Report

Mike Whitney's analysis of the unfolding atrocity in Lebanon

(excerpt)

Israel’s present battle-plan originated with a policy paper that was written by former Defense Policy Board chief Richard Perle and (Bush administration officials) David Wurmser and Douglas Feith. The document, which was titled “A Clean Break; Strategy for Securing the (Israeli) Realm” provides the details of Israel’s plan to topple potential rivals in the region and redraw the map of the Middle East.

The text reads: “Securing the Northern Border: Syria challenges Israel on Lebanese soil. An effective approach, and one which America can sympathize, would be if Israel seize the strategic initiative (preemption) along its northern borders by engaging Hezbollah, Syria and Iran as the principle agents of aggression in Lebanon including . . . striking military targets in Lebanon, and should that prove insufficient, striking at striking at select targets in Syria proper.”

Perle’s document outlines exactly what is presently taking place even though it was written back in 1996. (It was composed for the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.)

This shows that Israel is not acting irrationally or spontaneously, but executing a carefully considered master plan for crushing potential enemies and reconfiguring the Middle East to accommodate the modern Israeli kingdom. (Hence, the pretentious euphemism “Securing the Realm”)

This is the war that Israel wanted from the very beginning; a final showdown with arch-nemesis Hezbollah, followed by confrontations with Damascus and Tehran. It’s all in Perle’s blueprint for “total war.”

Prime Minister Olmert has not deviated one millimeter from the original scheme.

--

Throughout the Arab world the same theory of “pacification” is being applied as Bush and Olmert continue their wanton assault on the basic platforms for human survival, leaving millions of Muslims in abject poverty without food, medicine, clean drinking water, or sufficient heat or light. They have created tens of thousands of refugees who have been driven from their homes or left in the ruins to slowly die in the dark. From the Caspian to the Red Sea, from the Mediterranean to the western tip of Afghanistan, Israel and America are spreading their devastation across the Middle East transforming the entire region into one massive Gaza Strip.

more