U.S. President George W. Bush’s statement on Iranian nuclear intentions drew a quick correction from experts (Jim Watson/Getty Images). Iran Admits to Nuclear Weapon Ambitions, Bush Claims U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday that Iran has openly admitted an intention to develop nuclear weapons, challenging a U.S. intelligence assertion that Tehran had suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, March 20). “They’ve declared they want to have a nuclear weapon to destroy people — some in the Middle East,” he said.  ..Full Story

Sarkozy Announces French Nuclear Cuts, Warns Iran French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans today to cut his nation’s strategic nuclear arsenal while vowing to maintain a strong deterrent against emergent powers such as Iran, Reuters reported (see GSN, June 21, 2007)...Full Story

“Curveball” Denies Claiming Existence of Iraqi WMD An Iraqi defector has denied making false allegations about alleged Iraqi WMD programs that helped bolster the Bush administration’s case for invasion, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 2, 2007)...Full Story

	Friday, March 21, 2008

“Curveball” Denies Claiming Existence of Iraqi WMD An Iraqi defector has denied making false allegations about alleged Iraqi WMD programs that helped bolster the Bush administration’s case for invasion, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 2, 2007). In an interview published yesterday, Rafid Ahmed Alwan told Der Spiegel that he was “not to blame” for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq (see GSN, March 20). “I never said that Iraq had weapons for mass destruction,” the man best known as “Curveball” was quoted as saying.  “Not at all, not in my entire life.”  According to various reports, Alwan after defecting to Germany claimed that Iraq possessed mobile biological weapon laboratories.  Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell referenced the information in a prewar presentation before the U.N. Security Council.  No evidence of active WMD efforts has been found in Iraq since the invasion and Curveball’s claims have been refuted (Associated Press/PR-inside, March 20). Meanwhile, former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer yesterday defended his nation’s participation in the invasion of Iraq, the Australian Associated Press reported. “It was the right thing to do, to get rid of a brutal dictator,” he said on ABC Radio.  “Although weapons of mass destruction weren't found subsequently, we didn't obviously know that at the time five years ago.” “What we did discover was that Saddam Hussein did have a program to re-establish weapons of mass destruction,” he said (Australian Associated Press/World News Australia, March 20). Elsewhere, a study funded by the U.S. Defense Department has established links between Saddam Hussein’s regime and various terrorist entities, although it did not uncover documented evidence of regime ties to al-Qaeda, the Washington Times reported today. “Iraq was a long-standing supporter of international terrorism,” says the report by the independent Institute for Defense Analyses, which studied recently declassified documents in making its assessment. Its investigation determined that the Hussein government supported Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a group that later merged with al-Qaeda under the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Iraqi Intelligence Service under Hussein also sent officials to meet with Palestinian terrorist organizations and trained numerous non-Iraqi Arabs to carry out attacks in Israel, the study found (Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times, March 21). Back to top       Blueprint Incident Concerns Canadian Officials Canadian officials and contractors expressed concern yesterday about reports that a defense facility’s blueprints were found in an Ottawa trash heap, but played down the risks of the security lapse, the Ottawa Citizen reported (see GSN, March 20). The discovered documents included plans for the new headquarters of the Canadian Joint Incident Response Unit, the nation’s primary military response team to WMD attacks. The incident followed an October report by Canadian Auditor General Sheila Fraser that poor security practices were endangering sensitive government information, according to the Post. “No responsibility or obligations for industrial security has been formally confirmed” on Defense Construction Canada, which is responsible for the Defense Department’s building needs, Fraser stated last fall. Some officials strongly criticized yesterday’s news. “We can't afford to have blueprints of any new military facility, particularly one that's an operational headquarters, made available to the general public,” said Senator Colin Kenny, chairman of the Senate's national security and defense committee.  “We have to assume that there are people who are watching us on a daily basis and they're particularly interested in our military facilities, just as they would [be] other high-value targets. Suicide bombing has become the vogue and the more knowledge you have about where critical access (points) are, the more damage you could do.” Others, however, suggested that little valuable information was put at risk. “There's nothing in the building that I know of that is security-related.  It's a steel building, it’s got concrete floors and some cooling and heating system and some electrical system. There's nothing (else) in there,” said Thomas Sullivan, head of the company contracted to build the facility. Still, the handling of the blueprints was unprofessional, he said. "Nobody should throw drawings in the garbage of any kind.  If you contract with me, you expect me and anticipate that I'm going to take care of your project … so I'm not going to go and distribute drawings all over the city of Ottawa,” Sullivan said.  “They're confidential to you and to me” (Ian MacLeod, Ottawa Citizen/National Post, March 20). Back to top

Iran Admits to Nuclear Weapon Ambitions, Bush Claims U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday that Iran has openly admitted an intention to develop nuclear weapons, challenging a U.S. intelligence assertion that Tehran had suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, March 20). “They’ve declared they want to have a nuclear weapon to destroy people — some in the Middle East,” he said.  “That’s unacceptable to the United States, and it’s unacceptable to the world,” Bush told Radio Farda, a U.S.-funded station that broadcasts into Iran.  Iran analysts and proliferation experts quickly refuted Bush’s statement. “That’s as uninformed as (U.S. Senator John) McCain’s statement that Iran is training al-Qaeda.  Iran has never said it wanted a nuclear weapon for any reason.  It’s just not true.  It’s a little troubling that the president and the leading Republican candidate are both so wrong about Iran,” said nuclear proliferation expert Joseph Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund. “The Iranian government is on the record across the board as saying it does not want a nuclear weapon.  There’s plenty of room for skepticism about these assertions.  But it’s troubling for the [Bush] administration to indicate that Iran is explicitly embracing the program as a means of destroying another country,” said Suzanne Maloney, a Brookings Institution scholar and former Iran analyst for the State Department. Experts said that Bush’s statement could prove counterproductive in diplomacy aimed at convincing Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program, which could produce a key nuclear weapon ingredient.  “The bellicose rhetoric from one side only produces the same from the other,” Maloney said. According to National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe, Bush’s comment was intended to address past Iranian statements calling for the destruction of Israel.  “The president shorthanded his answer with regard to Iran’s previously secret nuclear weapons program and their current enrichment and ballistic missile testing,” he said. Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department urged caution from U.S. banks regarding potential transactions with Iranian financial institutions.  “The government of Iran disguises its involvement in proliferation and terrorism activities through an array of deceptive practices,” the department said in a statement. The United States last week imposed unilateral sanctions on Future Bank B.S.C., a Bahraini bank believed to be controlled by Iran’s Bank Melli. “Over the past eight days, the U.S. government has undertaken a number of steps to put Tehran on notice that the international community will not allow the Iranian government to misuse the international financial system or global transportation network to further its aspirations to obtain nuclear weapons capability, improve its missile systems, or support international terrorism,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement (Robin Wright, Washington Post, March 21). The State Department also announced yesterday that ships entering U.S. seaports would be closely inspected if they had recently docked at Iranian ports, where the department said counterterrorism restrictions are insufficient (U.S. State Department release, March 20). Elsewhere, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that taking military action against Iran’s nuclear program would prove “disastrous” and undercut a probe into Tehran’s nuclear ambitions by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 5). “Any forceful attempts to resolve this issue by nonpeaceful means would undermine all that has been done to bring clarity into the Iranian nuclear program,” Lavrov told reporters alongside Tzipi Livni, his Israeli counterpart. “As long as [IAEA] inspectors report that they have not found that there is some deviation of this program into the military field I think it would be disastrous for us to undermine this very efficient and important process,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Google News, March 20). In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed Monday that they would seek to organize an international conference focused on halting Iran’s disputed nuclear activities, the Xinhua News Agency reported. The Israeli and German leaders plan to seek support for the conference from the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and additional European and Arab countries, according to a report by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Israel is hopeful that Sunni-dominated Gulf states including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would participate in the forum (Xinhua News Agency, March 21). Back to top       Sarkozy Announces French Nuclear Cuts, Warns Iran French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans today to cut his nation’s strategic nuclear arsenal while vowing to maintain a strong deterrent against emergent powers such as Iran, Reuters reported (see GSN, June 21, 2007). He pledged to reduce the French arsenal to under 300 nuclear warheads by slicing one-third of the airborne nuclear weapon capability. “That is half the maximum number of warheads we had during the Cold War," Sarkozy said, speaking at a ceremony in Cherbourg to launch France’s fourth nuclear-missile submarine, Le Terrible. He cautioned, however, that France would vigorously maintain its nuclear forces to deter what he said are growing missile threats. “Everyone must be aware today that even far-flung powers' nuclear missiles can reach Europe in less than half an hour,” he said.  “I am thinking in particular of Iran.  Iran is increasing the range of its missiles while grave suspicions hang over its nuclear program.  Europe's security is at stake.” “In the face of proliferation, the international community must be united, the international community must be resolute.  Because we want peace, we must be without weakness with those who violate international norms,” Sarkozy added. “Maintaining the competences necessary to dissuasion at the highest level is a fundamental objective for our security," he continued.  "All those who threaten to attack our vital interests would expose themselves to a severe riposte by France.” Sarkozy also promoted several multinational nonproliferation measures by urging China and the United States to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and calling for a wider ban on short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, Reuters reported. In addition, he expressed support for a plan to stop the production of nuclear-weapon materials. “I propose to launch without delay negotiations for a treaty banning the production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons and to impose an immediate moratorium on the production of these materials,” Sarkozy said (Matthias Blamont, Reuters, March 21). In a 2005 estimate, analysts from the Natural Resources Defense Council estimated that France then deployed 348 strategic warheads, 288 of which were on submarine-launched ballistic missiles (Nuclear Notebook/Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 2005). Back to top       Indian Foreign Minister to See U.S. Leaders Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee is scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other high-level officials next week in Washington for talks on issues including a planned civilian nuclear trade agreement, the Press Trust of India reported (see GSN, March 19). The deal, which would make U.S. nuclear fuel and technology available to New Delhi, has faced strong opposition from Indian communist leaders who argue that it would undermine their nation’s sovereignty.  The communists have threatened to withdraw their support from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ruling coalition and force early elections if Indian leaders move to implement the agreement. “We are in a stage where neither we can mend it nor end it.  We are in the dialogue stage,” said Mukherjee, who is expected to arrive in Washington on Sunday. “A meeting at this level is not restricted to one or two issues,” but the nuclear deal is expected to be a priority in the discussions, said one official. The two-day visit would mark the first meeting between top U.S. and Indian foreign officials in Washington since 2005. “Since then there has been no bilateral foreign minister visit and hence this is highly important,” a high-level official said (Sridhar Krishnaswami, Press Trust of India/Yahoo!News, March 20). Back to top       Musharraf Touts “Minimum Deterrence” Strategy Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said his country upholds a “minimum deterrence” policy and would not make concessions on its nuclear activities, Asian News International reported yesterday (see GSN, March 10). “Pakistan's minimum deterrence strategy is a must for peace.  We shall never compromise on our nuclear program,” Musharraf said in an address at Pakistan’s National Defense University (Asian News International/Daily India, March 20). Back to top

Police Officer Tests Positive for Ricinine Exposure A Las Vegas police officer who responded to the motel where vials of ricin were discovered last month has tested positive for exposure to a substance derived from the plant that can also produce the deadly toxin, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, March 18). “We did have one sample that had trace detectible levels of ricinine,” said Pat Armour, the Southern Nevada Public Health Laboratory’s manager. The officer has not become sick or displayed symptoms of ricin-related illness, officials said.  According to an FBI spokesman, the officer is the only person who has tested positive for the substance, which is not a direct ricin derivative. The officer’s ricinine level does not appear to be dangerous and could have been produced by exposure to products containing castor plant seed derivatives such as castor oil, cosmetics, paint and particle board, Armour said.  Ricinine traces are believed to occur at similar levels in roughly 5 percent of U.S. residents. No signs of ricin contamination have been uncovered in the motel room or elsewhere since ricin-filled vials and castor beans were found there late last month, according to officials.  The occupant, Roger Bergendorff, is recovering at a Las Vegas hospital after falling ill last month (Associated Press/New York Times, March 20). Back to top

Umatilla Depot Prepares to Destroy VX Projectiles The Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon in the coming days is expected to begin destroying 155 mm artillery projectiles containing VX nerve agent, the U.S. Army announced yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 4). Depot employees yesterday began moving the weapons to the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. “We’ll start [weapons incineration] slowly and deliberately, then gradually increase our processing rate once we confirm everything is working properly,” Doug Hamrick, project general manager for contractor Washington Defense Group, said in a press release.  “As always, our focus will be safety and environmental compliance at all times.” Disposal of the 155 mm projectiles is the 10th of 13 weapons elimination campaigns planned at Umatilla.  It is set to be followed by disposal of 8-inch projectiles and land mines carrying VX and finally by bulk containers of mustard blister agent. The disposal facility to date has destroyed nearly 160,000 munitions, spray tanks and bulk containers carrying VX and sarin nerve agents.  All sarin weapons stored at the depot have been eliminated (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, March 20). Back to top

Bush Hopeful on Negotiations With Russia U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday expressed hope that Russia would accept his plan to place missile defense installations in Europe, the Xinhua News Agency reported (see GSN, March 20). “The missile systems, defense systems, would not be aimed at Russia:  they would be aimed at nations that would … try to hold the free world hostage with a nuclear weapon,” Bush told Radio Farda. “I’m optimistic.  I’m cautiously optimistic.  I don’t know whether we can find common ground.  But we are trying to find common ground, and that’s the first step, is to make the attempt,” he said. Russia has been the loudest opponent of the proposal to place 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic.  Moscow has characterized the plan as a potential threat to its strategic security and has threatened to aim nuclear-armed missiles toward Europe should it go through. Washington has said the system would be developed to counter potential Iranian missile threats.  U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates were in Moscow this week to present confidence-building measures aimed at overcoming Russian opposition to the European shield (Xinhua News Agency I, March 20). One of those proposals is to give Russian inspectors some access to the Czech and Polish sites.  Neither country has yet agreed to host the installations. Czech Deputy Prime Alexandr Vondra said today, though, that Prague was preliminarily open to allowing up to two Russian officials to see the radar base, Xinhua reported.  The two nations would first have to come to some sort of agreement, Vondra said (Xinhua News Agency II, March 21). Back to top

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

© Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.