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Why Bush Wants to Legalize the Nuke Trade With Turkey

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  • Why Bush Wants to Legalize the Nuke Trade With Turkey

    Published on Thursday, February 21, 2008 by the Atlantic Free Press
    Why Bush Wants to Legalize the Nuke Trade With Turkey
    by Joshua Frank
    According to FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, there is a vast black
    market for nukes, and certain U.S. officials have been supplying
    sensitive nuclear technology information to Turkish and Israeli
    interests through its conduits. It's a scathing allegation which was
    first published by the London Times two weeks ago, and Edmonds' charge
    seems to be on the verge of vindication.

    In likely reaction to the London Times report, the Bush Administration
    quietly announced on January 22 that the president would like Congress
    to approve the sale of nuclear secrets to Turkey. As with most stories
    of this magnitude, the U.S. media has put on blinders, opting to not
    report either Edmonds' story or Bush's recent announcement.

    The White House Press Release claims that President Clinton signed off
    on the Turkey deal way back in 2000:

    `However, immediately after signature, U.S. agencies received
    information that called into question the conclusions that had
    been drawn in the required NPAS (Nuclear Proliferation
    Assessment Statement) and the original classified annex,
    specifically, information implicating Turkish private entities
    in certain activities directly relating to nuclear
    proliferation. Consequently, the Agreement was not submitted to
    the Congress and the executive branch undertook a review of the
    NPAS evaluation ¦ My Administration has completed the NPAS
    review as well as an evaluation of actions taken by the Turkish
    government to address the proliferation activities of certain
    Turkish entities (once officials of the U.S. Government brought
    them to the Turkish government's attention).'


    What `private entities' the press release refers to is not clear, but it
    could well include the American Turkish Council, the `entity' revealed
    in the Times article. The Bushites seem to be covering their own exposed
    backsides, for the timing of Bush's call to sell nuke secrets to Turkey
    is certainly suspicious, if not overtly conspicuous.

    It appears the White House has been spooked by Edmonds and hopes to
    absolve the U.S. officials allegedly involved in the illegal sale of
    nuclear technology to private Turkish `entities'. One of those officials
    is likely Marc Grossman, the former ambassador to Turkey during the
    Clinton Administration who also served in the State Department from
    2001-2005. Grossman has been named by Edmonds who claims he was directly
    involved in the nuclear smuggling ring that she says has allowed the
    intelligence agencies of Pakistan, Israel and Turkey to operate in the
    U.S. with impunity. Totally complicit in the nuke trade, the U.S.
    government, according to Edmonds, has known of the vast criminal
    activities of these foreign nations' presence in the States, which has
    included all sorts of illegal activities like drug trafficking,
    espionage and money laundering.

    Edmonds says `several arms of the government were shielding what was
    going on' which included an entire national security apparatus
    associated with the neoconservaties who have profited by representing
    Turkish interests in Washington. As Justin Raimondo recently reported in
    Antiwar.com:

    `¦this group includes not only Grossman, but also Paul
    Wolfowitz, chief intellectual architect of the Iraq war and
    ex-World Bank president; former deputy defense secretary for
    policy Douglas J. Feith; Feith's successor, Eric Edelman; and
    Richard Perle, the notorious uber-neocon whose unique ability to
    mix profiteering and warmongering forced him to resign his
    official capacity as a key administration adviser ¦ Edmonds
    draws a picture of a three-sided alliance consisting of Turkish,
    Pakistani, and Israeli agents who coordinated efforts to milk
    U.S. nuclear secrets and technology, funneling the intelligence
    stream to the black market nuclear network set up by the
    Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan. The multi-millionaire Pakistani
    nuclear scientist then turned around and sold his nuclear assets
    to North Korea, Libya, and Iran.'


    Is the Bush Administration seeking to exonerate these `officials' with
    its plea to allow Turkey to obtain U.S. nuclear secrets? Besides
    Grossman, who else was involved in Edmonds' grim tale of the
    nuke-for-profit underground? As the news that U.S. officials have
    allegedly been supplying Turkey with nuclear technology begins to creep
    in to the mainstream media, the Bush team appears to be moving to
    legalize the whole shady operation.

    If Congress does not block or amend Bush's legislation to sell nukes to
    Turkey in less than 90 days, it will become law automatically, likely
    acting retroactively to clear the alleged crimes of Marc Grossman and
    his neocon, nuke-trading friends.

    Joshua Frank is co-editor of Dissident Voice and author of Left Out! How
    Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush (Common Courage Press, 2005), and
    along with Jeffrey St. Clair, the editor of the forthcoming Red State
    Rebels, to be published by AK Press in July 2008.

    © 2008 Atlantic Free Press

    http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/02 /21/7204/
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