When Bush visits Israel he will hear from Israeli leaders about their concerns regarding Iran. According to the Jerusalem Post on May 6th an unidentified senior Israeli defense official stated that Iran was now on track to master the technology needed to enrich uranium on a military scale within six months. Israeli sources state that Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the middle of 2009. The Post also reported that Iran is developing a cruise missile that can evade interception by Israel’s anti-ballistic missile defense system and that such a missile could be used to carry a nuclear warhead.  None of this is consistent with other intelligence and it probably is a creation of Israeli propaganda to hype the “nuclear threat” from Iran toward Israel.

But reality has not bothered the Bush regime any more than it seems to bother the Israelis.  Despite the NIE report that said Iran had abandoned any nuclear weapons program, over the last few months various top Bush regime officials have acted as if the NIE report never existed.  The Bush regime is now acting as if Iran is “hellbent” on acquiring nukes.  So this latest “assessment” coming out of Israel fits into the Bush regime’s hype as well.

Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on May 6th in remarks targeting Iran stated, “I am asking that you take this with you and tell it to your communities everywhere – the people of Israel are strong, the State of Israel is strong, there is no enemy that can destroy us. We will not place ourselves in a position where anyone will, in an effective manner, threaten us with destruction”the Jewish people can fight, and when it needs to, it fights, and when it fights, it wins.”

The U.S. will not attack Iran because Israeli leaders would like to see the Iranian regime removed. The Bush regime will only act in the interests of U.S. imperialism.  But the alleged threat to Israel posed by Iran can serve as a convenient excuse to justify such an attack.  Despite its military superiority to all the other nations of the Middle East, Israel is constantly portrayed as an “underdog” threatened by all those around it.  The fact that it already has a substantial nuclear arsenal is hardly ever mentioned and it is officially ignored by the U.S. Its conventional weapons are also the most advanced in the region.

Hillary Clinton recently stated that she have the U.S. military “obliterate” Iran in response to a hypothetical Iranian attack on Israel. The lack of any significant public repudiation of this outrageous threat of genocide is indicative of the public’s awareness of what is really happening regarding Iran, Israel, and the U.S. goal of “regime change” in Iran. A leading presidential contender says she will “obliterate” a country of 70 million people and it is as if she said nothing significant. This indicates how far we have come down a dangerous and deadly path in the 7 ½ years of the Bush Regime, and it also indicates how close Israel is to the U.S. as an ally.

In the event of a U.S. attack on Iran this alliance will come into play in some form. There has been much speculation in the media over the last few years that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities could involve the use of Israeli military forces.  Israel is a military ally of the U.S. and it receives over $3 billion in U.S. aid each year.  Last August the U.S. and Israel announced a $30 billion arms deal provided by the U.S.  At the same time, the U.S. also announced a multi-billion dollar military aid deal for Egypt and Saudi Arabia.  U.S. officials made clear that one of the primary reasons for the generous U.S. military aid packages was to deal with Iran. At the time, Secretary of State Rice stated, the aim of the assistance was “to counter the negative influences of al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran.”  In another statement at about the same time she said, “There isn’t a doubt, I think, that Iran constitutes the single most important, single-country challenge to… US interests in the Middle East and to the kind of Middle East that we want to see.”

It is likely as Bush visits Israel next week, the propaganda attacks accusing Iran of wanting to destroy Israel will increase and get much play in the U.S. and Israeli media.  At the same time all the other rhetorical attacks against Iran will also receive much media attention.  The Petraeus report which will “prove” that Iran is arming and training the “special groups” in Iraq will be coming out soon. We can expect an all out media blitz painting Iran as the enemy to the U.S., Israel, the Middle East, etc.  The purpose of all this will be to prepare us for an attack on Iran.  That does not mean that such an attack is inevitable, but as the Bush regime is fond of repeating – all options are on the table.

Ken Theisen is a veteran activist of movements opposing U.S. imperialism, its wars and domination of countries throughout the world, and an advocate against domestic violence in the San Francisco Bay Area.