Is the Israeli Air Force Agitating for an Iran Attack?

The targeted strikes have been one component of a wider effort against Iran's atomic activities that also included last year's computer-based strike with the Stuxnet malware, Israeli intelligence insiders said.

Elements of the Israeli armed forces -- particularly commanders in the country's air force -- consider such clandestine activities insufficient and have advocated increasingly for airstrikes against Iranian targets, the first Israeli source said. The adequacy of targeted killings as a means of slowing Iran's nuclear advancement has proven controversial, Haaretz has reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far accepted the contention of intelligence specialists in his country that strikes on critical sites and personnel are the optimum method of hindering Iran's advancement toward a nuclear weapons capability, but it is uncertain how long the experts will succeed in making their case, Der Spiegel reported.

"As long as Mossad is leading the fight against the bomb, it will get the big budgets," the insider said, adding the competition between Israel's armed forces and its intelligence service would affect the likelihood of eventual military action against Iran. "Just like with everything, this is also about prestige," the source added (Ulrike Putz, Der Spiegel, Aug. 2).

Source: National Journal's Global Security Newwire