[Cachelot]

but Richard Sale seems legit

You mean, "there is an actual person by that name". What that means for the story is basically nothing. A non-existent link and a post on Usenet by one "sami" a year and a half ago?

What is far more significant is that all the versions I've found of this story, on examination, is just Sale's story. And Sale is leaning on Cordesman, who is saying that he believes that this happened. I can see no corroborating and verifiable evidence of any kind. Add to that that Cordesman seems to be something of a darling of the washington-report, another rabid antisemitic outfit.

If the story was true you would see lots of coverage of this thing, by real sources, long ago. Instead it's the kook chorus. As on uhmma.com and antiwar.com and worse.

But of course we'll now see FreeRepublic spammed with a barrage of this thing, since it seems to be the newest project. How many times have you posted this article yourself??

[Austin Willard Wright]

I notice that you haven't provided one piece of evidence against the story which is entirely believeable. After all, many countries have engaged in Machevillian (so called real politik) policies such as the U.S. during the U.S. period aiding Bin Laden's pals. What should Israel be any different? Yet, your attitude seems to be speak no evil, hear no evil, think no evil.