Ahmadinejad bait

Ahmadinejad, following in the august footsteps of the Ayatollah Khomeini, is fond of blaming all of Iran's woes on Israeli-led machinations.  But of course the paranoid often have reason (and generate reason) to be paranoid, and demonized enemies do act as enemies.

The Jersusalem Post reports that an Egyptian paper has lionized the head of the Mossad, Meir Dagan, for effective covert action against Iran on various fronts: 

Without Mossad director Meir Dagan, the Iranian nuclear program would have been successfully completed years ago, Egyptian daily Al-Ahram claimed in an op-ed published Saturday.

"Over the past seven years, he has worked in silence, away from the media," the op-ed read. "He has dealt painful blows to the Iranian nuclear program … he is the Superman of the Jewish state."

Among the steps taken by Dagan against Teheran, Al-Ahram listed diplomatic action to embarrass the Islamic republic, action to fuel opposition protests, assassinations and covert attacks against nuclear facilities.

Debka File, a Hebrew-English online news source with no self-identifying information, adds,  "This commentary, which would necessarily have been approved at the top level of Egyptian government, by President Hosni Mubarak or intelligence minister Gen. Omar Suleiman."

More detail about Dagan's revamping of the Mossad from 2002 forward and its subsequent effective operations in Iran and throughout the Middle East was laid out  in The Wall Street Journal back in May by Israeli journalist  Ronen Bergman, author of The Secret War with Iran (2008):
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Gen. Dagan transformed the Mossad from top to bottom and made the organization's sole focus Iran's nuclear project and its ties to jihadist organizations. He put tremendous pressure on his subordinates to execute as many operations as possible. Moreover, he built up ties with espionage services in Europe and the Middle East on top of Israel's long-standing relationship with the CIA...


The results have been tremendous. During the last four years, the uranium enrichment project in Iran was delayed by a series of apparent accidents: the disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist, the crash of two planes carrying cargo relating to the project, and two labs that burst into flames. In addition, an Iranian opposition group in exile published highly credible information about the details of the project, which caused Iran much embarrassment and led to International Atomic Energy Agency inspections.

Ironically, Bergman claims that the Mossad's spectacular operations against Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and Syria "mostly" failed to "change reality": Iran's nuclear program is "storming ahead," Hezbollah dominates Lebanon, Hamas's standing in Gaza is enhanced, Syria continues to support H & H.  His "bottom line":

excellent intelligence is very important, but it can only take you so far. In the end, it's the tough diplomatic and military decisions made by Israeli leaders that ensure the security of the state.