Some thoughts…,

“Why would the US consent to allow IDF forces to use bases in Iraqw knowing full well that such an offense would not only complicate long term basing negotiations, but also raise the ire of neighbors (and solidify long held inherent biases about US intentions all along?)”

What neighbor would object? Syria? So? IAF used Turkish assets to refuel in taking out the little nuke thingy it Syria’s desert. Where was the ire on that one?
(NOTE: How that also indicates how much government orchestration of Arab street demonstrations really occurs.)

“Second Q: why would such a leak be a second headline in the JPost – sound like a clear disinformation headline? What is the optimal air routes given targeting and range of aircraft?”

Could be disinformation, it could also be a prod. There is probably more than one target area in separate parts of Iran, that someone would want to take out to eliminate the Iranuke project.

Most Sunni Arab near neighbors have come to an arrangement with Israel and so too have many of the Gulf Sunni, only Syria and Lebanon have not as Syrian accessed Iranian backed Shi’ah Hezbollah will not allow it and Assad is too wedded to the mullahs to stop. It is not big a stretch to see cooperation on eliminating the threat of a mutual enemy. And Iran has becoming a bigger problem for the region than Israel ever was.

Only Palestinian blackmail schemes are in jeopardy. That may be a good thing I think.

I believe that the new members of the Pakistani Government, because many of the leaders until recently were living in exile, were not prepared to view their old NW tribal pals with clear eyes. Now that they are seeing with their eyes wide open, a different tune is being played in Islamabad. What is striking about the 2001 Stratford document linked is that the predictions of timing were too compact,(that and the labels offered to identify types of thinking were off by a decade or two). But the nexus of the problem, the NW frontier in Pakistan was nailed as the heart of the matter for both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The resilience of the Pashtun and Taliban as predicted is actually somewhat uncanny. Perhaps, given the reference to the MAD Mullahs, John Stamford meant to link to a different document.

The trouble caused in Afghanistan by an alien Al Qaeda was not fully realized then, while the ill effects of an AlQ presence is easier to recognize today.