[Peace-discuss] Helen Thomas Asks A Question That Exposes Obama's Obseqiousness

[C. G. Estabrook]

[And the question exposes the hypocrisy of the Obama administration, set out 
below. "The 1976 Symington Amendment prohibits most U.S. foreign aid to any 
country found trafficking in nuclear enrichment equipment or technology outside 
international safeguards ... As Obama backtracks on transparency ... researchers 
will have to wait at least another eight years for documents already long 
overdue for public release."  --CGE]

	February 11, 2009
	Will Obama Break the Law
	for Israel's Sake?
	by Grant F. Smith

Since entering office, President Barack Obama has promised sweeping changes in 
three aspects of governance: transparency, law enforcement, and stewardship of 
American tax dollars. For a public weary of law enforcement forever prosecuting 
street but never elite crime, Obama's many statements about holding all 
individuals accountable under the law have been encouraging. He also called for 
government-agency compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in a 
White House mandate for transparency. Obama swore any bailouts of financial 
institutions and industries will hereafter avoid secretly funneling taxpayer 
funds into bloated Wall Street bonuses, executive junkets, and private jets.

But does Obama intend to follow these rules himself? Probably not. Obama's 
entire facade momentarily crumbled under a single withering question – "Do you 
know of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?" – launched by 
veteran reporter Helen Thomas during the president's first evening press 
conference on Feb. 9, 2008.

Obama dodged the substance of the question:

    "With respect to nuclear weapons, I don't want to speculate. What I know is 
this: that if we see a nuclear arms race in a region as volatile as the Middle 
East, everybody will be in danger. And one of my goals is to prevent nuclear 
proliferation generally, I think that it's important for the United States in 
concert with Russia to lead the way on this, and I've mentioned this in 
conversations with the Russian president, Mr. Medvedev, to let him know that it 
is important for us to restart the conversations about how we can start reducing 
our nuclear arsenals in an effective way, so that we then have the standing to 
go to other countries to start stitching back together the nonproliferation 
treaties that frankly have been weakened over the last several years."

The evasion inherent in Obama's reply coupled with actions already taken may 
reveal the new administration's true framework for Middle East policy: 
deception, wastefulness, and lawlessness.

Fortunately, Americans don't need Barack Obama to "speculate" on what former 
President Jimmy Carter already confirmed on May 25, 2008: Israel possesses an 
arsenal of at least 150 nuclear weapons. Why does Obama trot out the discredited 
policy of "strategic ambiguity" – in which Israeli and U.S. officials officially 
refuse to confirm or deny the existence Israeli nuclear weapons – at this early 
moment? For one reason alone: to break the law. The 1976 Symington Amendment 
prohibits most U.S. foreign aid to any country found trafficking in nuclear 
enrichment equipment or technology outside international safeguards. Israel has 
never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). If U.S. presidents 
complied with the Symington Amendment, they would not deliver yearly aid 
packages to Israel totaling billions of dollars. Presidents make-believe that 
Israeli nuclear weapons don't exist so Congress can legally continue shoveling 
the lion's share of the U.S. foreign aid budget to Israel. But this thin 
pretense is now over. Since Carter's revelation, press outlets such as Reuters 
chat openly about how Israel's nukes mean that it does not qualify for U.S. aid. 
But like Harry Markopolos incessantly nagging the SEC about Bernie Madoff's 
Ponzi scheme, fourth-estate and nuclear-activist calls for compliance continue 
to be rebuffed by government agencies. Denying Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 
requests about Israeli nukes has always been an integral tactic in preserving 
this hoary old ruse.

The National Security Archive at George Washington University has doggedly 
pursued public release of key CIA files about Israel's nuclear weapons programs 
under the FOIA. The Archive has so far obtained "only a small fraction of a 
large body of documents … that remain classified." Keeping all kinds of damning 
information bottled up was a special priority during the George W. Bush 
administration, whose FOIA policy was to find reasons not to release documents. 
As Obama backtracks on transparency – as he must if he fully commits to the 
policy of "strategic ambiguity" – researchers will have to wait at least another 
eight years for documents already long overdue for public release. That could be 
very dangerous.

Placing declassified documents about Israeli nuclear capabilities on the table 
as part of U.S.-Iranian and other regional diplomatic and academic relations is 
the only way to prepare for good-faith negotiations. Iran is a signatory to the 
NPT and allows public inspections of its civilian nuclear facilities, though 
many doggedly insist without hard evidence that Iran is developing nuclear 
weapons. U.S. policymakers will continue to have a difficult time convincing the 
public and allies that newer, tougher approaches are needed against Iran if the 
U.S. continues to avoid discussing Israeli nukes. Regional and American 
negotiators must be armed with enough facts to address whether Israel's military 
belligerence, coupled with a nuclear arsenal, is motivating others to seek the 
nuclear deterrents. Obama appears to be committing to Israeli regional nuclear 
hegemony rather than addressing it as a proliferation-driver. If this seems 
far-fetched, consider that Obama has already reauthorized a quiet blockade of 
Iran begun during the Bush administration.

George W. Bush responded to Israel lobby pressure to target Iran by creating a 
new U.S. Treasury Department unit by executive order in 2004. The secretive 
Office of Terrorist and Financial Intelligence (TFI) delivers most of its public 
briefings at an AIPAC-sponsored think-tank, the Washington Institute for Near 
East Policy, and even contracts the think-tankers for "consulting." Like other 
agencies during the Bush presidency, TFI denied FOIA requests [.pdf] for 
detailed information about its activities, but it is known to be targeting 
commercial shippers, international banks, and companies that do business with 
Iran. Clearly, if this quiet commercial and financial blockade were being waged 
by some powerful foreign entity against the United States, Americans would 
consider it a casus belli. But rather than slow or shut the operation down in 
preparation for promised attempts at U.S.-Iran diplomacy, Obama's new Treasury 
Secretary Tim Geithner recently announced that Stuart Levey will continue to 
lead this financial blockade unit at Treasury. This particular clandestine 
operations component of Obama's Middle East policy may soon spark a senseless 
military conflict with Iran, but perhaps that's the plan. Obama's policy, if 
honestly verbalized, may be the following:

    "As your president, I will continue to deceive you about Israeli nuclear 
weapons, so that my administration can violate the Symington Amendment and 
deliver unwarranted amounts of taxpayer dollars to Israel. My administration 
will negotiate in bad faith with Iran while clandestinely attacking it, in order 
to preserve Israeli nuclear hegemony in the Middle East."

For Americans impoverished in both reputation and wallet by years of corruption 
and waning rule of law, such a crass public admission would be refreshing. But 
it's not change we can believe in.

Full article with links at
http://www.antiwar.com/orig/gsmith.php?articleid=14229