A "Clean Break" revisited in light of recent developments in Lebanon

"Syria challenges Israel on Lebanese soil. An effective approach, and one with which America can sympathize, would be if Israel seized the strategic initiative along its northern borders by engaging Hizballah, Syria, and Iran, as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon...Israel can shape its strategic environment...by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq - an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right - as a means of foiling Syria's regional ambitions."

The above are excerpts from a June 1996 report, entitled "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm," prepared by The Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies' "Study Group on a New Israeli Strategy Toward 2000."

Authors include Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and David Wurmser.

Perle is currently a member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board (he stepped down as chairman in early 2004 due to conflicts over his business holdings).

Feith is currently spending time with his family.

He announced his intended summer resignation as undersecretary of defense for policy on Jan. 26, 2005. The reason given was a desire for more family time. He was the #3 man in the Pentagon hierarchy.

The announcement also preceeded the May 4, 2005 arrest of Larry Franklin (the FBI investigation of Franklin became public knowledge in August 2004).

Franklin worked for Feith in the Near East and South Asia branch of the Pentagon's policy office. He was accused of passing classified information about Iran to members of the Israeli lobbying group, AIPAC.

Wurmser currently works in Vice President Cheney's office as an advisor.

Here's a link to the full document:

http://www.israeleconomy.org/strat1.htm