Covert Ops in Iran
A post by Jeffrey Lewis in ArmsControlWonk.com Hersh Article on Covert Ops in Iran is a thoughtful analysis of the New Yorker article THE COMING WARS, by Seymour M. Hersh.
"Hersh obviously thinks such a strike would be foolish, but he repeats a myth that is at least partially responsible for the ardor of proponents of a strike against Iranian facilities:
'In 1981, the Israeli Air Force destroyed Iraq’s Osirak reactor, setting its nuclear program back several years.' ..."
"The scientists were also unanimous in dating Saddam's pre-Gulf War effort to acquire a nuclear weapon through a clandestine uranium enrichment program to the days immediately following the Israeli attack. The effect of the attack was probably to transform a virtual bomb program into a very real one that may or may not have succeeded without the intervention of the Operation Desert Storm."
"If Tehran is pursuing a virtual bomb, as I and others have suggested, then the military option will likely collapse diplomatic efforts, further radicalize the Iranian regime, and guarantee a crash program for the bomb."
"Come to think of it, that does kind of sound like something Rumsfeld would do."
"Hersh obviously thinks such a strike would be foolish, but he repeats a myth that is at least partially responsible for the ardor of proponents of a strike against Iranian facilities:
'In 1981, the Israeli Air Force destroyed Iraq’s Osirak reactor, setting its nuclear program back several years.' ..."
"The scientists were also unanimous in dating Saddam's pre-Gulf War effort to acquire a nuclear weapon through a clandestine uranium enrichment program to the days immediately following the Israeli attack. The effect of the attack was probably to transform a virtual bomb program into a very real one that may or may not have succeeded without the intervention of the Operation Desert Storm."
"If Tehran is pursuing a virtual bomb, as I and others have suggested, then the military option will likely collapse diplomatic efforts, further radicalize the Iranian regime, and guarantee a crash program for the bomb."
"Come to think of it, that does kind of sound like something Rumsfeld would do."
Labels: Policy
posted by Jim Horning at 1:15 PM
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