-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Wishing all Goanetters | | a Prosperous | | and | | Happy New Year - 2006 | | Goanet - http://www.goanet.org | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > On 04/01/06, Mario Goveia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > > > This is another attempt by Cornel to sound glib, > > without making any contribution to the debate or > > any suggestions on how to address the problem of a > > recalcitrant Iran. > --- Gabe Menezes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > RESPONSE: George Bush insists that Iran must not be > allowed to develop nuclear weapons. So why, six years ago, did > the CIA give the Iranians blueprints to build a bomb? > > Check it out at > http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1678220,00.html > > What an almighty cock up!!! > Mario observes: > Almighty cock up - I'm using Gabe's cockney lingo here - is correct. However the almighty cock up was aimed at confusing the Iranians, not helping them, as Gabe has falsely insinuated in his post. It was part of a deliberate disinformation program in the long tradition of disinformation programs perfected by the British during WW-II to confuse the Germans, and used by everyone engaged in geopolical conflicts ever since. > Here are the relevent excerpts from the same article posted by Gabe which show this was a disinformation ploy: > Excerpt 1. "This was just an intelligence-gathering effort, the CIA officer said, not an illegal attempt to give Iran the bomb. He suggested that the Iranians already had the technology he was going to hand over to them. It was all a game. Nothing too serious. > On paper, Merlin was supposed to stunt the development of Tehran's nuclear programme by sending Iran's weapons experts down the wrong technical path. The CIA believed that once the Iranians had the blueprints and studied them, they would believe the designs were usable and so would start to build an atom bomb based on the flawed designs. But Tehran would get a big surprise when its scientists tried to explode their new bomb. Instead of a mushroom cloud, the Iranian scientists would witness a disappointing fizzle. The Iranian nuclear programme would suffer a humiliating setback, and Tehran's goal of becoming a nuclear power would have been delayed by several years. In the meantime, the CIA, by watching Iran's reaction to the blueprints, would have gained a wealth of information about the status of Iran's weapons programme, which has been shrouded in secrecy. > Excerpt 2. Operation Merlin has been one of the most closely guarded secrets in the Clinton and Bush administrations. It's not clear who originally came up with the idea, but the plan was first approved by Clinton. After the Russian scientist's fateful trip to Vienna, however, the Merlin operation was endorsed by the Bush administration, possibly with an eye toward repeating it against North Korea or other dangerous states. > Several former CIA officials say that the theory behind Merlin - handing over tainted weapon designs to confound one of America's adversaries - is a trick that has been used many times in past operations, stretching back to the cold war. >
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