Posted on 12/01/2020 5:28:27 AM PST by Kaslin
If Israel, as is universally believed and has not been denied, was behind the assassination of Iran's leading nuclear scientist, questions arise:
Why would the Israelis kill him? And why would they do it now?
The scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, it is conceded, was a leader in Iran's nuclear bomb program, but that program was disbanded in 2003.
Under George W. Bush, in 2007, all 17 U.S. intelligence agencies declared with "high confidence" that Iran no longer had a bomb program.
Four years later, the same intel agencies affirmed that finding.
Since 2015, Iran's nuclear facilities, under the Iran nuclear deal, have been subject to U.N. surveillance and inspections. And Iran has neither produced plutonium nor enriched uranium to the 90 percent level needed for a bomb.
Israel claims Iran never stopped working on a bomb, but U.S. intel agencies and U.N. nuclear inspectors have agreed that the military nuclear program that Fakhrizadeh oversaw was ended in 2003.
So, again, why would Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu authorize Mossad to send an assassination team to Iran to kill the nuclear scientist? And why now?
If Iran is actually running a secret program to build a bomb in violation of the nuclear deal, why not identify the site of the violation, demand that U.N. inspectors visit, expose Iranian duplicity to the world, and kill the deal?
Why kill the scientist?
From Netanyahu's standpoint, there are, however, many motives to make the call to kill Fakhrizadeh.
To humiliate the Iranian regime. To demonstrate Mossad's capacity to kill Israel's enemies with impunity. To send a message to others working in Iran's nuclear program that the regime's security forces cannot protect them.
To Sunni and Gulf Arabs who see Iran as a sectarian and strategic rival and adversary, Israel's ability to punish Iran and its regional militias with repeated, unanswered strikes makes Israel a far more desirable ally and partner than ever before.
But with this strike, Bibi was also sending a message to Joe Biden, who is seven weeks away from assuming the presidency.
What is Bibi's message?
Mr. President-elect: This Mossad operation should tell you how seriously we view Iran's determination to build a nuclear bomb, and how existential a threat that would be for us. And we intend to deal with that threat sooner rather than later.
And if, on taking office, you try to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal and lift U.S. sanctions in return for Iran's full compliance with the terms of that deal, then we will not be restricted in the actions we take to prevent that from happening.
As President Trump put America first, we put Israel first, and Iran tops the list of threats we intend to face -- preferably with you, but if necessary, alone.
From Bibi's standpoint, the killing of Iran's top nuclear scientist seems to be a win-win-win proposition. Bibi's personal scandals are eclipsed and put on the back burner. He is seen by Israelis as a man of action and decisive protector of the nation against its greatest threat.
Should Iran answer the assassination with a counterstrike, that could lead to Israeli retaliation, escalation, and war. This could turn Bibi into a wartime prime minister like Winston Churchill and fulfill his dream of having America bring its full air, naval and missile power to deliver a crushing blow to the Iranian military and the Ayatollah's regime.
However, the assassination of Fakhrizadeh and Iran's resolve to retaliate complicates -- if it does not close -- Biden's path toward rejoining the nuclear deal and reconciling with Iran.
If the killing ignites a war, Tehran knows there is a real possibility that America would align with Israel, as Donald Trump detests the Iranian regime as much as Netanyahu does.
And if the "moderates" in Tehran fail to maintain the national honor by retaliating against Israel, that could result in a hardline regime winning in this year's elections.
A return of the hardliners could mean a total collapse of the Iran nuclear deal and a new cold war that could eventually end in the hot war Middle East hawks -- in Iran, Israel and the USA -- have long desired.
As Trump showed with the assassination of Gen. Qasem Soleimani in his car coming out of Baghdad airport, he does not recoil from direct action against perceived enemies.
Last week, the U.S. flew two B-52s out of Minot, North Dakota, to the Middle East. The USS Nimitz carrier group began moving out of the Indian Ocean toward the Persian Gulf.
Four days before the hit on the Iranian scientist, Netanyahu met secretly in a Red Sea port city with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Was Pompeo told what the Israelis were about to do? Did the U.S. know of, approve of, or not object to the attack? Do Americans want this war that seems closer today?
Pat being Pat and getting it all backwards.
Pat Buchanan has always been a Jew-Hater on the take from the muslims.
The GOPe flag - a white rose against a white field, saluted with both hands above their heads.
“If Israel, as is universally believed and has not been denied, was behind the assassination of Iran’s leading nuclear scientist, questions arise:”
That’s a big “if”. For Israel, nothing has changed. Their intelligence service has been doing things like this since 1948. If bad actors in the ME haven’t figured this out yet, why bother telling them?
Buchanan once again shows his disdain for Israel and the Jews.
Buchanan’s dream is for someone - anyone - to vaporize Israel with nukes. If we end up losing a few cities as collateral damage, that’s a risk Pat is willing to take. He is nothing if not single-minded.
What am I missing, Zhang - the piece looked to me to be very well written, and pretty much pro-Israel?
Maybe the part about UN and US inspectors saying ‘nothing bad here with Iran’ but I laughed that off, knowing that the guy who was killed was with a armed body guards anywhere he goes.
Pat has long been one of the few conservatives who proves correct on what happens in the Middle East.
Is this the same UN whose inspectors were busted for taking kickbacks while turning a blind eye to Hussein's oil smuggling to the tune of billions of dollars.......?
[What am I missing, Zhang - the piece looked to me to be very well written, and pretty much pro-Israel?]
Pat is very smart man but suffers certain blind spots about American defense and also some bad prejudices - he could have been president at one time and I’m glad he didn’t get it. I still read him but his flaws get in the way of a lot of his columns - sadly. Islam
Is a very dangerous enemy of everything noble and right about America. And the Iranian islamicists routinely and frequently reassert their threats to destroy USA with their nukes and icbm’s. The same nukes that Obama gave them the $150 Billion cash to build- while using the usaf to protect the Iranian bomb factories. And they’re still
Invading, sneaking into USA every day too. Patrick needs to wake up. He writes sometimes about China dangers but advocates nothing effective to stop them. If anerica ever goes down pat will have been part of the “useful idiot” corps that enabled it
The claims that this article is “anti-Isreal” are a stretch. Buchanan is simply stateing his opinion based on reported facts.
I seriously doubt Buchanan is a big fan of Iran. If anything, Buchanan was probably a huge supporter of Trump’s foreign policy. Trump at least talked the game of non-interventionism and descalation (even if his practical policy was slow and incremental).
Of course, non-intervention didn’t forbid political assassination. But that is still short of military intervention.
“Did the U.S. know of, approve of, or not object to the attack?”
In January of last year, 2019, thirty tons of yellow cake from a production plant in the city of Ardakan in central Iran was sent to a uranium conversion facility in Isfahan , the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. This appears to be the second time a consignment of yellow cake has been delivered to the facility.
They are actively pursuing nuclear capacity. How far they have gone is in question because the UN inspectors have been failing at finding anything for many years. The UN has stressed that they have not imported cake. That’s called “talk around.” Iran has mining capacity within their own country. And the UN knew it, so they spun one.
“Do Americans want this war that seems closer today?”
We have nothing to say about it. It will be costly but a lot less than if it went nuclear by having idiots like the Iranians possess such power with their loose cannon approach.
wy69
Thanks, and I certainly know his history with Israel, and even with Jews in general. I guess my problem is that I so quickly blow off the ‘experts’ when discussing the Iran Deal that I thought he was simply joking about them saying that all is fine with Iran...and no nuke threat. Obviously he was serious - he really (claims to) believe it.
Washington Times with a similar type of article:
Pat Buchanan has a book where he says we should never have gotten involved in WW2 in europe.
Hey Adolph liked dogs....
[Patrick needs to wake up. He writes sometimes about China dangers but advocates nothing effective to stop them. If anerica ever goes down pat will have been part of the “useful idiot” corps that enabled it]
Earth to Pat - we are one of those Great Powers, and it would be to our benefit if we got an oar in before our Great Power rivals got in a position to do great damage to US. And in Iran’s case, I mean nukes. Pakistan, India and North Korea built and tested nukes that were a complete surprise to US intelligence. We don’t need another surprise coming from Iran. An Iranian nuke means Arab nukes. How’d you like multiple nuclear 9/11’s?
Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) was an Irish-American.
Even expressed his condolences at the German Embassy when he heard of Hitler's death.
Agreed. Only quibble, iran has openly stated and screamed its plans to nuke and destroy America. So it won’t be any surprise. Not to anyone including Buchanan. He’s not stupid he had listened to Iran’s dictators and he’s read the reports many times he just doesn’t care - or maybe deep inside he wants USA blown to bits. He talks patriotism but in effect promotes our worst enemies by propagandizing zero defense and full surrender as desirable policy. And he glosses over the advantage of eliminating the enemy’s’ nukes before they can launch them against us. Especially since we could accomplish this eith just a few days good work by our great usaf, ending the islamic bomb threat. A full scale traitor working for the enemy couldn’t hope to do a better job if softening up their Great Satan for the slaughter. At any event, it is still something I think about because, well, I used to be taken in by his smarts, quickness of mind, scope of knowledge, and his patriotic vocabulary. All of which I now see only serves to make him more dangerous to our country
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