Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Israel Connects With U.S. Early Warning System

This is an extremely significant development. Even during the Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the United States was very reluctant to allow Israel access to such information.....and when the Americans did allow access to their early warning system....it was on a very limited basis.

From AFP, with thanks to Michael:


Mon Apr 14, 11:46 AM ET

The United States has agreed to connect Israel to its ballistic missile early warning system to warn of any missile attack from archfoe Iran, a senior Israeli defence official said on Monday.
"Israel asked the US to connect to its ballistic missile early warning system as part of its efforts to defend itself from missile attacks, first of all from Iran," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.


"The US has agreed to the request," he said.

Israel first benefited from the worldwide radar system, which was built in the 1959, during the 1991 Gulf War when Iraq fired dozens of missiles at the Jewish state.

It was put in action again during the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

Israel claims that Iran's controversial nuclear programme and its recent ballistic missile test firing are aimed at developing an atomic weapon, a claim denied by Tehran.

The Jewish state considers Iran's Islamic regime an existential threat after President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad's repeated call for Israel's destruction.

Defence Ministry Director General Pinkhas Bukhris and top ministry adviser Amos Gilad have been in Washington twice in recent months to discuss military cooperation between Israel and its chief ally.

The US embassy in Israel did not immediately comment on the report.

2 comments:

Epaminondas said...

Olmert is SO stupid.
This is an ideal opportunity to at least ramp up the pressure.

He should announce that Israel does have a nuclear arsenal and that it does consist of 200 -> 600+ warheads, and that the entire force is now on launch on warning because of Iran's imminent acquisition of nukes

Pastorius said...

That seems like a good idea, but watch out for men with ingenious "peace" plans to solve that problem.