Israel & intelligence (merged thread)

[Tom Odom]

Former Senior CIA Operative Says Spy Agency, State Dept. Are Antisemitic, By Jeff Stein. Congressional Quarterly: Spy Talk, October 23, 2008.



Secretary Rice anti-Israel? Not to sound crass, but its too bad she isn't.

Syria has a proven track record of destroying Salafi Jihadists and provided intelligence that saved American lives in the wake of 9/11. Their cooperation in the reconstruction of Iraq could have easily been secured. So if Secretary Rice were indeed anti-Israel, we would not favoring regime change in Syria and subsequently not be on the side of the same guys responsible for 9/11.

Funny she showed up as a center point of discussion on the AKO intelligence discussion email circuit because of this article:

Hizballah – and by extension, Iran – owns Lebanon

Former CIA Ops Officer on Hizballah
By W. Thomas Smith Jr. Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Among my sources for a recent piece, “Are We Funding the Lebanese Army or Hizballah?” (Human Events, Oct. 20, 2008), was my friend and colleague, Clare M. Lopez, who – when I mentioned to her my concerns regarding Hizballah’s having wormed its way into the legitimate Lebanese Defense apparatus as an official component of the army – said to me, “It’s actually the other way around. The army now appears to be part of Hizballah.”

Lopez – a former operations officer with the Central Intelligence Agency who is today a widely sought expert in the interconnected realms of strategic policy, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism – clearly understands the dynamics of Lebanon, its strategic importance in the war on terror, and its increasingly dominant kingdom within the state, Hizballah.

My comments were:

Many words come to mind but they are not suitable for here.

I am glad she is a former CIA Ops Officer.

Anyone who thinks Hizballah is a direct extension of Iran with no end state or agenda of its own does not understand Lebanon.

Best

Tom

and

First I think the article is electioneering hyperbole and I will not go beyond that statement.

Second Lebanon is a microcosm of the Middle East in its ethnic quilt. Agendas fold within agendas and simple just does not apply. Hizballah is a Lebanese--hence Arab--Shia fundamentalist organization that has consistently expanded its social networks in Lebanon even as it expanded its military capacities.

Iran is also complex and its role in Lebanon is not simpy to have a foothold on the Mediterranean. The image of such a geostrategic posture is more valuable than actually trying to maintain such a posture. Certainly Tehran sees benefit in expanding its ties to Hizballah as a challenge to Israel and
the US. But the Iranians are not Arab and that means a lot in just how close those ties can become. To declare that Iran owns Lebanon is simply too simple and certainly too short sighted. Syria tried to own Lebanon and I would hazard a guess that the old school in Syria still want to control Lebanon.

Tom