Posted on 01/07/2006 10:21:17 AM PST by Kaslin
In a hairbrained scheme that was personally approved by then-President Clinton, the CIA deliberately gave Iranian physicists blueprints for part of a nuclear bomb that likely helped Tehran advance its nuclear weapons development program.
The allegation, detailed in the new book "State of War," by New York Times reporter James Risen, comes as the Iranian nuclear crisis appears to be coming to a head, with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urging that Israel be "wiped off the map" and his government announcing last week that it will resume uranium enrichment on Monday.
Reports Risen: "It's not clear who originally came up with the idea, but the plan [to give Tehran nuclear blueprints] was first approved by Clinton."
Beginning in February 2000, the CIA recruited a Russian scientist who had defected to the US years earlier. His mission: Take the nuclear blueprints to Vienna to sell them - or simply give them - to the Iranian representatives for the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Dubbed "Operation Merlin," the plan was supposed to steer Iranian physicists off track by incorporating design flaws in the blueprints that would render the information worthless.
But in what may turn out to be one of the greatest foreign policy blunders of all time, Operation Merlin backfired when the Russian scientist spotted the design flaws immediately - and even offered to help Iran fix the problems.
Risen said the Clinton-approved plan ended up handing Tehran "one of the greatest engineering secrets in the world, providing the solution to one of a handful of problems that separated nuclear powers such as the United States and Russia from rogue countries such as Iran that were desperate to join the nuclear club but had so far fallen short."
He noted that thanks to the bizarre operation, Iran could now "leapfrog one of the last remaining engineering hurdles blocking its path to a nuclear weapon."
Ironically, Risen's New York Times has declined to cover Mr. Clinton's Iranian nuclear debacle - concentrating instead on his book's dubious claims that the National Security Agency was first authorized to commence domestic wiretapping by President Bush.
Still, with Operation Merlin going so badly off track, "State of War's" revelations certainly warrant the kind of full blown congressional investigation now planned for the wiretap pseudo-scandal.
Risen's report could also have a serious implications for Sen. Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. Mrs. Clinton has been sharply critical of President Bush's handling of the Iranian nuclear crisis, complaining that a nuclear-armed Tehran would be a much more serious threat to the U.S. than Iraq.
We need to start talking about Clinton's campaign to arm our enemies, giving nuke secrets to Iran and selling critical US missile launching technology to the Chinese.
Great talking point phrase, I think: Clinton's campaign to arm our enemies.
Well, this will never be reported in the MSM...
Clinton will skate again.
Everything backfires to the dems.
If this was just told by Risen, I might question the veracity...since Risen is from NYTimes...
BUT, Michael Ledeen also seems to back up this story...so, I guess it is true..
HOWEVER, you will never, ever, hear one word about this on Chrissy Matthews show..or the MSM.
IF Chrissy interviews Risen, it will only be two verify his accounts of the NSA Scandal...
The new pubbie candidate for the NY Senate race sounds like the type of person to ask her or maybe bring it up in a debate with her
Hence my: Is anyone surprised? in the title
Yes Maceman:
"Clinton's campaign to arm our enemies", indeed.
Don't forget what ole Maddie and he did to help the North Koreans with THEIR nuke weapons...
In a hairbrained scheme that was personally approved by then - President Clinton, the CIA deliberately gave Iranian physicists blueprints (Feb 2000) for part of a nuclear bomb ... "It's not clear who originally came up with the idea, but the plan [to give Tehran nuclear blueprints] was first approved by Clinton."
uh not clear? IMO that bull shiite.
It's a known fact that Willard did not meet with CIA chief Tenent for years. So who's left - National Security Advisor SANDY BURGLAR.
It becoming clearer and clearer what he was sticking in his pants.
Perhaps the most perplexing 'mystery' of the last few years has been the softball policy of the Bush Administration with regards to all of the treasonous actions of the Clinton Administration.
In fact, one could say that Clinton has been given a makeover. I pity the world if the UN continues to remain on the world's stage and even more so if the Oval Sinkmaster is eventually the UN Secretary General.
OHHHHH THE SHOCK OF IT ALL....(sarcasm)
I swear, if Clinton was given a pickup, dope, a woman, and AstroTurf he wouldn't know what to do with it.
Oh, wait a minute....
Sorry, bad example.
Rush was talking about this. Jail Clinton, bomb Iran.""
Best Idea I Have Read In Weeks......
If Clinton ever makes it to UN Secretary General, he will make the Oil for Food scandal, look like petty theft.
WTF!!!??!!!
Why hasn't Clinton been shot for treason yet?
Or Bubba, for that matter?
Oh, that's right. They stole those FBI files.
Wonder how the payoff was (or will be) made?
.
NEVER FORGET
CLINTON knew EXACTLY what he was doing when he and HILLARY...
...refused 3 No-Strings offers from the Sudan during the 1990's to turn our No. 1 terrorist enemy OSAMA bin LADEN over to American custody before he...
...could flatten New York City's World Trade Center and...
...have our No.1 HILLARY-fighter & Freeper 'BKO' BARBARA OLSON propelled into the Pentagon's 1st floor going in excess of 500 mph on Sept. 11th.
NEVER FORGET
.
<< Jail Clinton for this? The guy must $hit Ice Cream. Just add 1 more to his list of crimes. >>
An extremely conservative estimate of the time in prison average individual first offenders' sentences would aggregate for those crimes of which the recidivist Cli'tons are prima facie and/or beyond a reasonable doubt guilty, comes to over five hundred years.
BUMPping
BUMPping
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