Yadhout Ahronot: Israel may join attack on Iraq before year end

The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot said on Sunday that the Israeli army chief of staff Moshe Yaloun thinks the USA will attack Iraq before the end of the current year and that the Israeli army, in light of clear estimates, started necessary preparations intensively due to the possibility that Israel might join the war cycle.

The paper said that Yaloun declares his said estimated in a series of meetings he held in recent weeks.

The Israeli security departments. On the other hand, estimate that the attack will be prior to that, which means before the legislative elections to new half members of the US Congress in November, the paper added. The paper continued that similar estimates were issued by certain western intelligence sources.

According to the paper, the Israeli analysts believe that the administration of the US President George Bush is pursuing a misleading media policy so as to convert the awakening ( revival of the Iraqi President ) Saddam Hussein into a coma."

The paper said that the Israeli army started necessary preparations, intensively "due to the fact that Israel might join the cycle of the war, taking into account that Saddam Hussein might direct a chemical or biological blow to Israel or send 'suicide pilots' in attacks similar to September 11 in New York, in case he ( Saddam) feels his regime is endangered."