Sunday, September 21, 2008

Israel's Prime Minister resigns--is Iran war off?

By: Harry Waisbren

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has formally resigned, allowing Kadima party member Tzipi Livni to try to form a government. If she fails to do so, parliamentary elections would be held in 2009 in order to pick a new leader. I think this is a very promising development if only for Olmert's insinuations this summer that war with Iran was near after he held a meeting with President Bush. I am a very proud supporter of Israel, but considering that Iran will target 32 bases and the heart of Israel should they be attacked I do believe war should be avoided at all costs. I fear that former Mossad Chief Ephraim Halevy is right that an attack on Iran could impact Israel for a hundred years, and desperately worry about it considering even our war monger in chief's very own Secretary of Defense has said that an attack on Iran would be disastrous.

It's hard to know how positive this development is though, as Dick Cheney has privately said that he'd prefer the US to attack Iran instead of Israel as we'd be blamed anyways. In fact, Cheney is so desperate to provoke a war with Iran that he has even suggested dressing up Navy Seals as Iranians and shooting at them to do just that. This sort of treachery has led Lt. Gen. (ret.) William Odom to go so far as saying that "it gives me pause to learn that our vice president and some members of the Senate are aligned with al Qaeda on spreading the war to Iran."

Hopefully, Olmert's resignation at least means that the Israeli attack plan that has already received Bush's backing is off the table, and serious diplomacy can at least be attempted to mitigate this crisis. The world desperately needs the war hungry neocons in both America and Israel to take a deep breath and remember that al Qaeda hates Iran and that Iran falling would only help the terrorists who attacked the United States on 9/11.

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