1WC'sChannel REVIEW/TINJAUAN 2012: (Published: 02 August, 2012) US President Barack Obama (Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Barack Obama. (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)
Sokongan Obama kuasa secara sulit Amerika Syarikat untuk pemberontak Syria - laporan
Presiden Amerika Syarikat, Barack Obama telah menandatangani perintah rahsia yang membenarkan CIA dan lain-lain agensi-agensi Amerika untuk menyokong pemberontak yang cuba untuk menggulingkan rejim Assad, sumber kerajaan Amerika Syarikat kepada Reuters.
Obama dilaporkan memberi perintah, yang dikenali sebagai kecerdasan "mencari", awal tahun ini. Dapatan presiden juga menyediakan bagi kerjasama Amerika Syarikat dengan pusat arahan rahsia yang dikendalikan oleh Turki dan sekutu-sekutunya. Sejauh penuh bantuan "penemuan" membenarkan CIA untuk memberi pemberontak Syria adalah tidak jelas. Ia juga tidak diketahui dengan tepat ketika Obama telah menandatangani perintah itu.
Pentadbiran Obama telah dibuka kira-kira memberi sokongan kepada tentera bukan pembangkang Syria. Pada hari Rabu, Jabatan Negara berkata ia telah memperuntukkan sejumlah US $ 25 juta untuk "tidak membawa maut" bantuan kepada Tentera Bebas Syria. Sebahagian daripada wang yang boleh digunakan untuk membeli alat-alat komunikasi seperti radio disulitkan, kata seorang pegawai Amerika Syarikat. Jabatan Negara juga berkata Amerika Syarikat telah ketepikan US $ 64 juta dalam bantuan kemanusiaan ke atas rakyat Syria.
Pada tahun lepas, Obama juga menandatangani permulaan "mencari" Sokongan Amerika Syarikat membenarkan untuk mencari pemberontak Libya untuk menggulingkan Muammar Gaddafi. Juga pada hari Rabu, Perbendaharaan Amerika Syarikat mengesahkan ia telah diberi kebenaran untuk wakil Washington Tentera Free Syria untuk menjalankan transaksi kewangan bagi pihak kumpulan pemberontak. Laporan yang bahawa Kumpulan Sokongan Syria telah dibenarkan untuk berbuat demikian mula muncul minggu lepas.
Laporan kebenaran untuk sokongan pemberontak rahsia Obama datang di tengah-tengah pertempuran berterusan antara tentera kerajaan dan pemberontak Syria alih kawalan Aleppo, capital ekonomi negara. Beribu-ribu orang telah melarikan diri dari bandar, manakala kerajaan dan pemberontak terus melepaskan laporan yang bercanggah mengenai tahap kawalan mereka ke atas bandar.
Sementara itu, terdapat laporan bahawa (there have been
reports) Tentera Bebas Syria berjaya mendapatkan hampir 2 dozen permukaan- peluru berpandu ke-udara. Manakala seorang wakil Tentera Bebas Syria menafikan laporan tersebut, beliau juga berkata pemberontak telah menyediakan mengejutkan lain untuk pasukan Assad.
Pegawai-pegawai kanan Amerika Syarikat telah juga telah ratcheting retorik mereka terhadap Assad. Pada hari Isnin, Setiausaha Pertahanan Leon Panetta mencadangkan bahawa Assad “get the hell
out” jika dia mahu melindungi diri dan keluarganya. Suatu draf resolusi PBB menyeru untuk Assad untuk melepaskan kuasa yang memihak kepada kerajaan peralihan juga akan diundi oleh Perhimpunan Agung pada hari Jumaat. Dokumen itu akan juga kesal dengan Majlis Keselamatan kerana gagal untuk bertindak; sapu tiada apa yang terselindung di Rusia dan China terus panning resolusi Majlis Keselamatan yang disifatkan sebagai berat sebelah.
Brian Becker, pengarah JAWAPAN pakatan anti-peperangan, percaya perintah Obama tidak mewakili mana-mana anjakan dari segi strategi Amerika Syarikat ke arah Syria. "Semua yang tiada mem-perdedahkan bahawa diplomasi kononnya, mencari apa yang dipanggil untuk penyelesaian perundingan adalah suatu penipuan - bahawa diplomasi adalah, sebenarnya, satu bentuk sumpah palsu," katanya kepada RT.
"Hakikatnya, kerajaan Amerika Syarikat - pentadbiran Obama dengan Pentagon dan CIA telah dalam leher menyelaras operasi ketenteraan untuk menumbangkan sebuah kerajaan berdaulat di Syria."
Beliau menyatakan bahawa tidak akan ada sebarang perang saudara berlaku di Syria jika tidak campur tangan asing. "Faktor penentu dalam persamaan untuk perang saudara adalah campur tangan Amerika Syarikat," katanya. "Dan akan berkata, terus-terang, pentadbiran Obama melakukan jenayah perang terhadap rakyat Syria yang telah sinis memanipulasi keadaan. Mereka mempunyai darah rakyat Syria di tangan mereka."
Obama authorizes covert US support for Syrian rebels - reports . . .
US President Barack Obama has signed a secret order allowing the CIA and other American agencies to support rebels seeking to overthrow the Assad regime, a US government source told Reuters.
Obama reportedly gave the order, known as an intelligence “finding”, earlier this year. The presidential finding also provides for US collaboration with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies. The full extent of the assistance the “finding” allows the CIA to give the Syrian rebels is unclear. It is also unknown precisely when Obama signed the order.
The Obama administration has been open about providing non-military support to the Syrian opposition. On Wednesday, the State Department said it had allotted a total of $25 million for “non-lethal” assistance to the Free Syrian Army. Some of that money may be used to buy communications devices such as encrypted radios, a US official said. The State Department also said the United States has set aside $64 million in humanitarian aid for the Syrian people.
Last year, Obama also signed an initial “finding” authorizing US support for Libyan rebels seeking to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. Also on Wednesday, the US Treasury confirmed it had granted authorization for Washington’s representative of the Free Syrian Army to conduct financial transactions on behalf of the rebel group. Reports that the Syrian Support Group had been allowed to do so first appeared last week.
The report of Obama’s authorization for covert rebel support comes amidst continued fighting between Syrian government troops and rebels over control of Aleppo, the country’s economic capital. Thousands of people have fled the city, while the government and rebels continue to release conflicting reports on the extent of their control over the city.
Meanwhile, there have
been reports that the Free Syrian Army managed to obtain nearly two dozen surface-to-air missiles. While a Free Syrian Army representative denied those reports, he also said the rebels were preparing another surprise for Assad’s forces.
Senior US officials have also been ratcheting up their rhetoric against Assad. On Monday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta suggested that Assad “get the hell
out” if he wants to protect himself and his family. A draft UN resolution calling for Assad to relinquish power in favor of a transitional government is also set to be voted on by the General Assembly on Friday. The document would deplore the Security Council for failing to act; a not-so-covert swipe at Russia’s and China’s continued panning of Security Council resolutions deemed to be one-sided.
Brian Becker, director of the ANSWER anti-war coalition, believes the revelation of Obama’s order doesn’t represent any shift in terms of US strategy towards Syria. “All that does is reveal that the so-called diplomacy, the so-called looking for a negotiated settlement is a fraud – that the diplomacy is, in fact, a form of perjury,” he told RT. “The reality is that the US government – the Obama administration with the Pentagon and the CIA – has been neck-deep coordinating military operations to overthrow a sovereign government in Syria.”
He noted that there would have been no civil war going on in Syria if not for foreign intervention. “The decisive factor in the equation for civil war is US intervention,” he said. “And would say, frankly, the Obama administration is guilty of war crimes against the Syrian people having cynically manipulated the situation. They have the blood of the Syrian people on their hands.”
1WC'sChannel REVIEW 2012: (Published: 02 August, 2012) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) listens as US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks to the media before a meeting at the Prime Ministers office. (TINJAUAN 1WC'sChannel 2012: (Published: 2 ogos 2012) Perdana Menteri Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu (kiri) mendengar sebagai Setiausaha Pertahanan Amerika Syarikat Leon Panetta bercakap kepada media sebelum mesyuarat di pejabat Perdana Menteri (AFP Photo/Mark Wilson).
Masa yang sangat suntuk untuk keluar penyelesaian secara aman kepada masalah Iran - Netanyahu . . .
Perdana Menteri Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu berkata sekatan tidak membendung cita-cita nuklear Tehran. Beliau melambai nasihat melawat Ketua Pentagon melekat pada resolusi diplomatik krisis.
Pada mesyuarat Rabu dengan Setiausaha Pertahanan Amerika Syarikat Leon Panetta di Yerusalem, Netanyahu mencadangkan bahawa kesabaran Israel dengan Iran telah sampai ke akhir tempohnya.
"Sekarang rejim Iran percaya bahawa masyarakat antarabangsa tidak mempunyai kehendak untuk menghentikan program nuklearnya," katanya. "Ini mesti berubah, dan ia mesti berubah dengan cepat kerana masa untuk menyelesaikan isu ini secara aman sedang berjalan."
Beliau menekankan bahawa sementara sekatan telah mencederakan ekonomi Iran, mereka gagal untuk memaksa untuk meninggalkan program nuklearnya. "Sama ada sekatan mahupun diplomasi lagi mempunyai apa-apa kesan ke atas program senjata nuklear Iran," kata Netanyahu. Panetta menekankan bahawa bukan ketenteraan cara menyelesaikan isu Israel dengan cita-cita nuklear Iran masih belum habis. Bagaimanapun, beliau mengulangi bahawa Amerika Syarikat telah menyimpan semua pilihan, eufemisme untuk serangan ketenteraan, di atas meja.
"Saya ingin menegaskan sekali lagi kedudukan Amerika Syarikat ke Iran, kita tidak akan membenarkan Iran untuk membangunkan senjata nuklear, tempoh," kata Panetta. "Kita tidak akan membenarkan mereka untuk membangunkan senjata nuklear. Dan kami akan mengerahkan semua pilihan dalam usaha untuk memastikan bahawa tidak berlaku. "
Panetta juga bertemu dengan rakan sejawatannya dari Israel Ehud Barak di Ashkelon, sebuah bandar berhampiran sempadan dengan terkawal Gaza Hamas. Manakala Barak berkata beliau menghargai sokongan berterusan Amerika Israel, beliau juga tidak berganjak dalam kedudukan ke atas Iran, mengatakan bahawa kebarangkalian bahawa sekatan akan memaksa Iran untuk memberi cita-cita nuklear adalah "sangat rendah."
Barak juga menunjukkan dan memberi taklimat Panetta pada sistem pertahanan udara yang dikenali sebagai Kubah Besi, ke mana Amerika Syarikat telah melabur lebih daripada $ 200 juta. Sistem ini direka untuk menembak jarak dekat roket, mortar dan peluru meriam yang ditembak ke Israel dari Gaza dan selatan Lubnan.
Panetta, pula berkata, pentadbiran Obama telah bekerja dengan pengeluar jet pejuang F-16 termasuk pakej khas peningkatan dalam kelompok bahawa Israel bercadang untuk membeli.
Perjalanan panetta kepada Israel datang pada tumit lawatan, Republikan berharap presiden Mitt Romney, di mana beliau memarahi pentadbiran Obama kerana terlalu lembut ke atas Iran. Romney juga berkata beliau akan menghormati sebarang keputusan yang diambil oleh Israel mengenai perkara itu jika dia dilantik sebagai presiden.
Sementara itu, Presiden Obama mengumumkan satu set baru sekatan terhadap Republik Islam, menyasarkan sektor minyak negara. Langkah-langkah yang baru bercadang untuk menghukum bank, syarikat insurans dan perkapalan yang terlibat dengan perdagangan minyak Tehran.
Israel telah berulang kali menegaskan hak untuk menyerang Iran tanpa sokongan Amerika Syarikat. Ia percaya Tehran cuba untuk membina senjata nuklear untuk memusnahkan negara Yahudi. Dalam wawancara berasingan dengan saluran berita Israel Selasa, Netanyahu menegaskan bahawa keputusan untuk menyerang Iran akan menjadi bahawa pegawai-pegawai yang dipilih, dan tidak ketenteraan,, dan dirujuk kepada keputusan bekas Perdana Menteri Menachem Begin, 1981 untuk memusnahkan 1 loji kuasa nuklear dalam pembinaan di Iraq walaupun Mossad itu pembangkang.
Iran menegaskan bahawa program nuklearnya adalah ketat aman, dan berkata ia mempunyai hak untuk membina memperkaya uranium di bawah Perjanjian Pengawalan Senjata Nuklear. Pendapat pakar kebanyakannya adalah sebulat suara bahawa Iran tidak rapat mampu untuk membina senjata nuklear.
Time running out for peaceful solution to Iran problem - Netanyahu . . .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said sanctions were not curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. He waved off the visiting Pentagon chief’s advice to stick to a diplomatic resolution of the crisis.
At a Wednesday meeting with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Jerusalem, Netanyahu suggested that Israel’s patience with Iran was reaching the end of its tenure.
“Right now the Iranian regime believes that the international community does not have the will to stop its nuclear program,” he noted. “This must change, and it must change quickly because time to resolve this issue peacefully is running out.”
He stressed that while the sanctions were hurting Iran’s economy, they were failing to force it to abandon its nuclear program.
“Neither sanctions nor diplomacy has yet had any impact on Iran's nuclear weapons program,” Netanyahu said. Panetta stressed that non-military means of resolving Israel's issue with Iran's nuclear ambitions had yet to be exhausted. Nevertheless, he repeated that the United States was keeping all options, a euphemism for military attack, on the table.
“I want to reassert again the position of the United States that with regards to Iran, we will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, period,” Panetta said. “We will not allow them to develop a nuclear weapon. And we will exert all options in the effort to ensure that that does not happen.”
Panetta also met with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak in Ashkelon, a city near the border with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. While Barak said he appreciated America’s continued support of Israel, he was also unyielding in his position on Iran, saying that the probability that sanctions would compel Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions was “extremely low.”
Barak also showed and briefed Panetta on an air defense system known as the Iron Dome, into which the United States had invested over $200 million. The system is designed to shoot down short-range rockets, mortars and artillery shells fired into Israel from Gaza and southern Lebanon.
Panetta, in turn, said the Obama administration was working with the constructors of the F-16 fighter jet to include a special package of enhancements in the batch that Israel intends to buy.
Panetta’s trip to Israel comes on the heels of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s visit, during which he berated the Obama administration for being too soft on Iran. Romney also said he would respect any decision taken by Israel on the matter if he is elected president.
In the meantime, President Obama announced a new set of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, targeting the country’s oil sector. The new measures intend to punish banks, insurance companies and shippers involved with Tehran’s oil trade.
Israel has repeatedly asserted its right to attack Iran without US backing. It believes Tehran is trying to build nuclear weapons to destroy the Jewish state. In separate interviews with Israeli news channels Tuesday, Netanyahu stressed that the decision to attack Iran would be that of elected, and not military, officials, and alluded to former Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s 1981 decision to destroy a nuclear power plant under construction in Iraq despite Mossad’s opposition.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is strictly peaceful, and says it has a right to build enrich uranium under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Expert opinion is mostly unanimous that Iran is not close to being able to construct a nuclear weapon.
1WC'sChannel REVIEW/TINJAUAN 2012: (3 months ago) Two United States Air Forces F-16C's (2 buah Tentera Udara F-16C Amerika Syarikat) (AFP Photo/U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Greg L. Davis)
Pelan pertempuran untuk 'sedia' Iran - utusan Amerika Syarikat kepada Israel . . .
Pentagon mempunyai pelan sedia untuk serangan ketenteraan ke atas Iran, duta Amerika ke Israel memberi amaran hari sebelum mesyuarat utama ke atas kontroversi program nuklear Republik Islam. Negara-negara Barat dan Israel mengenakan tekanan ke atas Iran untuk menghentikan pengayaan uranium, mengatakan bahawa Teheran secara rahsia cuba membina bom nuklear. Iran menegaskan bahawa program nuklearnya adalah ketat sivil.
"Ia akan menjadi lebih baik untuk menyelesaikan ini diplomatik dan melalui penggunaan tekanan daripada menggunakan kekerasan ketenteraan," kata Duta Besar Amerika Syarikat. Dan Shapiro dalam ucapan tentang Iran disiarkan oleh Radio Tentera Israel pada hari Khamis. "Tetapi itu tidak bermakna bahawa pilihan tidak diperolehi sepenuhnya. Bukan sahaja ada, tetapi ia bersedia perancangan yang perlu telah dilakukan untuk memastikan bahawa ia bersedia," kata Shapiro.
Konflik tersebut yang akan dibincangkan di Baghdad pada 23 Mei, apabila utusan dari kumpulan 1 P5, termasuk Britain, China, Perancis, Jerman, Rusia dan Amerika Syarikat, adalah untuk memenuhi perunding Iran. Pusingan sebelumnya ceramah telah diadakan di Istanbul pada 14 April.
Terdahulu terdapat banyak laporan bahawa Iran mungkin menghadapi serangan pre-emptive sama ada oleh Israel bersendirian atau oleh Israel dan sekutunya NATO, jika mereka melihat tidak ada pilihan lain untuk menghentikan Iran dari mendapatkan keupayaan nuklear. Walau bagaimanapun, komuniti perisikan di Israel dan Amerika Syarikat percaya bahawa Iran telah tidak mengambil keputusan politik untuk membina bom lagi.
Sementara itu, Amerika Syarikat dapat melihat lebih banyak sekatan terhadap Iran, sebagai Senat membincangkan pakej baru pada hari Khamis. Sekatan tertumpu kepada bank asing yang mengendalikan urus niaga bagi minyak negara Iran dan syarikat-syarikat kapal tangki, dan termasuk langkah-langkah untuk menutup segala kelemahan dalam sekatan yang sedia ada.
Amerika Syarikat dan EU telah meletakkan larangan ke atas import minyak Iran untuk melumpuhkan pendapatan mata wang asing. Washington juga yakin beberapa rakan Iran, seperti Jepun dan Korea Selatan, untuk mengurangkan perdagangan mereka dengan Tehran. Syarikat asing yang terlibat dalam perdagangan minyak dengan Iran mengambil risiko sekatan, termasuk yang diharamkan daripada pasaran kewangan Amerika Syarikat dan Eropah.
Iran berkata, sekatan ekonomi yang tidak akan berhenti daripada meneruskan pembangunan tenaga nuklear dan berkata rundingan Baghdad mestilah berdasarkan kepada pengiktirafan hak-hak negara Iran untuk berbuat demikian. "Ceramah bagi kerjasama, berdasarkan hak alienable negara Iran, perlu diletakkan di atas meja di Baghdad," kata setiausaha Iran Tertinggi Kebangsaan Majlis Keselamatan, jalili Saeed, pada hari Khamis.
Perunding tertinggi nuklear Iran berkata, masa suntuk "untuk mengenakan tekanan dan pendekatan ini telah gagal membuahkan hasil," yang datang sebagai respons kepada amaran oleh beberapa P5 1 ahli, masa semakin suntuk untuk Iran dari segi dialog.
Busur kepada kepentingan Israel
Ceramah Amerika Syarikat serangan ketenteraan terhadap Iran adalah tidak lebih daripada pendirian politik, percaya wartawan penyiasatan dan ahli sejarah Gareth Porter. Ini adalah "panah politik" untuk kepentingan Israel, katanya, menjelaskan bahawa Washington cuba sila awam Israel dan menenangkan kerajaan Netanyahu.
Malah kedudukan pentadbiran Obama adalah jelas: tidak ada sebab pada ketika ini untuk merenungi penggunaan kuasa tentera terhadap Iran, selagi ia tidak membuat apa-apa bergerak agresif.
White House terdesak untuk meyakinkan Netanyahu kerana Obama bimbang bahawa dia tidak akan menerima sumbangan kempen normal dari lobi pro-Israel dalam pilihanraya presiden yang akan datang, Dr Paul Craif Roberts, bekas rasmi pentadbiran Reagan, kepada RT.
Porter mendakwa bahawa pendirian tegas Netanyahu terhadap Iran adalah satu pembohongan yang "bertujuan untuk mendapatkan Amerika Syarikat dan kuasa-kuasa Barat yang lain untuk mengambil dasar yang paling agresif mungkin ke arah Iran dan meletakkan ke atas tekanan."
Wartawan percaya bahawa Israel tidak mempunyai sebarang niat sebenarnya menjalankan mogok kerana kepintaran dan kepimpinan tentera menyedari bahawa "Iran boleh bertindak balas secara langsung dengan peluru berpandu balistik mereka sendiri dengan cara yang akan menjadi agak buruk bagi penduduk awam Israel." Lebih-lebih lagi Dr Roberts menekankan bahawa tekanan terhadap Iran sedang ditolak oleh kepentingan neo-konservatif. "Amerika Syarikat sudah tentu memerlukan musuh untuk menyimpan wang yang mengalir ke dalam kompleks keselamatan tentera," katanya. "Apabila ancaman Soviet hilang, neo-konservatif berkomplot untuk mewujudkan satu ancaman Islam."
Battle plan for Iran ‘ready’ - US envoy to Israel
The Pentagon has a ready plan for a military attack on Iran, the American ambassador to Israel warned days before a key meeting over the controversial nuclear program of the Islamic Republic. Western countries and Israel are exerting pressure on Iran to stop uranium enrichment, saying that Tehran is secretly trying to build a nuclear bomb. Iran insists that its nuclear program is strictly civil.
"It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically and through the use of pressure than to use military force," US Ambassador Dan Shapiro said in remarks about Iran aired by Israel's Army Radio on Thursday. "But that doesn't mean that option is not fully available – not just available, but it's ready. The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it's ready," said Shapiro.
The conflict is to be discussed in Baghdad on May 23, when envoys from the P5+1 group, which includes Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US, are to meet Iranian negotiators. The previous round of talks was held in Istanbul on April 14.
Earlier there were numerous reports that Iran may face a pre-emptive strike either by Israel alone or by Israel and its NATO allies, if they see no other option to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities. However, intelligence communities both in Israel and the US believe that Iran has not taken a political decision to build the bomb yet.
Meanwhile the US may mount more sanctions against Iran, as the Senate is discussing a new package on Thursday. The sanctions are focused on foreign banks that handle transactions for Iran's national oil and tanker companies, and include measures to close loopholes in existing sanctions.
The US and EU have put a ban on the import of Iranian oil to cripple its foreign currency revenues. Washington also convinced several Iranian partners, such as Japan and South Korea, to reduce their trade with Tehran. Foreign companies involved in oil trade with Iran are risking sanctions, including being banned from American and European financial markets.
Iran says the economic sanctions would not stop it from pursuing nuclear energy development and says the Baghdad talks must be based on the recognition of rights of the Iranian nation to do so. “Talks for cooperation, based on the alienable rights of the Iranian nation, must be put on the table in Baghdad,” the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, said on Thursday.
Iran’s top nuclear negotiator says time is running out “for applying pressure and this approach has failed to bear results,” which came in response to the warning by some P5+1 members, that time is running out for Iran in terms of dialogue.
A bow to Israeli interests
The US talk of a military attack against Iran is nothing more than political posturing, believes investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter. This is “a political bow” to Israeli interests, he added, explaining that Washington is trying to please the Israeli public and appease the Netanyahu government.
In fact Obama administration’s position is clear: there is no reason at this point to contemplate the use of military force against Iran, as long as it does not make any aggressive moves. The White House is desperate to reassure Netanyahu because Obama is worried that he will not receive the normal campaign contribution from the pro-Israel lobby in the upcoming presidential elections, Dr. Paul Craif Roberts, a former Reagan administration official, told RT. Porter claims that Netanyahu’s tough stance against Iran is a bluff, which "is intended to get the United States and other Western powers to take the most aggressive policy possible toward Iran and to put pressure on it.”
The journalist believes that Israel does not have any intention of actually carrying out a strike because its intelligence and military leadership realize that “Iran can retaliate directly with their own ballistic missiles in a way that would be quite devastating for the Israeli civilian population.” Moreover Dr. Roberts stresses that the pressure against Iran is being pushed by neo-conservative interests. “The United States of course needs an enemy in order to keep money flowing into the military security complex,” he said. “When the Soviet threat disappeared, the neo-conservatives conspired to create a Muslim threat.”
