http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20599597-661,00.html
It's war already, says spy
Mark Dunn
October 18, 2006 12:00am
WESTERN countries are fighting World War III and it would last a
generation, former head of Israel's Mossad spy network, Efraim Halevy,
said in Melbourne yesterday.
Mr Halevy, who ran Israel's intelligence agency between 1998 and 2002,
said a major terror attack was possible in Australia.
But he said the public didn't appear to realise the seriousness of the
threat.
"The threats today are aimed at destroying the whole way of life in
democratic societies . . . of turning back the wheel more than 1000
years," Mr Halevy said.
The security adviser to former prime minister Ariel Sharon and now head
of strategic studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said Islamic
militancy was squarely aimed at establishing an international
caliphate.
"The goals here are global. The goals here are absolute," Mr Halevy
said.
"This is a modern-type third world war . . . (but) it's very difficult
to convince the public there is a war at all."
Mr Halevy said the three major threats the world faced were weapons of
mass destruction, Islamic terrorism and risk of rocketing oil and
energy prices, and said all those threats emanated from the Middle
East.
"If the world is threatened by the Middle East there is no option but
for the world to come to the Middle East," he said.
In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Halevy said:
PRIME Minister John Howard was a courageous and respected leader whose
experience on the international stage was much needed.
"He's one of the more courageous and one of the more seasoned leaders
in the world today."
SOME Muslim migrants were using religion as an identity card, motivated
by international Islamism and not a wish to integrate into societies.
"Their approach is to maintain their culture, religion and ethnic
identity parallel to the society in which they have been invited to
live."
IRAN would be emboldened by North Korea's nuclear debut in its drive
for nuclear weapons.
THE Iraq War was necessary to depose an unchecked Saddam Hussein and
defeat in Iraq would be a huge blow in the war on terror.
NEITHER Israel or Hezbollah won the recent war in Lebanon but Iran was
dealt a strategic defeat.
THE answer to the Palestine conflict lies in recognition of Israel's
right to exist and the need for Palestinians to be given dignity in any
settlement.
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