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The Obama administration is
finalizing a public report aimed at convincing skeptics that�against all
logic�the Syrian government used chemical weapons against unarmed
civilians. As establishment media breathlessly reports the build-up of
Western military forces for a "limited" strike�no convincing proof of who is
actually responsible for the casualties portrayed on gruesome videos is yet
available. It is therefore useful to analyze the latest pretext for wider
conflict against the past actions of the country likely to be the key
beneficiary of any U.S. intervention�Israel. Israeli false-flag attacks
have typically occurred in moments where long-term territorial issues were
in play. The present is just such a moment. In both the 1954 "Operation Susannah" terror operation against U.S. Information Agency facilities in Egypt and 1967 Israeli air and torpedo attacks on the USS Liberty, the disposition of valuable territory was at stake. In 1954 Israel did not want the great powers to vacate military control of the Suez Canal. Israel calculated that undercover operatives dressed as Arabs bombing U.S. Information Agency installations would convince the United States that Islamic radicals might halt maritime safe passage. The plan backfired when the Israeli operatives bungled the explosives and were caught by Egypt and prosecuted. According to secret files recently released by the Eisenhower Presidential Library, the commander-in-chief came to think the Israeli government was led by "fanatics." (PDF) The Israeli government crisis precipitated by this false-flag-gone-bad became known as the "Lavon Affair." But would the U.S. be in the Suez Canal Zone if the plan had succeeded?
In the past, some of America's elected leadership worried about being tricked and trip-wired by Israel into disastrous foreign interventions. A declassified 1961 Senate Foreign Relations Committee (PDF) memo states �In recent years there has been an increasing number of incidents involving attempts by foreign governments, or their agents, to influence the conduct of American foreign policy by techniques outside normal diplomatic channels�..there have been occasions when representatives of other governments have been privately accused of engaging in covert activities within the United States and elsewhere, for the purpose of influencing United States Policy (the Lavon Affair).� The Senate Foreign Relations Committee heavily investigated Israel's American lobbing organizations as a result of these concerns, but CIA briefing information about covert Israeli operations remains classified in the Senate record. The hearings and Justice Department actions led to the destruction of the lead Israel lobbying organization�the AZC�and its replacement by another unregistered foreign agent, AIPAC. In
Speed has always been essential in past false flag operations. The mark�Americans�must be compelled to act quickly after "the Hurrah" but before the story unwinds. In the case of Operation Susannah, charred dead U.S. Information Agency employees likely would have been splashed across the front pages of the Washington Post and The New York Times as outraged commentators demanded the permanent U.S. military occupation of the Suez Canal Zone�if only Israel's bombs had gone off when they were supposed to. Similarly, the outrage of the sinking of an innocent U.S. ship and gunning of lifeboats by unmarked Egyptian planes would have triggered orchestrated chants to "Remember the USS. Liberty" and American sympathy with Israel's unilateral expansion of its "security zone." Unfortunately for Israel, Operation Susannah bombs went off too soon and the USS. Liberty crew managed to keep it afloat (with absolutely no thanks to LBJ.) While the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons to attack civilians while winning the conflict (and just as UN inspectors were arriving) defies all logic, it is clear is that Israel�once again�faces territorial pressures. Under U.S. pressure to negotiate a peace agreement with Palestinians over the next nine months, trip-wiring the U.S. into an open-ended conflict in Syria could be a winning strategy for getting the West to ignore its slow-motion absorption of remaining Palestinian territories, and even provide a pretext for Arab populations to be expelled due to "Syrian infiltration." American taxpayers may once again be left holding the bag for a rushed military intervention that serves no widely-held U.S. interest. In terms of the economy and credibility of U.S. foreign policy, Syria may be America's "last hurrah."
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