@@ Dr.Prather: Jews tells Bush to lie about Iran @@
Arash
February 26, 2005
Not Another Osiraq
Dr. James Gordon Prather
Nuclear weapons physicist
"Stopping Iran short of achieving a nuclear weapons
capability – by diplomacy if possible; by other means, if necessary – is a
vital U.S. interest."
That's essentially the message President Bush has been laying on the
Europeans, but it's actually a conclusion contained in a report just issued
by the [Jewish thinktank] Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP)
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/winep.php .
Every four years, the Institute takes it upon itself to convene a
Presidential Study Group and "charge" it with drafting a "blueprint" for the
next administration's Middle East policy.
The 53-member group included two former secretaries of state (Alexander Haig
and Madeleine Albright), a former CIA director (James Woolsey) a former
national security adviser (Sandy Berger) and more than a few Likudniks.
http://www.uregina.ca/arts/CRC
What evidence did the group uncover that Iran was secretly attempting to
achieve a nuclear weapons capability under cover of its peaceful nuclear
energy program?
Apparently, none at all.
Nevertheless, the group claims that:
"A major
reason for heightened concern about Iran's nuclear program is that failure
to resolve the challenge of Iranian proliferation would itself seriously
weaken the global nonproliferation regime. If all the effort devoted to the
Iran problem by the IAEA, European countries, and the United States still
fails to prevent Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons, then many states are
likely to draw the conclusion that there are no effective barriers to
proliferation."
It's a Good Thing that the group doesn't want the global nonproliferation
regime to be weakened. But Iran is a signatory to the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and that treaty makes the IAEA the
"Inspectorate" for ensuring that signatories do not seek to acquire nukes
under cover of their peaceful nuclear energy programs.
For the record, no NPT signatory has ever "diverted" nuclear materials from
their IAEA-safeguarded programs to a clandestine nuke program, much less
developed nukes, themselves.
During the past year or so, Iran has given IAEA inspectors unprecedented and
unlimited access to go anywhere, see anything, and take environmental
samples for analysis.. The IAEA has found no evidence that Iran now has – or
ever has had – a nuke development program.
So, why does the group feel that the efforts of European countries and the
US are needed? And that question especially needs to be asked since US
efforts appear to be counterproductive. In particular, Bush and the
Likudniks reject the "clean bill of health" the IAEA has given Iran and are
apparently attempting to sabotage the Iran-EU Agreement of 2003.
Well, maybe this section of the group's report will edify.
"Coordinating with Israel on the issue
of Iran's nuclear program is crucial. Given the Islamic Republic's stated
position denying Israel's right to exist, its proven track record of
terrorism against Israeli and Jewish interests, its active support of groups
that kill Israelis and undermine peace diplomacy, and its development of a
long-range capability to strike at Israel (a capability that could reach
other U.S. allies as well), Israel understandably views Iran's nuclear
programs with the gravest concern.
"Because the United States and Israel
may share a similar – though not identical – calculus about the sense of
urgency posed by Iranian proliferation and the options to address it, it is
important for Washington and Jerusalem to work together, at the highest
levels, to ensure that their analysis and their policies are as
complementary and coordinated as possible."
Presumably our polices were not that well coordinated back in 1981 when
Israel "took out" Osiraq, the Iraqi IAEA-safeguarded research reactor.
Here are excerpts from UN Security Council Resolution 487 condemning the
Israeli pre-emptive strike.
"Fully aware of the fact that
Iraq has been a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear
Weapons since it came into force in 1970, that, in accordance with that
treaty, Iraq has accepted IAEA safeguards on all its nuclear activities, and
that the agency has testified that these safeguards
have been satisfactorily applied to date;
"Strongly condemns the military
attack by Israel – in clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations
and the norms of international conduct;
"Calls upon Israel to refrain in
the future from any such acts or threats thereof;
"Further considers that the said
attack constitutes a serious threat to the entire IAEA safeguards regime,
which is the foundation of the non-proliferation treaty."
If Bush really wants to keep terrorists from getting their hands on nukes,
if he really wants to strengthen the NPT-IAEA nuke proliferation-prevention
regime, he should ensure that nothing like the Israeli raid on Osiraq ever
happens again.
* Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy implementing
official for national security-related technical matters in the Federal
Energy Agency, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the
Department of Energy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the
Department of the Army. Dr. Prather also served as legislative assistant for
national security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. -- ranking
member of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Senate Energy
Committee and Appropriations Committee. Dr. Prather had earlier worked as a
nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in
California and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico.
http://www.antiwar.com/prather
Riain Y. Barton
Arash wrote:
> AntiWar
> February 26, 2005
>
>
> Not Another Osiraq
>
>
> Dr. James Gordon Prather
> Nuclear weapons physicist
>
>
>
> "Stopping Iran short of achieving a nuclear weapons
> capability - by diplomacy if possible; by other means, if necessary
- is a
has - or
> ever has had - a nuke development program.
> may share a similar - though not identical - calculus about the
> attack by Israel - in clear violation of the Charter of the United
