'Israel will be destroyed if it attacks Iran'

Friday, 06 August 2010, 10:21:29 GMT

A group of ex-CIA officials have warned Washington against Tel Aviv's efforts to "mousetrap" the US on Iran, a mistake that would "destroy" Israel.

In a memo to the US President Barack Obama, a group of former CIA intelligence officers at the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity warned that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to go unilateral on Iran.

"Blindsiding has long been an arrow in Israel's quiver," the group said on Thursday.

To prevent such a 'disaster', the former officials wrote, the White House should "move quickly to pre-empt an Israeli attack by publicly condemning such a move before it happens."

If Obama fails to do so "Israel's leaders would calculate that once the battle is joined, it will be politically untenable for you to give anything less than unstinting support to Israel," the memo continues.

Plans for a military attack against Iran have gained momentum in Tel Aviv over the past few months.

On November 7, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon warned Iran that Tel Aviv's persistent threats of military action were not just a bluff.

Tel Aviv has also ordered a long list of US-made military equipment, including systems needed by the Israeli Air Force, certain types of missiles and advanced electronic war equipment.

The ex-CIA officials however have suggested that Tel Aviv's impatience may cost them dearly.

"Wider war could eventually result in destruction of the state of Israel," the group said.

Formed in January 2003 "to speak out on the use of intelligence to justify the war," the veterans are widely known for their opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

"We now believe that we may also be right on (and right on the cusp of) another impending catastrophe of even wider scope - Iran - on which another President, you, are not getting good advice from your closed circle of advisers," the memo concludes.

MT/MGH