Power struggle in Washington?

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/may2005/pent-m10.shtml

Patrick Martin, in WSWS 10 May 2005, writes about a power struggle in Washington.

The Pentagon's top Iran specialist, Lawrence A. Franklin, has been charged with passing documents to persons linked to Israel.

Franklin worked for Douglas Feith, a key member of the of neo-conservatives who pushed for US military action against Iraq.

According to WSWS there appears to be a big conflict within the Washington political establishment. The cause of the conflict is Iraq.

According to WSWS, top Americans are coming to realise that the invasion of Iraq has been a disaster for America; Iraq now ties down 140,000 troops.

Martin writes: "Washington hoped to achieve a position of unchallengeable dominance in world oil markets and, with control of Iraq and Afghanistan and other military bases obtained after the 9/11 attacks, an impregnable strategic position in the Middle East and Central Asia. Instead, Iraq has become a quagmire..."

At the Pentagon, the two neo-conservatives most closely associated with the campaign for war against Iraq, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Undersecretary for Policy Douglas Feith, have been removed.

Some people in Washington are now cautious about an attack on Iran.

However, WSWS points to leaks to the media which raise tensions:

Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker that the US has carried out intelligence reconnaissance raids into Iran from bases in Afghanistan, seeking targeting information for future air attacks.

Pro-Israeli media pundits have openly stated that the CIA and FBI are targeting neo-conservatives in the Pentagon with close ties to the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The New York Sun, which has close links to the neo-conservatives, claimed that the FBI investigation of Pentagon leaks was instigated by Rumsfeld himself.

WSWS reminds us of the Jonathan Pollard case, when a Navy analyst was caught spying for Israel in 1986.

WSWS writes that ' Washington regards Iran ... as a desirable ally and potential strategic asset.'

Israel, on the other hand, sees Iran as an enemy.

What is really going on is dificult to determine. As WSWS writes: 'The relationships between Chalabi, the Israelis, Iran and the US military and intelligence apparatus are extremely murky...

'Despite the public accusation that he is an Iranian spy, for example, the Iraqi politician has since resurfaced as deputy prime minister and acting oil minister in the new US-backed stooge government of Prime Minister Ibraham Jaafari.'