April 24, 2008
Speaking of Nukes
The ever astute Dan Froomkin smells a rat. In a piece for his Washington Post column White House Watch, which he has entitled "What Are They Up To Now?" he writes:
Intelligence reports from this administration can't be taken at face value.President Bush has built up a prodigious track record of selectively disclosing intelligence findings that serve his political agenda. And some of the most important of those findings, of course, turned out to be completely false.
The latest disclosure from the White House's intelligence apparatus -- that Syria secretly built a nuclear reactor with North Korean help -- is in many ways a blockbuster. But at the same time, its highly suspicious timing raises doubts about the motivation behind its announcement.
And even if everything the administration says is true, there are many elements of the emerging story that deserve scrutiny.
Consider, for instance, that the Syrians were still nowhere near being able to build a nuclear weapon when the White House tacitly approved Israel's attack on the facility. Did you think Bush's pre-emption doctrine was dead? Just listen to the administration officials yesterday speaking sympathetically of Israel's conclusion that it faced an "existential threat."
Another obvious question: Why now? Why is the White House going public more than seven months after Israel's attack?
Administration officials offered an explanation yesterday -- saying that they were initially worried about provoking Syrian retaliation, and that the disclosure could actually help the ongoing nuclear negotiations with North Korea.
But there are still some who suspect the announcement is the work of Vice President Cheney and other administration neocons who are trying to upset those negotiations -- and further ratchet up tensions with Iran. The White House statement about the Syrian installation insisted that "this development . . . underscores that the international community is right to be very concerned about the nuclear activities of Iran and the risks those activities pose to the stability of the Middle East."
You can and should read the rest, but it will only confirm for you that Nancy should have started impeachment proceedings long ago.
It has been all too easy to sell war. Last Sunday, The New York Times broke a front page story about military pundits embedded in the media, which has has now all but disappeared. In response, Michael Moore issued this edict : " I would like tonight to call for a removal, an immediate removal, of all US troops from CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, CNN, NBC, all of them."
Why ever would we ratchet up tensions with Iran? Israel has the nuclear capabilities, after all. If the Israelis are in any way encouraged to use them, even in a limited way scientists predict that the consequences to the environment, and to human health will be dire.
Photo note: As close as we could get to a nuclear explosion given the spring material available in the photo archives -- that's a good thing.
Addendum:N uclear explosions since 1945
Posted by Dakota at April 24, 2008 08:56 PM