Gary Younge in New York
Monday June 21, 2004
The Guardian
Israeli military and intelligence operatives are active in Kurdish areas of Iran,
Syria and Iraq, providing training for commando units and running covert
operations that could further destabilise the entire region, according to a report
in the New Yorker magazine.
The article was written by Seymour Hersh, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter
who exposed the abuse scandal in Abu Ghraib. It is sourced primarily to unnamed
former and current intelligence officials in Israel, the United States and Turkey.
Israel’s aims, according to Hersh, are to build up the Kurdish military strength
in order to offset the strength of the Shia militias and to create a base in Iran
from which they can spy on Iran’s suspected nuclear-making facilities.
“Israel has always supported the Kurds in a Machiavellian way – a balance
against Saddam,” one former Israeli intelligence officer told the New Yorker.
“It’s Realpolitik. By aligning with the Kurds Israel gains eyes and ears in Iran,
Iraq and Syria. The critical question is ‘What will the behaviour of Iran be if there
is an independent Kurdistan with close ties to Israel? Iran does not want an
Israeli land-based aircraft carrier on its border.”
By supporting Kurdish separatists, Israel also risks alienating its Turkish ally
and undermining attempts to create a stable Iraq. “If you end up with a divided
Iraq it will bring more blood, tears and pain to the Middle East and you will be
blamed,” a senior Turkish official told Mr Hersh.
Intel Brief, an intelligence newsletter produced by former CIA chiefs, noted
early this month that the Israeli actions are placing increasing stress on their
relationship with Turkey, which was already strained over the war. “The Turks
are increasingly concerned by the expanding Israeli presence in Kurdistan and
alleged encouragement of Kurdish ambitions to create an independent state.”
According to Mr Hersh, Israel decided to step up its role in Kurdistan last summer
after it was clear that the United States incursion into Iraq was failing, principally
because it feared the chaos would strengthen Iran. The Israelis are particularly
concerned that Iran may be developing a nuclear capability.
Iran said on Saturday it would reconsider its suspension of some uranium
enrichment activities after the International Atomic Energy Agency issued a
resolution deploring Iran’s limited cooperation with the agency.
In the autumn the former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak told the US vice
president, Dick Cheney, that America had lost in Iraq. Israel “had learned that
there’s no way to win an occupation,” he told Mr Cheney, and the only issue
was “choosing the size of your humiliation”.
From July last year, argues Mr Hersh, the Israeli government started what one
former Israeli intelligence official called “Plan B” in order to protect itself from
the fallout of the chaos prompted by America’s failure ahead of June 30. If the
June 30 transfer of sovereignty does not go well, “there is no fallback, nothing,”
a former National Security Council member tells Hersh. “The neocons still think
they can pull the rabbit out of the hat in Iraq,” a former intelligence official says.
“What’s the plan? They say, ‘We don’t need it. Democracy is strong enough.
We’ll work it out.'”
Israel has a longstanding relationship with the Kurds, whom they regard as one
of the few non-Arab allies in the area. The Iraqi Kurds, who played a key role in
providing the United States with intelligence ahead of the war, have been
angered by the United Nations resolution on Iraq earlier this month. The
resolution did not affirm the interim constitution that granted them minority
veto power in a permanent constitution and so could potentially leave them
sidelined.
One Turkish official told Mr Hersh that Kurdish independence would be calamitous
for the region. “The lesson of Yugoslavia is that when you give one country
independence everybody will want it. Kirkuk will be the Sarajevo of Iraq. If
something happens there, it will be impossible to contain the crisis.”