Mossad: 'Stuxnet is our baby; Obama disclosed it for his reelection campaign'

A group of Mossad agents speaking with Haaretz's Yossi Melman on condition of anonymity have said that the Mossad - and not the Bush administration - developed Stuxnet, and that President Obama is now trying to take credit for it in a bid to help his reelection campaign (Hat Tip: MFS - The Other News via Atlantic Wire). Please recall the David Sanger piece in the New York Times about Stuxnet, which I blogged last week, which claimed that the Bush administration had begun developing Stuxnet, that President Obama had ordered it accelerated, and that Israel had only joined in later. Now, look at what Melman has to say about it.

The Israeli officials actually told me a different version. They said that it was Israeli intelligence that began, a few years earlier, a cyberspace campaign to damage and slow down Iran’s nuclear intentions. And only later they managed to convince the USA to consider a joint operation — which, at the time, was unheard of. Even friendly nations are hesitant to share their technological and intelligence resources against a common enemy.

Melman, and his writing partner Dan Raviv, promise more details on Mossad - CIA cooperation in their upcoming book (maybe if I'm really lucky they'll send me a review copy), which is due out next month. But they do give a hint as to the timing of the New York Times article.

Yet my Israeli sources understand the sensitivity and the timing of the issue and are not going to be dragged into a battle over taking credit. “We know that it is the presidential election season,” one Israeli added, ”and don’t want to spoil the party for President Obama and his officials, who shared in a twisted and manipulated way some of the behind-the-scenes secrets of the success of cyberwar.”

There's nothing Obama won't do to be reelected. Nothing at all.
Israel Matzav Blog