posted by Vitchilo
The article is in French but it says it all . . I'll try to translate it.
Nuclear israel - An error from the new defense secretary Robert Gates? 9 Dec 2006 “The new defense secretary, Robert Gates, plunged the Israeli authorities into embarrassment by recognizing openly that Israel had nuclear weapons. During his audience before a hearing of the Senate, he declared: "If Iran wishes to obtain nuclear weapon, it is because it is surrounded of powers which holds already this weapon as Pakistan in the east, Russia in the north and Israel in the west!” It is the first time that a very American senior official breaks the policy of "blurring" to deliberately maintain secrecy around the Israeli nuclear potential.
So here's a confirmation of the Israeli nuclear weapons. So maybe now we will see an end to the double standards? Israel/USA and the others? If Iran must be disarmed, Israel too. And Iran is not much more likely to nuke Israel than Israel is of nuking Iran. [Edited by Don W]
So-called informed people generally say Israel has 50-300 nukes. Most likely the US furnished the fissionable materials and the Israelis built the bombs themselves. It is much harder to use a bomb built by another
Sometime between the Six Day War (1967) and the Yom Kippur War (1973), some brave Israeli revealed publicly that the Israelis were building a-bombs in the Negev Desert. For his trouble, he was sentenced to life in prison and the Israelis apparently have every intention of carrying out the sentence but it is now more for spite than for justice. I have written on his behalf 20 odd years ago when I belonged to Amnesty International.
The NPT never got much co-operation from the Big 5. US, USSR, UK, France and China. It was mostly for the folks back home. To quiet the peace-niks. “Nukes are bad for everyone but us.” One day, we will all regret this attitude on the part of the world’s leaders. When a person like OBL gets one or two of the 15-20,000 nukes floating round the planet, and puts them inside cargo containers to be delivered to an enemy of his choice. It is too bad there is no way to hold “leaders” accountable. Like Robespierre held King Louis XVI liable? Let’s hope any bomb destined for the US of A is sent to W-DC.
Add India and Pakistan because of their unending fight over Kashmir. One survey found 70%+ of Kashmiri wanted to be independent of both India and Pakistan. It is the most valuable area of that size in that region. Now add North Korea because Bush43 is as nuts as Kim Jong Il.
I think Israel can make a better case for having nukes than North Korea. Being somewhat older than you guys, I can recall the Arabs saying, in 1948, they were going to push the Israelis into the Mediterranean Sea. The Arabs have never had the capability to do that, but they love to say it. Jewish people used to say, "Next year in Jerusalem!" Sort of like the Americans shouted in 1898, “Remember the Maine!” It’s a rally cry, a morale booster and costs you nothing. All hyperbole we call it. Braggadocio if you’re Italian. Unfortunately for the Arabs, the Israelis and Americans are able to play off this hyperbole into a cause celebre to do all sorts of wicked things. As in Gaza. As in Lebanon. As in the Occupied Territories. As in Iraq. Etc.
We still have a window of opportunity to fix the Arab Israeli problem that we created. Let us not delay much longer. We will regret that if we keep up the current non-policy. The a-bomb won’t come from Iran, but from other radical anti-Israel anti-American groups. How would the earth look of Tel Aviv and W-DC disappeared the same day? It’s up to us. The stakes are getting higher. The prize remains the same. Does that make good sense?
[edit on 12/9/2006 by donwhite]
