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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (217)	1/2/2001 9:02:27 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 23908

And now to get back on topic, I'm surprised no one has posted this already. Pay careful attention to it and ask yourself whether it is resignation of the inevitable, or a ramping up of the rhetoric that will lead to an agreement. jpost.com Barak to IDF: Prepare for war By Arieh O'Sullivan (January 2) - Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the General Staff yesterday to prepare for an outbreak of regional war. Meeting in Tel Aviv yesterday with the weekly General Staff forum, Barak told his generals that they had to "bear in mind" that the security situation could deteriorate and lead the entire Middle East into a deadly conflict. Defense Ministry sources said that Barak's instructions to IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz and the rest of the general staff were not to pull the covers off tanks in the storehouses. Rather, the instructions were for them to take the necessary preparations such as making sure the army's supplies were taken care of and precautionary measures taken. "It is the IDF's function to always prepare for war," said one defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "But now the prime minister has simply stressed that there was a greater probability that conflict could break out." Mofaz and other top generals have repeatedly warned over the past couple of months that a serious deterioration in the conflict with the Palestinians as well as along the Lebanon border could quickly mushroom. The current intelligence assessment is that the probability for war breaking out is no longer low. The IDF has already moved to deal with this by calling up reserve units to replace soldiers in the standing army who have been deployed in the territories since the violence broke out in late September. Free from routine security duties, the soldiers have been sent back to combat training. (Note: VERY IMPORTANT Indicator!!.. RR) Barak's instructions to the IDF came as talks with the Palestinians appear to be going nowhere. They also came following Iranian threats that Teheran would retaliate if Israel struck at Lebanon or Syria. The two scenarios which the military sees as most likely are a total collapse of peace talks with the Palestinians and all-out war with the Palestinian Authority. Israeli retaliation could easily lead to Egyptian and Jordanian responses against Israel, as well as dispatching of Arab auxiliary forces, including Iraqi attacks. The second scenario is a quick deterioration on the Lebanon border by Hizbullah with Syrian and Iranian encouragement. A decisive Israeli response could result in a large-scale offensive. The Arab armies have closely watched the IDF and its progressive build-up with advanced weapons and far superior air force and armor. Senior intelligence officials have said that except for Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the Arab nations have not tried to reach parity with the IDF. Syria gave up on that quest over a decade ago. But they have invested in weapons that would hit Israel's Achilles heel, such as surface-to-surface missiles and chemical and biological weapons. ********************** And Israel has nuclear armed diesel subs at sea right now. Diesel subs, with exception of snorkeling to re-charge batteries, are even more silent than US nuclear subs. The greatest threat out there, imo, is a terrorist attack with biological or chemical weapons, where the identity of the attacker is unknown. Regards, Ron