You would think Helen Thomas had thrown a shoe at President Obama, and the President had become the next artful dodger. Instead, it was an honest, simple, direct, question:
"Do you know of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?"
Of course nearly the whole world knows of a country in the Middle East brimming with nuclear weapons, we just want to know if the US President knows, or has the honesty to answer truthfully.
Obama's answer:
"With respect to nuclear weapons, I don’t want to speculate."
It should be noted here that Mr. Obama pronounced the word "nuclear" correctly, and for that we are grateful for "change we can believe in".
Unfortunately, Obama could not bring himself to answer the question honestly. this has dire implications for any progress toward halting the nuclear arms race in the middle east, begun by Israel's introduction of these horrific weapons of mass destruction to the region in the early 1960's.
It's up to us to answer that question for him.
Two seeming slips of the tongue have taken place in the last week that put a big question mark over the regime of [Israel's nuclear] ambiguity. First, US Defence Secretary designate Robert Gates said that Israel has nuclear weapons. [Then] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also referred to the subject. The question arises whether Olmert's declaration indeed ends the ambiguity. The answer, so it seems, is negative. As long as the US is not demanding that Israel agree to international supervision as it does of other countries like Iran and North Korea... the ambiguity will remain.
December 2006
Does having different standards for different nations encourage compliance with international agreements regarding nuclear weapons?
I don't think so.
If the US officially acknowledged that Israel was a nuclear state, Israel would be forced to become part of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, or face sanctions as required under US law.
The 1976 Symington Amendment prohibits most U.S. foreign aid to any country found trafficking in nuclear enrichment equipment or technology outside international safeguards. Israel has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). If U.S. presidents complied with the Symington Amendment, they would not deliver yearly aid packages to Israel totaling billions of dollars. So the US does not acknowledge the obvious. Grant Smith
Now for all the world to see it is blatant disregard for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that the US now cynically uses to force Iran to end its legal pursuit of nuclear power technology.
US diplomacy will continue to be hamstrung by this dishonesty and double-standards, making a military action all the more likely. Instead of working toward a nuclear-free Middle East, the US will be seen as actually supporting nuclear weapons in the Middle East-- for some. Supporting an aggressive nation like Israel, that brutally attacked the people of Lebanon and more recently Gaza, will almost certainly increase the likelihood that other nations will want to acquire nuclear weapons as a deterrence.
If the administration continues to be dishonest about nuclear weapons in the Middle East, how can we work toward the goal of making ending the threat they pose to our planet. Why does Obama cling to the status quo?
It seems the only answer is that we need a mass movement to end the scourge of nuclear weapons once and for all, not only from nations that the US may see as adversaries, but treating all nations equally.
The alternative are more of the same, like when a majority of House and Senate members backed an AIPAC resolution calling for a Naval Blockade of Iran (due to massive grassroots opposition it never came to a vote, but not before most members co-sponsored the resolution introduced by Democratic leadership).
Or when the distinguished "newspaper of record" in the United States publishes a call for the Israeli nuclear obliteration of Iran. (Following such an action, i suppose that Israel, and the United States, will not dismiss as "speculation" Israel's nuclear arsenal).
These are not pleasant things to think about. Nuclear Winter will not be the antidote to Global Warming. We need to organize for a nuclear-free world, and NOT nuclear monopolies. It's our only chance.