John McCain is on Meet the Press saying that Iran encouraged Hizbollah to attack Israel as a way of distracting the international community from the issue of their nuclear ambitions.
I want to say for the record that this is a lie.
Hizbollah’s cross border raid was not unusual. And it was a reaction to Israeli actions in Gaza. Here is how it was reported the day after the raid.
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said he would free the Israeli soldiers only in a prisoner swap, adding that he was open to a package deal that would include the release of the soldier held in Gaza.
“The capture of the two soldiers could provide a solution to the Gaza crisis,” he told reporters in Beirut.
At least 23 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Wednesday. And an Israeli airstrike early Thursday destroyed the building housing the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Foreign Ministry. Palestinian medics said 13 people in the neighborhood, including six children, were injured, mainly from flying glass and debris.
Here is what Sy Hersh reported:
According to a Middle East expert with knowledge of the current thinking of both the Israeli and the U.S. governments, Israel had devised a plan for attacking Hezbollah—and shared it with Bush Administration officials—well before the July 12th kidnappings…
“The Israelis told us it would be a cheap war with many benefits,” a U.S. government consultant with close ties to Israel said. “Why oppose it? We’ll be able to hunt down and bomb missiles, tunnels, and bunkers from the air. It would be a demo for Iran.”
A Pentagon consultant said that the Bush White House “has been agitating for some time to find a reason for a preëmptive blow against Hezbollah.” He added, “It was our intent to have Hezbollah diminished, and now we have someone else doing it.”
Iran promised to respond to the U.N. Security Council on August 22nd. There was no way to distract the international community from that date. John McCain is a liar.