Bill Sykes' - In Retrospect
IX.
(November 2007)
Bill Sykes
looks back in retrospect at material which has been published
in previous editions of "View from America",
in an attempt to determine whether the subject matter
written then is still applicable in today’s world.
The expansion of Israel’s nuclear capability.
Note: The following information and time line of events is readily available
in the public domain.
This is a delicate but well publicised knowledge of
Israel’s nuclear capability,
which has been quoted as shrouded by "nuclear ambiguity",
a phrase obviously intended to convey that Israel does
not admit the extent of their nuclear capability.
According to senior Bush administration and Israeli officials,
Israel has modified American-supplied cruise missiles
which gives them the capability to launch
nuclear warheads from "Dolphin class" submarines,
(wonder who supplied those), which expands Israel’s
nuclear capability one step further. This previously
undisclosed capability, obviously bolsters Israel’s
deterrent weaponry against avowed Middle East enemies,
such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran, but complicates
efforts by the United States and the United Nations to
stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons in both the
Middle East and the Far East.
Timeline of the development of Israel’s nuclear capability:
1949: Israel’s nuclear capability history is said to have started when
France and Israel set up a joint research program, which began with a geological
survey of the Negev desert in search of recoverable Uranium.
1953: Israeli researchers perfect a process for extracting
Uranium, and developing a new method of producing heavy
water, which is a key ingredient in the process.
1956: France and Israel agree in secret to build a nuclear
reactor in the Negev desert.
1960: United States intelligence determines that Israel
has a secret nuclear facility. (Can one say a little
late in the day?).
1965: Israel performs its first plutonium extraction,
and France assists Israel in developing its Jericho missiles.
1975: Israel receives nuclear-capable Lance missiles
from the United States.
1986: The London times, assisted by information from
a former Israeli nuclear technician, Mordechai Vanunu,
(who was later to be convicted of treason and sentenced
to eighteen years in prison), exposed Israel’s nuclear weapons program.
1987: Israel test-fires a Jericho 2 missile.
2000: The first submarine-launched missile is reported
to have been tested somewhere in the area of the Indian
Ocean.
Disturbing statistics indeed.
Israel in the mid 1950's,
(in a secret agreement with the French Government), began
building a plutonium reactor in a remote corner of the
Negev desert outside the village of Dimona. This massive
project employed as many as a 1500 workforce of Israeli
and French workers, to build an extensive underground
complex on a 14 square mile site. By the way, it was
French military aircraft that secretly transported large
quantities of heavy water, (a component required for
developing a plutonium reactor), from Norway. Question
for President Chirac. What perverse reason or ulterior
motive did France have in performing this covert act
of providing Israel with a nuclear capability?
In December of 1960 Israeli Prime Minister David Ben
Gurion told the Israeli government that a nuclear reactor
was under construction, but insisted that it was exclusively
for peaceful purposes. According to published accounts,
in June of 1967 on the eve of the Middle East war, Israeli
engineers assembled two improvised nuclear devices.
Would Israel have used such devices? Unfortunately
I believe that if the war had been going against them
and they had their backs to the wall that they would
indeed have used such weapons, just a personal opinion.
No material evidence to the positive, the contrary, or
any information available to prove otherwise.
Comment: Shall we applaud, or condemn, the apparent
devious and obvious political subterfuge employed by
France in assisting Israel to develop a nuclear capability? I
suppose that it depends which side of the fence one
happens to be on.
The United States is currently concerned, as well they
should be, regarding the possible proliferation of nuclear
weapons by North Korea and Iran and are demanding that
both countries cease their current efforts to become
nuclear powers, but I don’t hear any condemnation
of Pakistan, India, and especially Israel. America would
appear to be employing its usual "Double Standard",
with one rule for Israel and another for the rest of
the world. So what else is new? Israel does what
Israel wants to do and gets away with thumbing its nose
with impunity at the world in general, with no apparent
recriminations coming from the United Nations or any
other controlling entity of this world .
Disclaimer:
Some of the information gathered for this news letter
has been gleaned from American and international media
sources,
(including the Internet), and as such is quoted as accurately
as possible. I try to obtain confirmation on each subject
from
several outlets, so the text is a mixture of composite
news items and personal comments and therefore the reader
must make his/her own judgement as to the reliability
and degree of accuracy of the subjects discussed.
We
welcome feedback about any of the contents of these articles.
Please send all correspondence to bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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