US Rejected Secret Israeli Request For Help In Attacking Iranian Nuclear Site

President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran's main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran's suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[hortonhearsawho2]

Blah blah blah, now what about the babe in the adjoining add....i say we talk.

[OliverTwist]

It appears that this article is misinformation and the sale of the bombs was approved and delivery of a large number of them has already occured and some of them may even have recently been used in Gaza recently.

See the article by Siun at firedoglake: nyts-sanger-sure-gets-it-wrong-us-did-sell-israel-bombs-for-iran-attack at firedoglake.

Here is a link:

http://firedoglake.com/2009/01/11/nyts-sanger-sure-gets-it-wrong-us-did-sell-israel-bombs-for-iran-attack/

It certainly will be interesting to see if the main stream media sites correct their reporting. They most often don't. This is one of the reasons they are no longer well regarded as news sources.

[111]

It seems that Israel says that we did sell them the arms they asked for and the NYT is incorrect.

http://firedoglake.com/2009/01/11/nyts-sanger-sure-gets-it-wrong-us-did-sell-israel-bombs-for-iran-attack/

"Yet, as we discussed back in September, the U.S. actually did approve the sale of 1,000 GBU-39, those "specialized bunker-busting bombs." As we noted then, Ha"aretz reported the sale on September 14th:

Haaretz, 9/14/08:

Despite reservations in Washington regarding a possible Israeli strike on Iran, the American administration will supply Israel with sophisticated weapons for heavily fortified targets, the U.S. administration announced¦

The Pentagon's announcement, which came on Friday, said the U.S. will provide Israel with 1,000 units of Guided Bomb Unit-39 (GBU-39) - a special weapon developed for penetrating fortified facilities located deep underground.

The $77 million shipment, which includes launchers and appurtenances, will allow the IAF to hit many more bunkers than currently possible. Although each bomb weighs 113 kilograms, its penetration capabilities equal those of a one ton bomb, according to professional literature."

There are more details and references at http://firedoglake.com that make it seem likely that when Israel is finished with Gaza they will strike Iran - at least that is how I'm reading it.

[elcojonu]

If they're so macho, why ask for help / permission ?; why not go ahead and do it anyway ?

[MsAttitude]

Where's the article from Reuters that starts, "The U.S. is seeking to hire a merchant ship to deliver hundreds of tons of arms to Israel from Greece later this month, tender documents seen by Reuters show."?

[JohnGault44]

Another undocumented NYT piece of fiction parading as "news."

The real news here is how little attention that is being given the article; barely 200 comments.

The NYT is like Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense; dead, it just doesn't know it.

[worldwithoutus]

amen to that,the nyt soon will be a second rate national enquierer but probaly not as respected.

[TammyKnowsBest]

This was reported on months ago. It wasn't a secret then and it's not a secret now. The only question is why the NYT decided to report this old news now that fighting has broken out in Gaza.

Here's the link dated Sept 25, 2008, the date months ago when the news broke.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/25/iran.israelandthepalestinians1

So again, why is this old story on todays FRONT PAGE NEWS at the New York Times?

[Fein]

For the Bush. administration to do something even slightly intelligent must have required a preponderance of evidence that it wasn't in our interest.

[david6]

This might explain the timing and savagery of the attack on Gaza.

"Won't greenlight our attack on Iran? Ok Mr Bush - we'll pound the hell out some relatively defenseless people during the US interegum. And then, Mr Obama, when the reprisals and angry rhetoric start getting widely reported in the US media during your term, you have much of a choice but to let us attack Iran. We'll have the US media start on the project right now, because it will take a little longer to get the rubes on board after the Iraq mess, and an attack on Iran is completely damaging to the US's own interests, but don't you doubt it will happen. The US people are our cattle."

Why are we allies with this country? I'm ashamed to be American.

[Tom Joad]

ok, to recap:

U.S. sells bo m b parts to Iran
U.S. sells bo m bs to Izrl
Izrl want to bo m b Iran with bo m bs we sold them to destroy bo m b parts we sold Iran.
U.S. says 'no', we're going to sabotage the bo m b parts we sold them first.
U.S. however does permit Izrl to hurl unlimited quantities of U.S.-sold ord nance into Gaza.

If you are wondering how this policy came about, the video below (to be included in the GWB Presidential Library) was just released by the White House. It shows the VP consulting with the Pres about how to make this policy work. Chilling!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShMA85pv8M

[chirps]

"U.S. however does permit Izrl to hurl unlimited quantities of U.S.-sold ord nance into Gaza."

No, that's not sold, it's free! And we're picking up the tab...again. Good going US Congress! Your absolute service to Is rael is commendable! Now go sit, beg and rollover. Good boy.

[nomoredead]

I pray that when Obama is in office he works on America's problems and not on Israel. A quarter of a trillion dollars for our military budget. We can't afford to be the worlds babysitter anymore.

[MagisterLudi]

Where are all the neurotics claiming that U.S. is controlled by Jerusalem?!
Hiding in other threads, I see.

[chirps]

Any movement on that Congressional investigation into the attack on the USS Liberty? No? Wonder why that is?

[steamboat]

For over a year all you folks on this blog said Bush was itching for a fight with Iran. And you know you all said it. So I find it amazing how low-key this story is now that it comes out he kept Israel from attacking Iran.

[Tom Joad]

most of the traffic this a.m. is on the thread documenting Iran's purchase of U.S. tech used in IEDs

[steamboat]

Yet you same folks didn't say a word and/or defended General Electric for doing business with Iran...Oh, I forgot the CEO is a liberal and democratic-party contributor so the rules are different.

[littlepeople]

If Iraq wasn't such an unmitigated failure, Bush surely would have led the charge into Iran. This new information doesn't change my opinion one iota.

[steamboat]

Your OPINION........But shouldn't you have EVIDENCE/ PROOF or are rumors and opinions of more validity to you?

[pros54]

some people view isreal and their much vaunted military ability as being omnipotent which is fallacy so far as I am concerned and it is the same kind of thinking that led all the so called genuises and financial wizzards to the kind of fraud Maddof was able to perpetrate on the world. people should have learned from the Lebanon war and the ongoing Gaza "Current Day Guernica', that It is not all it is said to be. As an underdog fighting a conventional war with regular armies and with unquestioned US technological support the surrounding countries are no match for Isreal , however when it goes into these wars of subjugation and unprovoked it will keep on finding itself bogged down and losing face all the time. If they bomb Iran it will not prevent those people from building a nuclear weapons. For those peole who think that with the continuing threats to Iran by Isreal and the Western world that Iran is not going to get nuclear weaponry are deceiving themselves. Nothing can stop them from getting nuclear weaqpons as the cat is already out of the bag. IIt is only a question of time. It may be delayed but it is going to happen war or no war. reasonable people should pursue how to diffuse tensions in that part of the world so people owning nuclear weapons would be of no use save for may be bragging rights.

[MagisterLudi]

Then The world should make a price of having nuclear weapons for Iranian mullahs prohibitively expensive. Low petrol prices help.

[FairTalk]

Why are these stories about Iran appearing now? I am seriously questioning the timing.