Three weeks ago, the Israeli air force did what was described by the New York Times as a training exercise over the Aegean Sea and Greece.
It involved over 100 Israeli F-16 and long range F-15 fighters and included choppers and refueling tankers. They flew around 900 miles, roughly the distance between Israel and the Iranian uranium enrichment plant at Natanz.
The Israelis refused to comment except to say that the air force trains regularly for contingencies designed to meet threats facing Israel. The IDF chief of staff, Lieutenant General Gaby Ashkenazy commented to the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee: "Beside the actions and sanctions against Iran, it is important we remain ready for any options."
Now what's interesting about this is the Israeli motive in doing this, aside from contingency planning. They may very well be signalling the Bush Administration that they will go it alone on Iran if they feel they're forced into a corner.
Given lackadaisical way the EU, the UN and the US are treating the prospect of Iran possessing nuclear weapons it has sworn to use against Israel in a genocidal fashion, one can hardly blame them.
Should things heat up into war with Iran, even if Israel is not directly involved they will have threats on three borders to deal with, Hezbollah, Syria and Hamas. And it's difficult to believe that America's favorite terrorists in Fatah would fail to join in the jihad against the Jews.
One Pentagon official was reported as saying, “They rehearse it, rehearse it and rehearse it, so that if they actually have to do it, they’re ready. They’re not taking any options off the table.”
An interesting remark, in that it implies the the Israeli Air Force has rehearsed these kind of exercises before, with the US being fully aware of it.
So....why did it suddenly leak now? Why the publicity?
Could it be that the last thing the Bush Administration wants is disturb anything or stir things up before he leaves office in 6 months? Does he fear the political and personal fallout of confronting Iran on his watch?
Only time will tell.
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