Follow up on the NYTimes' Israel Iran story

I made note yesterday of how the NYTimes/Michael Gordon article on the Israeli military exercise seemed a bit like a setup. Well, as a media ploy, it sort of worked. Today we have a series of follow on articles in other media all painting it as a warning or precursor to Iran rather than simple contingency planning, all confirmed by anonymous US sources, of course.

Guardian: Israeli jet exercise is warning to Iran over nuclear facilities, Pentagon says

CNN: Israeli air exercise probably message to Iran, U.S. official says

CBS: Is Israel Poised To Attack Iran?

BBC: Israelis 'rehearse Iran attack'

Let's remember that these exercises took place a month ago and just happened to be "leaked" by "US officials" (White House personnel) on the tail of George Bush's European trip where he was seeking support for new sanctions.

Get the message? Support the sanctions or the Israelis go.

But the Israelis aren't going to go. This is exploiting "old news." Since the Israelis conducted this exercise they have reenergized their negotiations with Hamas, Hezbullah, and Syria, something they would not be doing if they were intending to launch a strike on Iran. (I wonder if the exercise results were bad?)

It really is another shameful media moment.