(Jerusalem Post) Yaakov Katz - As head of the Mossad's operations department, Rafi Eitan visited Iran 50 times in the 1970s and knew the country well. As a member of the prime minister's staff in 1981, Eitan was privy from the beginning to Menachem Begin's plans to bomb the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq. As a member of the security cabinet in Ehud Olmert's government from 2006 to 2009, Eitan participated in debates on the best way to deal with Iran's nuclear program. At 91, Eitan is worth listening to. "Nuclear weapons in the hands of people that are willing to commit suicide in the name of Allah is a danger we cannot live with," he said. However, the only real solution to the Iranian nuclear problem, he said, is for the world to invest more in overthrowing the ayatollahs. "The Iranians asked themselves who would oppose their nuclear program and who would potentially attack. The answer was Israel, and after studying Osirak, they dug tunnels to make it hard for our bombs to destroy their facilities." "Iran's citizens are against the ayatollah regime. They are very similar to a Western country in their culture and the way they are as a people. They would prefer a more Western-like regime." Eitan is convinced that another revolution is only a matter of time. Trump could try to renegotiate the Iran deal, but the Iranians "will stick to their goal and they will cheat Trump. The only real way to deal with Iran is to switch the regime."
2017-12-29 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive