The idea that promising to wipe Israel off the map while remaining determined to build a nuclear weapon would not have dramatic consequences for Iran is as fanciful as believing in magic carpets. Even more ironic is bitter ex-CIA director John Brennan labelling last week’s assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, an act of state-sponsored terrorism. In the context of an incoming US administration under president-elect Joe Biden, who pledged to re-enter the nuclear deal with Iran, Israel is not waiting for anyone to come to its defence. Israel is Australia’s most important Middle East ally.
According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, president Barack Obama was responsible for more than 560 air strikes, mostly using drones. Let’s get real. Every drone strike is an attempted assassination. Brennan was Obama’s CIA director and now is the disgruntled intelligence “swamp” creature who drags himself out of the reeds to rant and rave at President Donald Trump. Under Brennan, the CIA adopted the “signature strikes” policy.
One of the most controversial assassinations during the Obama administration was the 2011 drone strike against al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsular leader and US citizen Anwar Nasser al-Awlaki. It was an execution of a US citizen without trial. In his confirmation hearing to become CIA director Brennan said al-Awlaki’s involvement in efforts to kill Americans made him a legitimate military target. As recently as October 2019, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Major General Hossein Salami, declared that destroying Israel has become “achievable” thanks to his country’s technological advances. Salami stated: “This sinister regime must be wiped off the map and this is no longer … a dream (but) it is an achievable goal.” Following the Brennan logic, those involved in building weapons to wipe Israel off the map are legitimate military targets. Fakhrizadeh was, in effect, Iran’s top nuclear bomb-maker, complicit in that goal.
Read the article by Jason Thomas in The Australian.