TEL AVIV [MENL] -- Israel and the United States continue to disagree over
the prospect of an Iraqi attack on the Jewish state.Western diplomatic sources said the disagreement focuses on Israel's
response to an Iraqi missile or weapons of mass destruction attack. The
sources said the dispute took place during strategic talks between the two
countries last week during the visit by Defense Undersecretary Doug Feith to
Israel.The focus of the disagreement was a scenario in which Iraq preempts an
expected U.S. attack on Baghdad. In this scenario, Iraq launches a missile
or WMD attack on Israel in an attempt to spark a Middle East war and divert
international attention away from the regime of President Saddam Hussein.The sources said Israel insists that it must respond to such an attack.
The Israeli delegation to the strategic talks maintained that under such a
scenario U.S. forces would not be in a position to defend against or respond
to such an Iraqi attack.
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