Now everyone wants a Nuke in the Middle East - Should we thank Israel or Iran?

[Robson]

Israel opened the can of worms years ago when it developed a nuclear capability. If we (the USA) would have been wise, we would have told Israel to sign the non-proliferation treaty and not build nukes, or threaten to end all USA support. Instead we did nothing and winked and allowed it to happen. Now we have Pandora's box being opened in the Middle East with Iran and now every other country of means intending to play tit for tat.

All Israel did by obtaining nukes was to diminish their own security by affecting the balance of power, diminish our own US security, and increase the potential for destruction of the oilfields.

Perhaps it is not too late for Israel to offer to eliminate their nukes and rely on the USA for defense, or perhaps it is not too late for the USA to tell Israel where the bear craps. Obviouslly Iran is not going to stop developing one if Israel has them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/world/middleeast/15sunnis.html?ei=5065&en=19e13d3ae897abc3&ex=1177214400&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

April 15, 2007
Eye on Iran, Rivals Pursuing Nuclear Power
By WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER

Two years ago, the leaders of Saudi Arabia told international atomic regulators that they could foresee no need for the kingdom to develop nuclear power. Today, they are scrambling to hire atomic contractors, buy nuclear hardware and build support for a regional system of reactors.

So, too, Turkey is preparing for its first atomic plant. And Egypt has announced plans to build one on its Mediterranean coast. In all, roughly a dozen states in the region have recently turned to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna for help in starting their own nuclear programs. While interest in nuclear energy is rising globally, it is unusually strong in the Middle East.

“The rules have changed,” King Abdullah II of Jordan recently told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “Everybody’s going for nuclear programs.”

The Middle East states say they only want atomic power. Some probably do. But United States government and private analysts say they believe that the rush of activity is also intended to counter the threat of a nuclear Iran.

snip

[uppityperson]

1. Should we thank the USA? Pandora's box is a problem indeed. nt

[LeftishBrit]

19. My thought too!

Here's prophetic song on the situation from Tom Lehrer in 1965:

http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/whosnext.htm


Pandora's box, indeed.

[orpupilofnature57]

2. H.S.T? HITLER? FEAR ITSELF?

Einstein?Oppenheimer?Eratosthenes?

[Warren DeMontague]

3. Now, I don't think it's really fair to blame Hunter S. Thompson for this.

[orpupilofnature57]

5. Yes to Al and Hunter two real Americans!!!!!

[rockymountaindem]

4. As usual I'm amazed by the cavalier attitude of those who think we can just stop supporting Israel

Really, shouldn't everybody know by now that the 12 billion we give Israel every year is mandated by the Camp David Accords? Doing away with that would be very bad for Israeli-Egyptian relations. Face it: when Carter brokered Camp David he locked us into financial support for Israel over the long-term. It's not a bargaining chip... ending support for Israel would seriously undermine our diplomatic credibility with other allies.

[barb162]

11. I'm amazed by those who think we can just stop supporting Egypt

Both Israel and Egypt get aid.

[MadHound]

12. Still, the Camp David accords didn't lock us into

Blind support for the country. We still have the option to negotiate a Palestinian country, impose a peaceful settlement upon both parties, and take Israel to task for the country's over the top behavior(latest exhibit, last summer's strike into Lebenon).

Just because we're locked into sending money doesn't mean that we're locked into a stance of "Israel right or wrong"

[Robson]

15. The billions to Egypt and Israel are analogous to an allowance

Our billions in support should be at least a bargaining chip for both Israel and Egypt, just as an allowance is for our own kids. No way should we just send the BILLIONS $$$ with no strings attached. Do you?

At the very least these billions should mean more security for the USA. I don't see where Israel's nukes have done much for either our security or the security of the oilfields that the world unfortunately is dependent on, or for that matter Israel's security.

BTW we've given twice as much to Israel than Egypt.

If it was up to me I would spend that aid money 100% within the USA helping young Americans to get an advanced education.

[theoldman]

6. My opinion is that these countries want to counter the threat of

Israel. Perhaps of they all had nuclear weapons everyone would be afraid to start a war. Israel did not need nuclear weapons if they had been assured of our protection. It's always the big "IF".

[Ezlivin]

7. "The Middle East states say they only want atomic power."

Where did it say they wanted to build nuclear weapons? The US thinks that any desire for nuclear energy is equivalent to the desire for a nuclear bomb.

Actually these oil producing countries are ahead of us on the idea of Peak Oil. It's a reality to them. "They reply that they must invest in the future, for the day when the flow of oil dries up."

[barb162]

8. Maybe thank Pakistan

[Igel]

9. No problem with nuclear plants.

Weapons programs, different story.

Note that Israel has been rumored to have the (untested) bomb for 35 years before Iran started (it seems) working on theirs with any gusto.

35 years.

Then, Iran works on its program, and within a year of Iran's showing both great progressive and utter contempt for the UN and the West, other countries pipe up, saying their want their nuclear program ... for peaceful purposes, of course. With an undercurrent of rumor saying that it's not just for peaceful purposes.

The chronology's a bit weak as proof for Israel being the proximate cause here.

[MadHound]

14. And that's all that it is, a rumor.

And who is spreading that rumor? Why are they spreading that rumor? And who does that rumor benefit?

Iran, nor any other country in the ME(outside of Israel) has shown the least iota of evidence that they are working on a bomb. Yet this meme goes around and around the RW MSM echo chamber, and now even liberals and Dems are starting to believe the notion that Iran, and others, are after the bomb.

Whatever became of excepting the evidence of your eyes and ears? Geez:banghead:

[MadHound]

10. Ummm, Iran and the other countries are simply stating that they want nucler energy

The kind that drives electric grids. Nowhere has any of these countries stated that they want a bomb.

Please, stop promoting the notion that these countries want a bomb. All you are doing is promoting hysteria needlessly.

[Robson]

17. That's what they all say.....we only want nuclear capability for energy ...including Israel in 1955

Israel said that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes too. That is likely why they oppose Iran’s so-called peaceful nuclear program. Those who have deceived tend to be more distrusting of others. That's human nature.

Snipped

In 1955, Israel was the second nation in the world to sign an agreement under the Eisenhower administration's "Atoms for Peace" program, but it soon recognized that this program could not be the prime vehicle for Israel through which to build an ambitious nuclear program aimed at military applications. France, on the other hand—which at the time was considering its own military nuclear program—seemed the most logical choice as the project's primary foreign supplier. The nuclear issue was clearly one of the underlying motives behind Peres' efforts to build the France-Israel alliance in the mid-to-late 1950s.

Snipped

http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/Israel/Nuclear/index.html

[MadHound]

18. To a point I agree with you. However Israel was showing signs early and often

That their nuclear program was meant for more than energy purposes. Iran and the other ME countries have failed to show such signs, at least not that I've seen or read. If you have any such signs, I'd appreciate seeing them. Otherwise, all of this talk of nuclear armed Iran/ME is nothing more than playing into the hands of Bushco, providing them another baseless excuse for invading such countries(reference WMDs/Iraq).

[coco77]

13. I think that honor goes to Bushco...

when other countries see bush giving nuclear weapons for mangoes and threating to nuke Iran they say I want one too...

[Edweird]

16. gwb has made it clear that no nukes=invasion & nukes=no invasion

[Rex]

20. Actually, you can thank North Korea. As crazy as Kim is, he did something

that set off the Middle East! The BFEE uses the Axis of Evil like they use 911. Well, looks like one of the Axis allies just went up and fucked the BFEE over in style. They all watched how we responded to NK finally detonating a nuke. Everyone now knows. Bush done keeps fucking up on such a massive scale that all countries now see America as run by a bunch of corporate fascists, like their countries.

I blame Kim.

[Name removed]

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