Reply #13: I beg to differ, Israel was definitely cheerleading the invasion

[Spazito]

of Iraq:

Israel


Israel will support the US if it attacks. In response to Saddam's agreement to allow weapons inspectors back into the country in September, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said 'inspectors and supervision only work with honest people. Dishonest people know how to overcome this easily.' Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has threatened to retaliate if Israel is attacked with chemical or biological weapons. In an interview in December, Sharon said: 'We have taken all the measures necessary to protect the population of Israel.'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,873140,00.html

Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Prime Minister, who supported the Bush Administration’s invasion of Iraq, took it upon himself at this point to privately warn Vice-President Dick Cheney that America had lost in Iraq; according to an American close to Barak, he said that Israel “had learned that there’s no way to win an occupation.” The only issue, Barak told Cheney, “was choosing the size of your humiliation.” Cheney did not respond to Barak’s assessment. (Cheney’s office declined to comment.)

In a series of interviews in Europe, the Middle East, and the United States, officials told me that by the end of last year Israel had concluded that the Bush Administration would not be able to bring stability or democracy to Iraq, and that Israel needed other options. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government decided, I was told, to minimize the damage that the war was causing to Israel’s strategic position by expanding its long-standing relationship with Iraq’s Kurds and establishing a significant presence on the ground in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan. Several officials depicted Sharon’s decision, which involves a heavy financial commitment, as a potentially reckless move that could create even more chaos and violence as the insurgency in Iraq continues to grow.



Israeli intelligence and military operatives are now quietly at work in Kurdistan, providing training for Kurdish commando units and, most important in Israel’s view, running covert operations inside Kurdish areas of Iran and Syria. Israel feels particularly threatened by Iran, whose position in the region has been strengthened by the war. The Israeli operatives include members of the Mossad, Israel’s clandestine foreign-intelligence service, who work undercover in Kurdistan as businessmen and, in some cases, do not carry Israeli passports.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/040628fa_fact?040628fa_fact

The bottom line, imo, is that Israel was very supportive of the US invading Iraq, did cheerlead them on until it was clear the occupation was an unmitigated disaster. Then, and only then, did Israel start voicing it's concern and did that by beginning to beat the war drums on Iran.