The Clinton Administration approved giving blueprints for
designing a nuclear bomb to Iranian physicists
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 that it will resume uranium enrichment.
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.
Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com
Staff |
