[NYTr] Facts Are Useless Things: Both Israel, US War Plans Said to be On Track

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[The first article claims the Pentagon's planning for war on Iran has
not been affected by the National Intelligence Estimate, finally
released, which says that Iran supposedly "gave up" a nuclear weapons
effort in 2003. Thedy're "studying" the Estimate at the Pentagon. Iran
denies it ever had such a program, and calls the NIE a big lie.  

The second article is about continued saber-rattling by Israel's
warhawk Lieberman, said to be considering an attack despite the
Big Lie, or the Bigger Lie. 

Both articles may also be strategically leaked information, or
disinformation, i.e., just more Psy War, and the target might be Iran,
or the US and/or Israeli public, or rival factions of politicians within
the Israeli and US Governments. Don't put much stock in any of this
chaff. -NYTransfer]


Reuters via Yahoo - Dec 7, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071207/pl_nm/iran_usa_pentagon_dc

Pentagon plans unchanged by Iran report: general

A U.S. intelligence assessment that Iran halted its nuclear weapons
program in 2003 has had no effect on Pentagon planning, a senior U.S.
military officer said on Friday.

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. John Sattler, director for strategic plans and
policy on the U.S. military's Joint Staff, said officials were still
digesting the National Intelligence Estimate released on Monday.

Sattler told reporters at the Pentagon he would not talk publicly about
any U.S. military contingency plans but he said: "There has been no
course correction, slowdown, speedup given to us inside the Joint Staff
based on the NIE."

The Bush administration has insisted that it wants to resolve its
dispute with Tehran over Iran's nuclear program through diplomacy but
will not rule out military action.

Analysts have said the intelligence estimate, which reversed previous
assessments, makes it much less likely that the United States would
attack Iran.

Following the release of the estimate, President George W. Bush said
Iran remained dangerous and would be dangerous in the future if it had
the knowledge to make a nuclear weapon. Iran say its nuclear program is
purely for energy generation.

In Kansas City on Friday, Vice President Dick Cheney restated the
administration's stance on Iran.

"We're dealing with a country that is still enriching uranium and
remains a leading state sponsor of terrorism. That is a cause of great
concern to the United States," he said.

"Not everyone understands the threat of nuclear proliferation in Iran
or elsewhere but we and our allies do understand the threat and we have
a duty to prevent it," Cheney said in remarks delivered at the National
World War I Museum.

At the Pentagon, Sattler declined to say if he believed the NIE's
findings meant Iran was now less of a threat.

"That is a strategy question and a policy question and we are in the
process of discussing it," he said.

"I'd rather wait and let us sort our way through it than give you a
knee-jerk response."

(Reporting by Andrew Gray in Washington and Carey Gillam in Kansas City)

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. 

                            ***

The Guardian - Dec 7, 2007
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2224052,00.html

Israel considering strike on Iran despite US intelligence report

by Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem

Senior Israeli officials warned today they were still considering the
option of a military strike against Iran, despite a fresh US
intelligence report that concluded Tehran was no longer developing
nuclear weapons.

Although Israel argues that it wants to see strong diplomatic pressure
put on Iran, it is reluctant to rule out the threat of a unilateral
military attack. Matan Vilnai, Israel's deputy defence minister, told
Army Radio today: "No option needs to be off the table."

Avigdor Lieberman, the hard-right deputy prime minister, said Israel
should be ready to act if sanctions did not work. "If they don't, we
will sit and decide whatever we have to decide," he told the Jerusalem
Post in an interview today.

Several of Israel's Iran experts say the American rethink on the threat
posed by Iran had ruled out a US military strike and probably an
Israeli strike too, at least for now. However, Israel's political hawks
continue to keep the threat of action alive.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the popular rightwing opposition leader, was asked
whether Israel should launch its own military operation. "We always
prefer international action, led by the United States, but we have to
ensure that we can protect our country with all means," he told the
Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz today.

The repercussions of the new US intelligence assessment are consuming
Israeli politicians, analysts and the press. Although Israeli leaders
had been briefed in advance, the national intelligence estimate (NIE)
which was declassified and published on Monday, brought surprise and
frustration in Israel's defence establishment.

In a marked shift from earlier assessments, the NIE said Iran had
halted its nuclear weapons programme in autumn 2003 and had not
restarted it. America's intelligence agencies said they now did not
know whether Iran intended to build nuclear weapons.

Israeli officials quickly offered a direct challenge. Ehud Barak, the
defence minister, said although Iran's nuclear programme was halted in
2003 "as far as we know it has probably since revived it".

It is, however, far from clear whether Israel has its own unique
intelligence on Iran strong enough to contradict the American findings.
Ha'aretz noted in an analysis today: "It wasn't in the intelligence
arena that Israel suffered a blow this week, but rather in the public
opinion arena."

Some have suggested that with Israel feeling isolated by its hardline
stance on Iran, it might be more inclined to launch a unilateral
military strike and a comparison is frequently drawn to Israel's 1981
bombing of Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor. David Albright, a former UN
nuclear inspector, said this week if Israel felt its "red line" had
been crossed it might strike. "They may force a military
confrontation," he told the Associated Press agency.

However, it is widely assumed Israel would need at least American
approval if not cooperation for any bombing mission. In particular,
Israel's air force would need the US flight codes that would allow its
planes to cross safely into Iran. When Israel requested those codes in
1991, to attack Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the first Gulf War, the
United States refused and there was no Israeli strike.

Yet Israel, the only nuclear power in the region, is not shy of acting
alone and has been heartened by the lack of international censure over
its bombing raid in northern Syria in September, which may or may not
have targeted a Syrian nuclear installation.

Israel's Iran experts argue that the US intelligence assessment did not
wholly exonerate Tehran - they point to evidence of a continued
enriched uranium programme which has only limited civilian use - but
they admit that for now an Israeli military operation is unlikely.

"I think it is quite unrealistic to think Israel will go it alone
against Iran in a military way," said Ephraim Asculai, a senior
research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel
Aviv. He said it appeared Iran would respond to a tougher sanctions
regime that demonstrated to Tehran that the cost of its nuclear
ambitions outweighed their benefits.

Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born analyst based in Tel Aviv, said there
was also a chance Israel might pursue a peace agreement with Syria, in
an effort to divide Damascus from Tehran and further isolate the
Iranian regime. "The quickest route to isolate Iran is through
Damascus," he said.