UNITED FOR PEACE OF PIERCE COUNTY

"We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy."

IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL OPPONENTS ARE DISINGENUOUS

August 27, 2015

Nothing demonstrates the disingenuousness of those attacking the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran better than the fact that they never mention Israel's nuclear weapons program.  We are asked to believe that the security of Israel is paramount in their minds, yet Israel's own nuclear weapons arsenal goes undiscussed.  Mainstream mass media participate in this disingenuousness:  they have almost completely ignored the latest development in Israel's nuclear capacity, the acquisition (from Germany) of submarines that can launch nuclear warheads.

Israel's nuclear weapons program is the world's most open secret.  Israeli leaders have even acknowledged its existence in offhand, inadvertent comments.  Entire books have been written about it.  Avner Cohen entitled his second Columbia University Press book on the subject appropriately:  The World's Worst-Kept Secret: Israel's Bargain with the Bomb (2010; paperback 2012).  By some estimates, Israel has the third largest collection of nuclear warheads in the world; by all accounts, it has scores of them.

The United States was complicit in many ways in the development of Israel's nuclear weapons program.  In 1969 President Richard Nixon made a secret agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir to stop pressing Israel to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty in return for a promise not to acknowledge or test its nuclear weapons.  The U.S. intelligence community believes that a U.S. satellite detected Israel breaking that promise ten years later by conducting an atmospheric test in the Indian Ocean on Sept. 22, 1979—the so-called Vela Alert Event 747 or A-747.  The location of this test was due to the fact that apartheid South Africa played an important role in helping Israel develop its nuclear bombs.  (The U.S. officially pretends to believe that A-747 was a rare double meteor event—an explication whose probability of being correct has been estimated to be one in 100 billion.  For a compelling analysis by Leonard Weiss of Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation on this subject, see a PowerPoint presentation he made in 2012.)

As for Iran, those consuming only U.S. media may be surprised to hear that despite enormous efforts to find it, no credible evidence has yet been found that Iran (which unlike Israel is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and has a right under that treaty to a peaceful nuclear program) even has a nuclear weapons program.  Because it is logically impossible to prove that something does not exist, no proof that Iran has no nuclear weapons program is possible.  The existence of such a program would, of course, be a matter for concern.  We would have less trouble believing in the sincerity of those arguing against this historic agreement if they were willing accurately to describe Israel's national security profile.

Reiterating our statement of a month ago, we repeat:  like the overwhelming majority of observers around the world, we support the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran.  It promises a peaceful diplomatic resolution to a grave international dispute of great complexity and difficulty.  The fact that so many Americans are opposed to it is rooted in politics and historical enmities, not facts.

UFPPC urges you to contact your senators and representatives to tell them you support the nuclear deal with Iran.  Washingtonians can reach Senator Maria Cantwell (who is still said to be undecided) at 253-572-2281; they can reach Senator Patty Murray (who has said that she will vote in favor of the agreement) at 253-572-3636.  Pierce County residents can reach Representative Derek Kilmer (still undecided) at 253-272-3515, Representative Adam Smith (still undecided) at 425-793-5180, Representative Dave Reichert (said to be opposed to the deal, like every other House Republican) at 425-677-7414, and Representative Denny Heck (who supports the deal) at 360-459-8514.

UNITED FOR PEACE OF PIERCE COUNTY

"We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy."