NORTH: Ayatollah talk

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PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C.

Here in the Carolina "Low Country," there is considerable consternation about this week's meeting in Switzerland between U.S. and Iranian diplomats. Such confusion is understandable given the longstanding Bush administration policy against such meetings, recent events in that part of the world - and the way in which the State Department and White House announced the July 19 get-together. In short, what has been happening in that part of the world and what Washington is now saying just don't match. That's a very dangerous combination.

Last summer, the government of Israel began making significant improvements in measures to protect their civilian population. Civil-defense enhancements include new bomb shelters, stockpiling food and water, distribution of upgraded chemical-biological protective equipment, radiation detectors - and drills so civilians know where to go and when in the event of an attack. Though these preparations have been openly discussed and debated in the Israeli press, they have been widely ignored by mainstream media in the United States.

On Sept. 6, 2007, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) carried out a night raid on a Syrian nuclear facility being built with North Korean assistance near the Turkey-Syrian border. U.S. intelligence officials say the site was completely destroyed without the loss of any Israeli aircraft. Such a strike required at least the tacit agreement of authorities in Ankara. Notably, the raid prompted only muted complaints from Arab governments - a fact not missed by Israelis contemplating military action against Tehran.

During the first week of June, the IAF conducted exercises through NATO-controlled airspace in the Eastern Mediterranean and over Greece, employing more than 100 F-15s, F-16s, aerial refueling tankers, airborne intelligence platforms, command-and-control aircraft, and search and rescue helicopters. The training missions replicated the near 1,000-mile range required to attack Iranian missile and nuclear-weapons assembly sites at Nantaz, Lavizan, the Parchin military complex and the Arak heavy water facility.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed new economic and banking sanctions against individuals and corporations connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In making the announcement, Stuart Levey, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said: "Iran's nuclear and missile firms hide behind an array of agents that transact business on their behalf."

A day later, the ayatollahs and the IRGC responded with a series of missile and rocket launches. Though their propaganda coup was compromised by doctored photos, the message was clear: the Iranians can sow death and destruction well beyond their borders.

U.S. officials jumped to reassure Tehran's nervous neighbors the "U.S. will defend our allies in the region," and that the missiles fired were "old technology." Yet Iran's claim that "more than 30 U.S. and NATO bases are within our reach at the push of a button" is no boast.

That's why the sudden decision to send Undersecretary of State William Burns to accompany a European Union (EU) delegation for meetings with the Iranians is so confounding to so many. It ought to be clear that the "sanctions-incentives" approach long advocated by the United Nations and the EU has not worked. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says this Saturday's face-to-face confab with Saeed Jalili - Iran's top "nuclear negotiator" - represents "no change in the substance, but it sends a strong signal." Unfortunately, it may be just the wrong signal to send.

Given preparations in Israel - both civil and military - it should be evident that the government in Jerusalem has decided it can no longer hope that the "International Community" will prevent the Iranians from launching an attack. They now believe they will soon have to act in their own self-defense.

For five years various Israeli administrations have bided time as the toothless International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) pleaded for answers to their inspectors' questions about Iranian nuclear weapons production. The Israelis waited patiently as the very docile Javier Solana delivered increasingly lucrative "incentives" to Tehran - only to be diddled by apocalyptic ayatollahs and their diminutive but dangerous puppet, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Meanwhile, the Iranian nuclear weapons program proceeded unabated.

Israel's very survival could well depend on what happens in the next few months. If the outcome of this week's meeting in Switzerland is more of the same, "wait and see what the Iranians think about our new proposal," then military action is all but certain.

The government in Jerusalem is well aware that a strike at Iranian missile and nuclear facilities will have profound, long-term consequences. The Israelis don't want to launch a pre-emptive attack before Nov. 4 because they don't want to affect the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections. Nor do they want to deal with the post-Inaugural uncertainty of a new administration in Washington. Between now and then, someone had better figure out how to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program, or the Israelis will do it for us.

Oliver North is a nationally syndicated columnist, the host of "War Stories" on the Fox News Channel, author of "American Heroes" and founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance.