Text 30381, 76 rader
Skriven 2009-03-28 12:43:22 av Lee Lofaso (3:800/432.0)
Ärende: Israeli Nuclear Weapons
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Hello Everybody,

Much has been said over the past few years about Iraq
having a nuclear weapons program, which was one of the
main reasons cited by George W. Bush for invading Iraq.
Since then, even more has been said about Iran having
a nuclear weapons program, with the very real possibility
of an imminent invasion to come in the near future.  Or
at least a heavy bombing campaign, by either the USA
and/or Israel.  But what about Israel having a nuclear
weapons program?  Does Israel have such a program?
Does Israel have nuclear weapons?

"Israel has no intention of producing nuclear weapons
and its [nuclear] program is concerned exclusively with
the peaceful uses of atomic energy."
- Israeli government statement, 1960

Sounds much like what Iran is saying today.

Think I am making that up?  Here's my source -

Dana Adams Schmidt, New York Times, 22 December 1960; U.S.
Department of State, "Statement Issued by the Department of State,
Decmember 19, 1960," American Foreign Policy: Current Documents,
1960, 501.

Don't you love it?  Israel is a peaceful country, just like Iran.

Of course, we all know Israel already has nukes.  Has had them
since at least the mid-1960s.  Yes, I do have sources confirming
this as true.

Two days after Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion assured
Washington that Israel had no nuclear weapons (Dec. 19, 1960),
Ben-Gurion went before the Knesset and freely admitted that a
nuclear reactor was under construction in the Negev at Dimona.
But hey.  It was for peaceful purposes.  Just as Iran's nuclear
program is for peaceful purposes.  Know what I mean?  Ben-Gurion
insisted the nuclear facility would "serve the needs of industry,
agriculture, health and science," also claiming that it would be
open to trainees from other countries.  None of those statements
has ever been proven true.  Just as none of the statements made
by the president of Iran has ever been proven true.

The Israelis had help from the French to build their facility.
The Iranians had help for the Russians to build their facility.
But regardless of who helped who, a nuclear facility is a nuclear
facility, and does much the same thing no matter who builds it or
where it is located.

The Israeli explanation that the facility, built with French help,
was a textile factory or a pumping station did not fit too well with
the rest of the world.  Neither did the Iranian explanation that its
facility, built with Russian help, was purely for energy needs.

"I think the Israelis have just lied to us like horse thieves
on this thing.  They have completely distorted, misrepresented,
and falsified the facts in the past.  I think it is very serious,
for things that we have done for them to have them perform in
this manner in connection with this very definite production
reactor facility which they have been secretly building, and
which they have consistently, and with a completely straight
face, denied to us they were building."
- U.S. Senator Bourke Hickenlooper, Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, 1961

Such words could easily be said about Iran today.

--Lee


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