Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




NUKEWARS
Israeli ex-spy boss: Iran strike 'stupid'
by Staff Writers
Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI) May 12, 2011


The fissures within the Israeli leadership cadre continue to widen, as Dagan's uncompromising comments Sunday underlined.

France drops terror charges against Iran resistance
Paris (AFP) May 12, 2011 - French prosecutors dismissed long-standing terrorism charges against 24 members of the exiled Iranian opposition movement the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), a judicial official said Thursday.

Among those accused was Maryam Rajavi, leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the broad grouping that includes the Mujahedeen.

The 24 had been accused of links to terrorists following a raid on the council's headquarters near Paris in 2003. The PMOI was alleged to have embezzled charity money to fund armed extremists.

The judicial official who asked not to be named told AFP that prosecutors had dismissed the terrorism allegations but were still investigating nine people over charges of financial irregularities.

The PMOI is listed by the United States as a terrorist organisation but was removed from the European Union's equivalent blacklist in 2009.

Meir Dagan, Israel's recently retired intelligence chief who spent eight years trying to sabotage Iran's nuclear program, has declared a military strike against that contentious project "is the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Dagan's comments Sunday during a symposium on regional strategy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the first time he has publicly opposed military action against Iran, challenged hard-line Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

That has made it more difficult for Netanyahu to press the case for an attack with his own Cabinet, with Washington or with the Israeli public.

Dagan's broadside also sharpened a simmering national debate on whether Israel should take pre-emptive military action to prevent Iran acquiring nuclear weapons at a time when the Islamic Republic is seeking to extend its influence across the Middle East.

Netanyahu has vowed he will never allow Iran to threaten Israel's existence with nuclear arms.

That pledge, and the mindset behind it, constantly alarmed U.S. President George W. Bush, no pussycat when it came to playing rough, because he feared such action would ignite a regional war.

President Barack Obama has also sought to dampen Israeli ardor for military action to eliminate what Netanyahu sees as an existential threat to Israel that challenges its nuclear monopoly in the region.

Some military commanders are also reluctant to launch attacks on Iran, and the issue has caused sharp divisions within the defense establishment.

Indeed, recent embarrassing intrigues over the selection of a new military chief of staff, which spilled over into the public domain, hinged on candidates' positions on the Iran issue.

In April diplomatic cables from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, released by WikiLeaks, revealed that in 2007 Netanyahu expressed a willingness to join the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert if Israel initiated an attack on Iran.

Olmert's coalition, under heavy fire following the Israeli military's poor performance in the 2006 war against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah of Lebanon, was falling apart, and he was exploring the possibility of a unity government with Netanyahu's Likud Party.

Netanyahu is backed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a former chief of staff and Israel's most decorated war hero.

In January Barak even ditched his Labor Party, which generally opposed attacking Iran. That forced Labor ministers out of Netanyahu's coalition, effectively burying the party that founded the state of Israel.

Barak even cut short the tenure of Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi as chief of staff in 2010 after the general bluntly objected to a proposal to attack Iran, which he reportedly said "will only bring disaster upon Israel."

"Without Barak by his side," the liberal Haaretz daily observed recently, "Netanyahu would find it hard to advance aggressive moves on the Iranian front.

"Netanyahu has no military record that grants him supreme defense authority, as Ariel Sharon had. Only Barak, with his ranks and medals, his seniority as a former prime minister, can give Netanyahu this kind of backing."

The fissures within the Israeli leadership cadre continue to widen, as Dagan's uncompromising comments Sunday underlined.

Dagan, who in January retired as director of the Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, has long had a reputation for daring clandestine operations.

During his eight-year term in Mossad he was widely seen as being behind a series of covert operations that damaged Iran's nuclear program, either by sabotaging the uranium enrichment process, assassinating nuclear scientists or luring them into defecting.

Even so, he says Israel should go on employing the disruptive tactics he has used to sabotage the Iranian effort rather than unleash air or missile strikes.

"An airstrike on the nuclear facilities is a dumb idea," he told the Jerusalem symposium. "It's important to remember that war is only one option among many alternatives."

Washington's focus on diplomatic action, such as sanctions, to isolate Iran infuriates Netanyahu, to the point that in February he called for "credible military action" against the Islamic Republic.

Meantime, analysts say Israel's offensive options are narrowing as Iran fortifies its nuclear facilities.

"While an Israeli attack in the next six months is highly unlikely," Oxford Analytica noted, "the country will soon have to decide whether to go it alone before it is too late, or to rely increasingly on untested U.S. willingness to use its much more powerful forces."

.


Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








NUKEWARS
Sanctions hold up Iran nuclear drive: UN report
United Nations (AFP) May 12, 2011
International sanctions are slowing Iran's nuclear program but the Islamic Republic has repeatedly sought to breach an arms embargo by shipping weapons to Syria, UN investigators said in a report. Six of the nine violations of a UN ban on conventional arms shipments by Iran involve Syria, said the report, a copy of which was obtained by AFP. The UN Security Council has passed four rounds ... read more


NUKEWARS
Space Adventures proposes modified Soyuz TMA for Lunar tourists

BRP To Contribute To Canadian Moon And Mars Exploration Programs

Naveen Jain Co-Founder And Chairman Of Moon Express

Project Morpheus To Begin Testing At NASA's Johnson Space Center

NUKEWARS
Mars Express Sees Deep Fractures on Mars

Opportunity Images Small Craters

Exploring Rio Tinto Eurobotically

NASA Orbiter Reveals Big Changes in Mars' Atmosphere

NUKEWARS
Texas Space Alliance Celebrates New Space "Tourism" Law

AFIT education paves way to space

Soyuz launch from Europe space base set for October

NASA, Space Community Remember 'Freedom 7'

NUKEWARS
Top Chinese scientists honored with naming of minor planets

China sees smooth preparation for launch of unmanned module

China to attempt first space rendezvous

Countdown begins for Chineses space station program

NUKEWARS
Andrews Space Delivers Cargo Module Power Unit for Orbital's Cygnus Spacecraft

ISS orbit to be readjusted for Soyuz TMA-20 return

Soyuz is in the launch zone at Europe's Spaceport

Progress Docks To ISS

NUKEWARS
ST-2's installation on SYLDA marks the start of final payload integration for Ariane 5's next mission

Arianespace to launch ABS-2 in 2013

GSAT-8 put through its paces

Ariane Ariane 5 enjoys second successful launch for 2011

NUKEWARS
Flipping Hot Jupiters

What a scorcher: 'Hot Jupiter' puzzle explained

An Earth as Dense as Lead

Astronomers unveil portrait of 'super-exotic super-Earth'

NUKEWARS
Mayflower Test Satellite Proves Successful During Recent SpaceX Mission

Google notebooks challenge Microsoft

Broadband Lidar Instrument Successfully Tested on NASA's DC-8

Russia says fire put out near radioactive facility




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement