Posted on 01/04/2006 3:36:46 PM PST by HAL9000
VIENNA: The CIA, using a double-agent Russian scientist, may have handed a blueprint for a nuclear bomb to Iran.State of War by James Risen, the New York Times reporter who exposed the Bush administration's controversial domestic spying operation, claims the plans contained fatal flaws designed to derail Tehran's nuclear drive.
But the deliberate errors were so rudimentary they would have been easily fixed by sophisticated Russian nuclear scientists, the book said.
The operation, which took place during the Clinton administration in early 2000, was codenamed Operation Merlin and "may have been one of the most reckless operations in the modern history of the CIA," according to Risen.
It called for the unnamed scientist, a defector from the Soviet nuclear programme, to offer Iran the blueprint for a "firing set" - the intricate mechanism which triggers the chain reaction needed for a nuclear explosion.
Iranian officials are expected to explain a decision to resume nuclear fuel research to the International Atomic Energy Agency in a meeting at IAEA headquarters as US froze the assets of two Iranian companies.
Germany and France warned Iran against the planned resumption of nuclear research and development work, saying this could endanger Iranian-EU talks designed to resolve a volatile dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
The West suspects that Iran, which calls for Israel's destruction, wants nuclear technology to build bombs. Iran says its atomic work aims solely to generate electricity and years of IAEA inquiries have found nothing to clearly disprove this.
Diplomats close to the IAEA said a delegation from Tehran was expected at agency headquarters in Vienna to brief some of its senior officials on what the fresh research and development would entail.
A European Union diplomat said Mohammad Saeedi, deputy director of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, would head the delegation and would meet IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei.
Iran has been combing Europe and ex-Soviet states for materials and expertise of potential use in making atom bombs, says a leaked intelligence report casting doubt on diplomacy to ease a crisis over Tehran's nuclear drive.
The intelligence assessment suggested the black market in nuclear technology remained strong and elusive despite the 2004 downfall of Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, who ran an international atomic smuggling network.
Asked about the report, leaked to Britain's Guardian newspaper, diplomats close to the IAEA cautioned that it offered no evidence Iran was obtaining products of exclusive use in building nuclear weapons.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the Guardian story was designed to "negatively affect Iran's transparent measures and its cooperation with the IAEA."
Someone in the media should ask Joe Sestak what he thinks of Sandy Burglar and the Clintonista CIA, since Sestak was on the staff of the National Security Council under the Burglar at this time (2000).....And also this thread from last April 2006:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1614979/posts
In light of today's "November surprise" from the editors of the NY Times, it sure is interesting that they never saw fit to give any front-page treatment to this story.
The hypocrisy and dishonest of the Demagogues on these matters needs to be circulated to every talk show and media outlet that will listen.
Interesting... just as Op. Merlin was going on in Feb 2002, Pakistani nuclear scientist Qadeer Khan was leading a delegation to Africa - via Sudan to Niger.
Paging Amb. Joe Wilson... and the NY Times’ James Risen.
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