I am not a weapons of mass destruction expert. But, like many of those who frequent this blog, I know that ketchup is not vegetable.

There are probably some others here that know that the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism or GSAVE–formerly know as the War On Terror–is not about preventing the spread of extremism, nor limiting the reach of terror. Nor does it seem to be about stopping the spread of WMD.

What is the President’s solution to stopping the spread of WMD? More specifically, what does he plan on doing about nuclear weapons proliferation?  Because as I know that ketchup is not a vegetable, I also know that WMD are not something exclusive to Iraq.

For reasons too numerous to list in plain text on my 150 GB hard drive, I don’t trust the President’s word. I can only attempt to understand him by looking at his deeds, and it looks to me that what the Bush administration is engaged in should be known as WARGASM or We Are Reality: Global Arms Trade Metastasizing.

Let’s look at nuclear weapons in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s weapons technology is based on the production of highly enriched uranium suitable for nuclear weapons, utilising indigenous uranium. It has at least one small centrifuge enrichment plant. In 1990 the US Administration cut off aid because it was unable to certify that Pakistan was not pursuing a policy of manufacturing nuclear weapons though this was relaxed late in 2001.

–World Nuclear Association, “Nuclear Power in India and Pakistan,” March 2005

When in late 2001?

11 days after 9/11.

Here is the Presidential Determination authorized by Bush,

September 22, 2001.

Based on this Presidential Determination, this rule implements the lifting of these sanctions by removing section 742.16 of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), which sets forth the policy of denial for exports and reexports of items controlled for Nuclear Proliferation (NP) and Missile Technology (MT) reasons to India and Pakistan.

President Clinton implemented these sanctions in 1998. In response to the eleven nuclear tests carried out in May of 1998 by India and Pakistan, confirming their long-suspected potential in this area.

Why did Bush do this?

I have no happy thoughts.

The World is Flat.

World to be Flattened Further by WMD.

Just last Thursday, Pakistan tested their first cruise missile.

Pakistani cruise missile tested, August 11, 2005

Also diaried by MN camera here

The Babur missile is capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads and has a range of 500km (310 miles), a military spokesman said.

But Pakistani officials assured us,

the test would not impede “the way toward peace” with India. He added that the Babur was a “gift” to President Pervez Musharraf for his 62nd birthday. Pakistani military analysts said that Babur was Pakistan’s response to India’s BrahMos cruise missile and that they expected the arms race to go on.

Isn’t that lovely?

CNN actually covered it. Thoughtful of them, isn’t it?

I’m surprised because this is “old news.”  

We sold Pakistan 28 conventional warhead cruise missiles( AGM-84 Harpoons), and the 3 antisurface/antisubmarine planes that carry them(P-3C Orion Update 2.5s)in 1996. Eight more are on order from 2004.

The sale and delivery of these are documented by SIPRI here

About the missiles

About the aircraft

These weapons systems were at one time embargoed by the Pressler Amendment, a provision that prohibits military aid or arms sales to Pakistan unless the President can certify that Pakistan does not have a nuclear bomb. But aggressive lobbying by the Pakistani government and US arms manufacturers resulted in the temporary lifting of the embargo on these weapons between ’95 and ’98.

There’s a good reason why conventionally armed Harpoon cruise missiles were embargoed. Because they have the potential to be armed with nuclear warheads. A potential that may have already been realized by Israel.

Israel has designed nuclear warheads for U.S.-provided Harpoon cruise missiles, which are conventionally armed antiship weapons, U.S. officials said. 

To fit a nuclear weapon on a Harpoon, Israeli engineers would have had to reduce the warhead’s size and alter the missile’s guidance system to attack land targets, said Robert Norris, a nuclear historian at the Natural Resources Defense Council. He added that both modifications would be relatively simple to accomplish for a country with a sophisticated nuclear weapons program.

–Global Security Newswire, Oct. 14, 2003

The day after the Los Angeles Times broke this story, Israel made some very clumsy attempts  to deny the existence of the Harpoon nuclear modifications.

A senior Israeli official accused The Los Angeles Times of deliberately running a phony story – which was quickly picked up by news outlets worldwide – in order to draw public pressure away from Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program.[…] “They knew it was technically impossible to fit the missile with a nuclear warhead,” said the official. “They are fishing for reasons why the US shouldn’t do anything about Iran’s program.”[…] The Israeli source asserted that smallest nuclear warhead weighs a half-ton. The Harpoon’s conventional warhead weighs in at 225 kilograms.[about 500 lbs]

The senior Israeli official said way too much. He should have simply said the story was phony and left it at that. Instead, he goes on to attempt to spread some truly half-baked disinformation that clearly calls into question his own credibility.

How can I believe this desperate official?  

Wikipedia makes it…so very difficult.

First, there’s the interestingly acronymed SADM or Special Atomic Demolition Munition

In the 1950s and 1960s, the United States developed several different types of lightweight nuclear devices. The main one was the Mk-54, a cylinder 40 by 60 centimeters that weighed 68 kilograms(about 150 lbs).

Then, there’s the Davy Crockett nuclear device successfully tested in 1962. It weighed only 76 lbs.  And that’s over 40 years ago.

And for movie trivia fans:

The Davy Crockett rocket made an appearance with both a nuclear and conventional payload in the 1962 movie “King Kong vs Godzilla”, even though the rocket system was still classified at the time.

A classified WMD, exposed on film with men in rubber suits wrestling for world domination. Something definitely here for another diary.

But lets move on because it gets worse.

Regardless of the truth or fiction of the Israeli Harpoon modifications and their implications for Pakistan, the Bush administration and their Defense Department cronies seem determined to hold the door wide open for their new Pakistani arms clients. This is abundantly evident in this Asia Times article on August 4th which covers a recent report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) on US-Pakistan relations.

The report also noted that since Pakistan’s decision to be part of the US-led coalition in the “war on terror” in 2001, the US has taken significant steps to provide military support to Islamabad. It noted that the March 25 decision by the Bush administration to release advanced F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan was just the latest in a series of major US weapons sales and grants to that nation.[…]  Proposed sales include eight P-3C maritime reconnaissance aircraft, six Phalanx ship protection weapons systems and 2,000 TOW anti-tank missiles (worth up to $1.2 billion), and the recently proposed sale of 300 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles and 60 Harpoon anti-ship missiles (worth $226 million).[…]  Even the deals marked as “sale” may be partially or fully funded by the $1.5 billion annual US military assistance to Pakistan. It must be noted that apart from aid, the Pentagon’s budget includes $100 million per month to be given to Pakistan as “compensation” for its “war on terror” efforts.

On top of all this, the Defense Department throws in a freebee.

One of the items is the decommissioned US Navy vessel USS Fletcher, which is slated to be transferred to Pakistan on a grant basis. This means that the vessel is essentially given to Pakistan free of charge, with the latter having to pay only for transportation charges.[…]  The Fletcher will tower over any Indian destroyer and has more advanced armaments. This is a clear attitude changer.

It would seem the Fletcher, a Spruance-class vessel, is not a piece of junk

While Spruance-class vessels were originally built to hunt and kill enemy submarines under all weather conditions, they have since been modified to carry missiles. Each of these ships has a 61-cell vertical launch missile system capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles, as well as shorter-range Harpoon missiles. The ship also carries ASROC rocket-launched torpedoes that can home in on a submarine until it destroys it. Many would consider the impending Spruance-class acquisition by Pakistan to be a key milestone in the naval annals of Asia.

Why is Bush so eager to facilitate the loosening of nukes? Obviously, arms manufactures stand to gain big time profits by selling to both sides in the India/Pakistan conflict. A truly sociopathic and potentially disastrous profiteering scheme. But even in terms of simpleminded US interests, hadn’t 911 taught them anything about the necessity of stopping the spread of WMD? Especially in countries that harbor terrorists of the Islamic extremist kind? Countries with military dictatorships? Countries where 51% of the surveyed population have “a lot” or “some confidence in Osama bin Laden to do the right thing regarding world affairs” according to Pew?

No good will come of this.

Bush has no plan for winning the peace in ANY global struggle. The view within the administration bubble is that there is no struggle; 9/11 changed NOTHING. They are just moving on with their lies and their lives. The Iraq example is part of a broad, deeply flawed world view. Policy formulated in isolation and ignorance resulting in impulsive and incompetent military intervention is the President’s job.  The rotten fruit of his hard work is US troops sent on a lost mission, under equipped and under supported, while big ticket arms sales continue unimpeded to a country with nukes, a dictator, and a significant population hostile to the US and our allies.  

The Bush administration is hell-bent on spearheading the most expensive and devastating display of bungled “strategery” in American history.  And I fear what we have in this country is a defense bureaucracy overrun by arms lobbyists.  People not unlike Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, who:

…confirmed that he “represented a leading Israeli armaments manufacturer in establishing joint ventures with leading US aerospace manufacturers for manufacture and sale of missile systems, to the US Department of Defense and worldwide.”

Link

A man described by General Tommy Franks, as “the f—ing stupidest guy on the face of the Earth,”

Makes one wonder if the ultimate goal of God’s “Intelligent Design” is to get us all killed by the f—ing stupidest guy on the face of the Earth.

Cross-posted at dailykos.

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