Jun 18 2008

Not just a Tom Clancy novel

Category: Uncategorizedharmonicminer @ 12:01 pm

Extremist groups continue to seek nuclear weapons: US official

Extremist groups continue to actively seek nuclear weapons, a senior US official said Tuesday during a meeting in Spain of a US-Russian initiative to fight nuclear terrorism.

“Combating nuclear terrorism is especially important today,” US Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Rood told a news conference.

“Regretably we continue to see indications in the United States from information we collect of the very terrorist groups we are most concerned about making concerted efforts to acquire nuclear capabilities with the express intent to use them against our peoples,” he added.

Read the whole thing.

I note that there are two nations we are no longer concerned about getting nuclear weapons which could be “leaked” to terrorists, or used in a terrorist manner to threaten regional neighbors.

Libya is the first.

Iraq is the second.

A similar headline could have been written in 1999, and the news report could have been published almost unchanged, other than the dates of the conference. But those two nations would definitely have been high on the list of concern of nations that are actively engaged in developing nuclear weapons, or are doing the ground work and making plans, and biding their time.

Libya gave up its plans in direct response to the the US invasion of Iraq. Qadaffyduck (Saturday Night Live’s term about 25 years ago) decided he’d rather stay in power in a non-nuclear nation. And, of course, regardless of the actual state of Sadaam Hussein’s nuclear weapons program, his intent was very clear, just as soon as UN sanctions were lifted… which was coming soon, and he knew it, having paid off major Russian, French and German players to sabotage any UN effort to do otherwise, with the “oil for food” kickbacks.

Some will say that Iran’s program is a result of the Iraq invasion. Some might even believe it. I’m not one of them, tending to take the Iranian government at its word. It intends to kill Israel, one way or the other. After that, it will consider its options.

We live in very serious times. The presidency is not for dilettantes. Do you want Obama sitting across the table from Ahmadinejad, or John McCain, with all his flaws?

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