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CIA declassifies 1960 report of Israeli nuclear
weapons program
CIA Special National Intelligence Estimate released on June 5, 2009.
http://irmep.org/ila/nukes/
Download the scanned original cia 1960 report from
http://www.irmep.org/ila/nukes/1960SNIE_Israeli_Nukes.pdf
The
Central Intelligence Agency declassified and released an early analysis of
the Israeli nuclear weapons program on June 5, 2009.
IRmep added to
George Washington University's multiple outstanding National Security
Archive FOIA requests for detailed information in early January of 2009.
However IRmep's FOIAs continue a long term effort to expand the Israel Lobby
Archive's documentation of the lobby's early smuggling of stolen and
reconditioned US arms to Palestine with hard data on the covert financing of
nuclear weapons in contravention of the American nonproliferation drive and
laws banning taxpayer funded foreign aid to proliferators.
http://IRmep.org/ila/nukes/01072009cia_foia.pdf
A more complete American public awareness of the Israeli nuclear program
is vital for understanding its role as a driver of instability in the Middle
East and challenge to governance in the US.
============================
Nuclear Weapons Key to Israeli Retention of the
Occupied Territories
By Grant F Smith
http://tinyurl.com/oen62009
"A newly declassified 1960 report on Israel's nukes underscores role
in foreign policy "assertiveness."
"Possession of a nuclear weapon
capability, or even the prospect of achieving it, would clearly give Israel
a greater sense of security, self-confidence, and assertiveness...Israel
would be less inclined than ever to make concessions..." are conclusions of
a CIA Special National Intelligence Estimate released on June 5, 2009.
The December 1960 intelligence analysis, parts which are still
classified, offers timely context as the Obama administration struggles to
slow booming settlement activities in lands Israel captured during
preemptive attacks in 1967.
Do nuclear weapons enter the calculation
as Israel continues to reject pressure from the very country providing
billions in yearly foreign aid, preferential treatment of exports and US
charitable donations? Yes, is the clear conclusion.
For years the CIA
resisted public calls to declassify files about the financing, development,
deployment and strategy behind Israel's nuclear weapons. This was in line
with the policy of "strategic ambiguity." Both the US and Israel officially
refused to confirm or deny the existence of a nuclear arsenal. Such secrecy
has been used to justify military aid to Israel despite explicit bans on
proliferators legislated by Senators Symington and Glenn in the 1970s.
Recent public confirmations of Israel's nuclear status by US officials could
enable legal challenges and new public scrutiny of taxpayer funds flowing to
Israel.
The authors of the 1960s CIA estimate focus on the military
deterrent nature of Israel's nuclear capability. Nevertheless the
possibility of subtle nuclear blackmail in return for diplomatic and foreign
aid support was implicit. The declassified CIA report reveals that Israeli
"assertiveness" and reluctance to negotiate could be empowered by nuclear
weapons. Longstanding Israeli rejection of UN, US and human rights
initiatives partially depend upon the influence of its secret arsenal.
Success also depends on regional nuclear hegemony, explaining Israel's
ongoing drive to focus world attention on Iran's civilian nuclear program.
Ironically, Israel may now be driving regional nuclear proliferation as
it successfully demonstrates how such weapons bestow the ability to resist
outside pressures and international accountability. Unlike Iran, Israel has
never signed the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty. Recent estimates
conclude Israel has deployed approximately 200 nuclear bombs and warheads.
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