Israel's attack on Iran is latest step in effecting regime change

Israel and its staunch ally, the US, have long had their eyes on greater control of the Arab world. And for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, waging war on many fronts is convenient and strategic.

- By Mel Frykberg

As tensions in the Middle East spiral and the prospect of a broader regional war intensifies, it's important to examine previous steps the US and Israel have taken over the years to effect regime change and hegemonic control of the region.

Israel's attack on Iran is the culmination of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's many threats over the years to bomb Iran. He first stated in 1992, when he was a member of the Knesset, that Iran was three to five years away from developing a nuclear weapon. In his 1995 book, Fighting Terrorism, Netanyahu warned that Iran was “five to seven years at most” from assembling such a weapon.

In 1996, a policy document titled “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm”, prepared by a study group led by American neoconservative Richard Perle, was presented to Netanyahu, who was also Israeli prime minister at the time. The document argued for regional regime changes rather than pursuing peace talks with the Arab world.

Perle was a member of a former neoconservative think-tank, the Project for a New American Century, which drummed up support for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, based on false claims of Baghdad possessing weapons of mass destruction. This came after the 9/11 attacks in the US in 2001, in which most of the attackers were from Saudi Arabia, an ally of the US. Although the claims were later proven to be false, there was a regime change in Iraq as planned.

In 2006, US General Wesley Clark received a classified memo outlining a new military strategy for toppling seven countries perceived as being hostile to Israel and the US over a five-year period. They were Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Iran.

Long-term project

During his previous two stints as prime minister, Netanyahu repeatedly warned that an Israeli attack on Iran was imminent, and several mock attacks were carried out.