Arabs may have the oil, but we have the matches!

The Bush administration has taken a hypocritical stand against weapons of mass destruction (WMD), beginning from Iraq. The existence of a tremendous stockpile of WMD in one Middle Eastern country is systematically ignored. Alone among its neighbors, Israel possesses an advanced nuclear capability and a sophisticated delivery system. "No country in the Middle East has more weapons of mass destruction than Israel and no other country other than Israel has escaped scrutiny of its nuclear arsenal," reports the Center for Defense Information. Yet Israel is never publicly recognized as the largest producer of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East region.

With stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and an extremely sophisticated nuclear arsenal, and an aggressive strategy for their actual use, Israel represents an acute threat to peace and stability in the Middle East. Citizens concerned with the unilateral invasion of US upon Iraq and pursuit of peace in the Middle East have an obligation to speak out forcefully against the Israeli WMD program.

Before we could resolve our dispute with the plethora of painfully mundane analyses of ex- Generals, the news will now be poured upon us about the next "axis of evil" member, Islamic Republic of Iran but not Israel.

It should neither awe us nor shock us. This is part of the fatal game being played out against innocent people of the world. With complete occupation of Afghanistan and now Iraq, along with total access to Pakistani airfields and seaport, the sandwiched Iran will be invaded next.

Sooner than we think the old footage of blind folded American hostages and the Islamic government of Iran (more democratically elected than the US President) will overwhelm the airwaves. This media blitz will parallel the next Presidential re-election campaign. Democratic party (re: Carter era) will be labeled as reckless liberals and Republican party (re: Reagan era) will be portrayed as the rightful patriots. The Bush administration will use these emotional reminders for retaining his seat of power in the homeland while stoking the touchy sentiments and the usual exploitation of Muslims (Shiites & Sunni) and governments (Iran & Saudi) in the foreign occupied lands.

And the global dissent of good people will be ignored to yet another preemptive invasion of Iran and they will be made to forget the bigger monster, Israel from the very discourse of "axis of evil."

Brief List of Israel's Weapons of Mass Destruction:

Nuclear:

Sophisticated nuclear weapons that can be delivered by ballistic missiles or aircraft.
Thermonuclear weapons.
150MW heavy water reactor & plutonium reprocessing facility at Dimona, which does not even meet IAEA safeguards.
IRR-1 5MW research reactor at Soreq.
Not a signatory of the NPT.

Chemical:

Active weapons program with possible chemical warheads on ballistic missiles.
Production capability for mustard and nerve agents.

Biological:

Production capability and extensive research reportedly conducted at the Biological Research Institute in Ness Ziona.
Not a signatory of the BTWC.

Ballistic missiles:

Jericho-2 missiles with 1,500km range and 1,000kg payload, nuclear warhead capability.
Jericho-1 missiles with 500km range and 500kg payload.
MGM-52 Lance missiles with 130km range and 450kg payload.
Shavit space launch vehicle (SLV) with 4,500km range and 150kg to 250kg payload.
Unconfirmed reports of Jericho-3 program under development using Shavit technologies, with a range up to 4,800km and 1000kg payload.
Developing Next (Shavit upgrade) SLV with unknown range and 300-500kg payloads.

Cruise Missiles:

Harpy lethal unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with 500km range and unknown payload.
Delilah/STAR-1 UAV with 400km range and 50kg payload.
Gabriel-4 anti-ship cruise missile with 200km range and 500kg payload.
Harpoon anti-ship cruise missile with 120km range and 220kg payload.

Delivery Systems:

Fighter and ground-attack aircraft include: F-15I, F-15D, F-15C, F-15B, F-15A, F-16D, F-16C, F-16B, F-16A, F-4E-2000, F-4E, C7, and A-4N.
Ground systems include artillery and rocket launchers. Also, Popeye-3 land-attack air-launched missile with 350km range and 360kg payload, and Popeye-1 land-attack air-launched missile with 100km range and 395kg payload.

The nuclear-armed Israel is causing continual havoc in the region with its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons along with ballistic & cruise missiles ready for deployment on sophisticated delivery systems. The adjacent list of the Israeli arsenal helps one see the extravagant use of US Tax Dollars to develop WMD. For years Israel has been receiving on the average about US$3 billion a year. As recent as in March 2003, the US Congress gave US$10 billion as a special aid package to Israel.

According to the Sunday Times, quoting a senior Israeli intelligence official, "There is hardly a single known or unknown form of chemical or biological weapon ... which is not manufactured at the Nes Tziyona Biological Institute." (Usi Mahnaimi, Israeli Jets Equipped for Chemical Warfare October 4, 1998, London Sunday Times)

Sunday Times also reports that, "in developing their "ethno-bomb", Israeli scientists are trying to exploit medical advances by identifying distinctive genes carried by some Arabs, then create a genetically modified bacterium or virus ... The scientists are trying to engineer deadly micro-organisms that attack only those bearing the distinctive genes." (Usi Mahnaimi and Marie Colvin, Israel Planning "Ethnic" bomb, November 15, 1998, London Sunday Times)

In the recent book Israel and the Bomb, scholar Avner Cohen observes that Israel's nuclear policy has been an enduring success for Israel, because it has enabled the country to maintain a nuclear monopoly in the Middle East while avoiding the political liabilities associated with overt possession of nuclear weapons (New York: Columbia University Press, October 1998), p. 343)

People of conscious must discuss and challenge the Israeli nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction and initiate a vibrant debate hoping for, exposing at the minimum:

* The grotesque double standard of the U.S. condemning Iraq & Iran while protecting and enabling Israel to produce weapons of mass destruction.

* Israel's nuclear & WMD capabilities to public attention.

* Why the billions of dollars to Israel at the expense of essential programs in America.

Unless and until the world community confronts Israel over its covert nuclear program it is unlikely that there will be any meaningful resolution of the Israeli-Arab conflict, a fact that Israel is counting on with the encore of Sharon's era. "Arabs may have the oil, but we have the matches," said Sharon. Let us extinguish his matches before he lights & destructs the region and the world.

The Bush administration also dreams of an encore with a war, death & destruction agenda. He must be denied of his dreams and be instead given dreamless nights. His recent request for a supplemental $75 billion from the congress is broken down into: $63 billion for the war itself, $4.2 billion for homeland security and $8 billion for foreign and humanitarian aid. One can clearly see the gruesome disparity between the war expenses and the humanitarian aid. Humanity seems to be always short ended by the inhumane dictators of the east and the west, both.