Israel’s Negev Nuclear Research Center near Dimona. Red circle indicates plutonium separation facility for nuclear weapons production. Google Earth/Digital Globe photo. At top—Israeli air force photo
William Greidner, The Nation: It’s Official: The Pentagon Finally Admitted That Israel Has Nuclear Weapons, Too
While the Washington press corps obsessed over Hillary Clinton’s e-mails at the State Department, reporters were missing a far more important story about government secrets. After five decades of pretending otherwise, the Pentagon has reluctantly confirmed that Israel does indeed possess nuclear bombs, as well as awesome weapons technology similar to America’s.
Early last month the Department of Defense released a secret report done in 1987 by the Pentagon-funded Institute for Defense Analysis that essentially confirms the existence of Israel’s nukes. DOD was responding to a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by Grant Smith, an investigative reporter and author who heads the Institute for Research: Middle East Policy. Smith said he thinks this is the first time the US government has ever provided official recognition of the long-standing reality.
WNU Editor: This is actually not the first admission from the Pentagon on Israel's nuclear stockpile. Robert Beckhusen at "War Is Boring" posted a good analysis last year .... When the Pentagon Feared Israel's Nukes.
7 comments:
Well, who didn't know the Israelis had nukes for the last 25yrs?
How did the Pentagon learn this? If they relied on US Intel services, any thing such services put out should be greeted with health skepticism.
"Well who didn't know the Israelis had nukes for the last 25yrs?" Since Israel's policy regarding nuclear weapons is one of ambiguity and they keep secrets well, no one can "know" for certain that they have them.
It may be a bluff. If so, it has been a very good one. Without a nuclear deterrent and absent Divine intervention it would seem Israel's enemies in the Middle East would very quickly overwhelm with vastly superior numbers.
When "evidence" is presented regarding Israel's nuclear weapons program, it has not been greeted with the kind of skepticism that would generally be expected. I think Israel with nuclear weapons fits into the narrative of Israel as the evil beast that permeates media reporting on the subject of all things Israel.
You're right Poster about the ambiguity and the inability to know for certain. I do maintain that over nearly 50 yrs enough little odds and ends leaked out that would have made it fairly hard to argue against Israel having deliverable weapons.
The Mossad and other parts of Israeli Intel Services carefully control which "odds" and "ends" get leaked. As such, they want to make it seem to lean heavily in the direction of Israel having such weapons. Again, we do not "know."
Given the difficulty in developing such weapons, testing them, and keeping them operational along with the ridiculously hostile microscope Israel lives under, it would seem to me to be incredibly difficult for them to develop, test, and maintain such an arsenal. (America faces similar hostile scrutiny but America is a much bigger country though not as influential as those who demonize it would make it out to be. There's no logical reason for Israel to get such attention.)
As such, I think the Israeli nuclear arsenal is a non existent high stakes bluff. It is a bluff that has kept Israel alive for many decades otherwise direct divine intervention would be required.
We cannot "know" for certain due to the ambiguity. For US military officials to confirm that which they do not know nor could they know is either incredible stupidity, incredible hubris, or some combination of incredible stupidity and hubris.
Poster .... Israel has the bomb .... a large number of Russian physicists and mathematicians who helped in the development and maintenance of the Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal ended up immigrating to Israel. They took their knowledge and expertise with them .... and many of them (if not all of them) have been and/or are still employed by Israel's nuclear industry. As for testing a bomb .... there is the vela incident .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vela_Incident
I read the article that WNU linked to. First of all it's mind boggling the attention the author gives to Israel and the obsession he has with regards to Israel.
First of all Israel is a friend of America. Iran is not. That should be enough to explain why many are leery about Iran getting nuclear weapons but are not worried about Israel getting them. Additionally the author makes a number of errors in his analysis of the global power stricter. At pretty much every juncture he overestimates America's power while greatly underestimating the power of America's adversaries and potential adversaries.
The author seems to possess a strong undercurrent of staunch anti-Americanism. Overestimating American power and underestimating the power of its adversaries is important to maintaining an anti-American world view.
With all of this said the author did get at least one thing right. He did delve into the close cooperation between Israel and America. This makes perfect sense where and when the countries face similar enemies and similar problems. Clearly Israel could "add value" to us and we could do the same for them. A win/win situation if there ever was one!! In fact, Israeli assistance was very likely pivotal in helping America to survive Cold War I. Of course the author cannot bring himself to admit such a thing as it would destroy his anti-Americanism and his Israel bashing.
The report is from 1987. US Intel was little better then than it is now. As such, not much stock should be put in it. I'm pleased to see that at least 1/3 of the American people are not so blinded that they at least apply a necessary degree of skepticism to the claims of Israeli nuclear weapons. There may be hope for us yet!!
Well Poster, I don't think we'll agree on this one, with the exception of the hubris and stupidity. Certain groups have that in spades.
PS I'll also go with the assessment of the overrating of US power and Israel being an irreplaceable ally.
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