Steve Quayle News Alerts

October 30, 2002
© 2002 WorldNetDaily.com

An alliance between North Korea, Iran, Syria and Iraq brought the world to the brink of war in 1992, says a new book exploring U.S. policy failures in the Middle East and the way they opened the door for dramatic terrorism in the 21st century.

The alliance, detailed in terror expert Yossef Bodansky's "The High Cost of Peace," takes on special significance with recent admissions by North Korea that it has already joined the nuclear club. Iran, significantly, also has nuclear weapons, Bodansky says.

"During the spring and early summer of 1991, as the Soviet Union was wobbling toward its demise, the anti-U.S. strategic mantle passed to an informal grouping of rogue states – the People's Republic of China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran," writes Bodansky. "All aspirant powers, they were alarmed by the demonstration of American military might, resolve and technological expertise in the war against Iraq. However, with time, these regimes reached more realistic conclusions about the lessons of the Gulf War."

These nations, and later others, agreed on three tenets insofar as the U.S. goes:

* Ultimately there is no alternative to military confrontation with the U.S. – either through terrorism, subversion, conventional warfare or unconventional warfare;
* It is possible, after assessing damage sustained by Iraq in the war, to fortify and conceal vital installations against attacks by U.S. non-nuclear weapons;
* The U.S. would not have intervened to save Kuwait from a nuclear Iraq. Therefore, it is imperative for all challengers to acquire nuclear weapons to deter American intervention.

Though Iran had fought a bloody war with its neighbor Iraq – a conflict that killed as many as 1 million people on both sides – by 1991, Tehran and Baghdad began to see their mutual fates were tied together, writes Bodansky.

By the spring of 1992, with Iran's help, Iraq was not only trading with Syria for basic consumer goods, it was also buying sophisticated weapons systems from China and North Korea – delivered through Iran. By July, Iran was assuming leadership of this new axis with plans to evict the U.S. from the Persian Gulf and the Middle East on its way to destroying Israel.

War was planned for the fall – and North Korea was to play a significant role, according to Bodansky.

In October, Iran deployed its two nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles.

But, after the buildup, the preparations for war fizzled out. An internal political crisis in North Korea was the reason. Dictator Kim Il-Sung was ill. But he was not yet ready to yield power to his son, Kim Jong-Il.

Though North Korea officials told Iranian leaders they were still ready to go to war with the U.S. before the U.S. elections, Tehran determined that "confidence was lacking at the highest level."

This history raises questions about North Korea's recent announcement that it, too, has joined the nuclear club. Some intelligence analysts believe the timing of that public declaration was meant to deter or delay the imminent U.S. attack on Iraq. They say both Iraq and Iran are on the verge of significant technological breakthroughs that could change the balance of power in the region. And, they say, North Korea is once again working in concert with this anti-American alliance.

"In the spring of 2002, Iran crossed a major operational threshold with the successful test-firing of the Shihab-3 ballistic missile," Bodansky writes. "Launched from the Semnan region on May 1, the Shihab-3 achieved a range of more than 600 miles and struck its intended target – a major first. Any lingering doubts about the actuality of the Iranian nuclear threat were dispelled on May 24, during the Bush-Putin summit in Moscow, in a briefing by the Russian deputy chief of the general staff, General Yuri Baluyevsky. Addressing the significance of the Iranian ballistic-missile program as a regional and global threat, Baluyevsky was most explicit: 'Iran does have nuclear weapons. Of course, these are non-strategic nuclear weapons. I mean these are not ICBMs with a range of more than 5,500 kilometers and more.' While Iran may not be able to hit Moscow or Washington with its nuclear-tipped missiles, it can certainly strike Israel."

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29464