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Israel Warned U.S. on Iraq

[Asia Times-Hong Kong] Gareth Porter - Israeli officials warned the Bush administration that an invasion of Iraq would be destabilizing to the region and urged the U.S. instead to target Iran as the primary enemy, according to former Bush administration official Lawrence Wilkerson, a member of the State Department's policy planning staff and later chief of staff for secretary of state Colin Powell. After the Israeli government picked up the first signs that the Bush administration was thinking of war against Iraq, said Wilkerson, "The Israelis were telling us Iraq is not the enemy - Iran is the enemy." Wilkerson describes the Israeli message to the Bush administration in early 2002 as being, "If you are going to destabilize the balance of power, do it against the main enemy." The warning against an invasion of Iraq was "pervasive" in Israeli communications with the U.S. administration, Wilkerson recalled. It was conveyed to the administration by a wide range of Israeli sources, including political figures, intelligence, and private citizens. Wilkerson noted that the main point of their communications was not that the U.S. should immediately attack Iran, but that "it should not be distracted by Iraq and Saddam Hussein" from a focus on the threat from Iran.
2007-08-31 01:00:00
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