Israel is reportedly assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists
By Jerry Mazza
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Feb 20, 2009, 00:30
In a Haaretz article, Is Israel assassinating
Iran nuclear scientists?, Yossi Melman reports, �Israel is assassinating
Iranian nuclear scientists as part of a covert war against the Islamic Republic�s
illicit weapons program, the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday quoted Western intelligence
analysts as saying.�
He continues, �The British daily said Israel�s Mossad
espionage agency was rumored to be behind the death of Ardeshire Hassanpour, a
top nuclear scientist at Iran�s Isfahan uranium plant, who died in mysterious
circumstances from reported �gas poisoning� in 2007.
�Other recent deaths of important figures in the procurement
and enrichment process in Iran and Europe have been the result of Israeli �hits,�
intended to deprive Tehran of key technical skills at the head of the program,
according to the analysts.�
And isn�t President Obama at the same extending a diplomatic
hand to the Iranians? And isn�t Israel, as of this date, one of our closest
allies [and I use the term loosely given that they spy on us more than any
nation, ally or enemy]; and isn�t Israel the recipient of US billions in
military aid, unsecured loans, and military hardware, spying software, plus
contributions of hundreds of millions of dollars from Jewish American
organizations?
More importantly, isn�t Israel in possession of some 200 to
300 nuclear warheads, products of the leaky Dimona nuclear reactor and
facility, which was built way back in the late 1950s with the help of the
French? Isn�t this the same plant that Mordechai Vanunu, a former orthodox Jew who
was a technician there, exposed in 1986 in the London Times? And didn�t that
earn him an 18-year sentence in solitary confinement in an Israeli prison and
subsequent house arrest when he talked to a reporter on his release?
But, I�m missing the strategy here I guess, for which the
Telegraph quotes US intelligence sources who say �Israel is using sabotage,
front companies and double agents to disrupt the regime�s illicit weapons project [italics mine] as an alternative to direct
military strikes.� Oh well, if it�s only that, what? It�s still threatening to
world peace.
But there�s more. Melman reports that �Israel has been
carrying out similar covert activities for about a decade, ever since Iran was first suspected of seeking nuclear weapons [italics mine]. Is that a finessed sentence or am I missing something? Say it.
They�ve been killing scientists for 10 years on the assumption or paranoia that
Iran has nuclear weapons.
Yet, here is a nation with 60-plus years
of nuclear proliferation, startin