Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: CIA reveals: We said in 1974 that Israel had nuclear weapons

CIA reveals: We said in 1974 that Israel had nuclear weapons  
 
By Amir Oren  
 
 
The Central Intelligence Agency, backed by bodies including the State
Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Defense
Intelligence Agency, determined in August 1974 that Israel had nuclear
"weapons in being," a "small number" of which it "produced and
stockpiled." 
Israel was also suspected of providing nuclear materials, equipment or
technology to Iran, South Africa and other then-friendly countries.   
This top secret document, consigned to the CIA's vaults for almost 32
years, was suddenly released to the public this week, during U.S.
President George W. Bush's visit to Israel and on the eve of his trip to
the Persian Gulf. 
A small part of the document was released in early 2006 under a Freedom of
Information Request placed by scholars Avner Cohen and William Burr, but
only as an attachment to a 1975 State Department paper ostensibly
disputing the the portrayal of Israel's nuclear weapons as a fact. 
This served the Department of State's effort to avoid addressing Israel's
nuclear status in response to a query by Congressman Alan Steelman. 
The Department of State, led in this exercise by officials Joseph Sisco,
Alfred (Roy) Atherton and Harold Saunders, tried to depict the 1974
Special National Intelligence Assesment, "Prospects for further
proliferation of nuclear weapons," as a CIA project, while in fact it was
an agency-wide effort that included its own intelligence chief, William
Hyland, as a senior member of the board that agreed to the conclusions. 
The CIA was asked yesterday via e-mail about the strange coincidence of
the document's release a mere month after the publication of its awkwardly
worded NIE on Iran's nuclear weapons program. It did not respond by
deadline. 
The issue of an American double standard regarding the nuclear activities
of Israel and Iran often comes up when senior American officials visit the
Gulf, as Secretary of Defense Robert Gates did last month. 
In both the original 1974 document and the 1975 State Department paper (in
which it was retyped), the entire intelligence community determined,
"Israel already has produced nuclear weapons." This analysis was based on
"Israeli acquisition of large quantities of uranium," in part covertly; on
Israel's ambiguous efforts to enrich uranium; and on the huge investment
in the "Jericho" surface-to-surface missile "designed to accommodate
nuclear warheads." Short of a grave threat to the nation's existence,
Israel was not expected to confirm its suspected capability "by nuclear
testing or by threats of use." 
While Israel's nuclear weapons "cannot be proven beyond a shadow of
doubt," several bodies of information point strongly toward a program
stretching back over a number of years, the document states. 
The 1974 document describes the Jericho project, from its inception in
France through its migration to Israel to the replacement of the original
inertial guidance system by an Israeli design "based on components
produced in Israel under licenses from U.S. companies." 
Israel Aircraft Industries is responsible for the development of the
missile and has constructed a number of facilities for production and
testing north of Tel Aviv, near Haifa, at Ramle and nearby it "a missile
assembly and checkout plant." 
On Iran, the 1974 NIE said, "there is no doubt of the Shah's ambition to
make Iran a power to reckon with. If he is alive in the mid-80's, if Iran
has a full-fledged nuclear power industry and all the facilities necessary
for nuclear weapons, and if other countries have proceeded with weapons
development, we have no doubt that Iran will follow suit." 
The Shah's ouster in 1979 (and death a year later) apparently slowed down
Iran's nuclear project. 
The authors of the NIE wrote that the U.S. helped France expedite its
nuclear program, France in turn helped Israel, and much like France and
India, Israel, "while unlikely to foster proliferation as a matter of
national policy, probably will prove susceptible to the hue of economic
and political advantages to be gained from exporting materials, technology
and equipment relevant to nuclear weapons programs."  
-- 
visitate 
http://www.comunisti-italiani.it/frames/index.htm
 
http://www.larinascita.org
http://www.italia-cuba.it/associazione/associazione.htm
questo articolo e` stato inviato via web dal servizio gratuito 
http://www.newsland.it/news
 segnala gli abusi ad 
ab...@newsland.it

 worded NIE on Iran's nuclear weapons program.
aha, vedo che non sono l'unico a trovare interessanti certe
coincidenze....

 technology to Iran
<grin>
GT

 technology to Iran, South Africa and other then-friendly countries.  
Una curiosita': sento spesso dire che il Sud Africa e' un partner
commerciale importante per Israele  (anche per le forniture militari),
qualcuno sa dire come nasce questo rapporto privilegiato?
Ciao
R.

 qualcuno sa dire come nasce questo rapporto privilegiato?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1704037,00.html

 qualcuno sa dire come nasce questo rapporto privilegiato?
Mah... misteri della vita.  Facciamocelo spiegare da "Raful" Eitan,
spero che sappia chi e'
--------------------------
"I don't understand this comparison between us and South Africa. What
is similar here and there is that both they and we must prevent others
from taking us over. Anyone who says that the blacks are oppressed in
South Africa is a liar. The blacks there want to gain control of the
white minority just like the Arabs here want to gain control over us.
And we, too, like the White minority in South Africa, must act to
prevent them from taking us over. I was in a gold mine there and I saw
what excellent conditions the black workers have. So there is separate
elevators for Whites and Blacks, so what? That's the way they like
it."
--------------------------
GT

 it."
vabbè, ma Eitan è un fascista, non fa testo...questi 3 padri della
patria israeliani (di cui 2 futuri nobel per la pace, mica cazzi!) che
conversano amabilmente col nazi Vorster fanno più impressione:
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/red/blue_pics/2006/02/07/knesset1.jpg
per la precisione: da sinistra abbiamo Begin, Dayan, il nazi, Rabin