I read an item in Foreign Policy last week and have been digesting it for the last few days and thinking about what it really means for U.S. national security and U.S. foreign relations. The particular article was titled, "False Flag" and you can read the article here. A false flag is a reference to agents of a government running a covert operation under the guise of representing a government other than the one for whom these agents really work.
According to memos found in the archives of U.S. intelligence services Israeli Mossad officers passed themselves off as U.S. Central Intelligence Agency officers, spending U.S. dollars and sporting U.S. passports. The Israeli officers were recruiting operatives (operatives are foreign nationals who actually do the espionage or covert action on behalf of agents or officers of another country's intelligence apparatus) from the Jundallah, which is a Pakistani-based Sunni extremist organization. Jundallah members are according to both some Mossad sources and U.S. intelligence sources, responsible for assassinating government officials and killings of Iranian civilians. The U.S. civilian leadership had barred U.S. officers from dealings with Jundallah, but apparently Mossad feels differently about using known terrorists to undertake operations on their behalf.
So, here are our nominal allies in the Middle East region deliberately false-flag operating with a known terrorist group under guise as representing the U.S. What is more astounding is that this operation was undertaken during the last two years of the George W. Bush presidency, the most notably pro-Israeli presidents of the last 20 years. These operations forced U.S. intelligence agencies to shut down some of our own operations.
So let's see if I can put this in proper perspective. Israel routinely spies on its most stalwart ally (does the name Jonathan Pollard ring any bells). Israel routinely requests U.S. assistance for carrying out assassinations of government members in Middle Eastern and Southwest Asian states. And, apparently Israel carries out operations involving know terrorists in the name of the U.S. government.
Just my two cents here, of course, but this makes me re-think the questioning of Israel's importance to U.S. national security and national politics as pointed out in various writings of Mearsheimer and Walt. By the way, I have been and still remain a supporter of Israel's right to defend itself against the coordinated and concentrated efforts of Arabs to end its existence. I am, however, questioning the validity of the closeness of U.S. alliance with Israel in light of this information.
According to memos found in the archives of U.S. intelligence services Israeli Mossad officers passed themselves off as U.S. Central Intelligence Agency officers, spending U.S. dollars and sporting U.S. passports. The Israeli officers were recruiting operatives (operatives are foreign nationals who actually do the espionage or covert action on behalf of agents or officers of another country's intelligence apparatus) from the Jundallah, which is a Pakistani-based Sunni extremist organization. Jundallah members are according to both some Mossad sources and U.S. intelligence sources, responsible for assassinating government officials and killings of Iranian civilians. The U.S. civilian leadership had barred U.S. officers from dealings with Jundallah, but apparently Mossad feels differently about using known terrorists to undertake operations on their behalf.
So, here are our nominal allies in the Middle East region deliberately false-flag operating with a known terrorist group under guise as representing the U.S. What is more astounding is that this operation was undertaken during the last two years of the George W. Bush presidency, the most notably pro-Israeli presidents of the last 20 years. These operations forced U.S. intelligence agencies to shut down some of our own operations.
So let's see if I can put this in proper perspective. Israel routinely spies on its most stalwart ally (does the name Jonathan Pollard ring any bells). Israel routinely requests U.S. assistance for carrying out assassinations of government members in Middle Eastern and Southwest Asian states. And, apparently Israel carries out operations involving know terrorists in the name of the U.S. government.
Just my two cents here, of course, but this makes me re-think the questioning of Israel's importance to U.S. national security and national politics as pointed out in various writings of Mearsheimer and Walt. By the way, I have been and still remain a supporter of Israel's right to defend itself against the coordinated and concentrated efforts of Arabs to end its existence. I am, however, questioning the validity of the closeness of U.S. alliance with Israel in light of this information.
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