Israel Matzav

How an anti-proliferator drank the Kool Aid and sold his soul

The Washington Free Beacon's Adam Kredo shows how purported nuclear non-proliferation supporter Joseph Cirincione has changed his position by 180 degrees in order to support the Obama administration's deal with Iran.

In a 2005 article for the Washington Post, Cirincione argued that if Iran is permitted to keep its nuclear power plants—as the Obama administration has proposed—that “this would put them ‘a screwdriver’s turn’ away from bomb-making capability.”

“The problem is not the reactor. It is what goes into the reactor and what comes out,” Cirincione wrote when he was a member of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“The same plants that can enrich uranium to low levels for fuel rods, can enrich uranium to high levels for bombs. The same plants that can reprocess the spent fuel rods (extracting their plutonium, uranium, and waste products) for disposal can also reprocess the rods to make plutonium for bombs.”

He continued:

This is the essence of the Iran problem. We can live with an Iran with nuclear power reactors, we cannot accept an Iran with the plants to enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium. This would put them ‘a screwdriver’s turn’ away from bomb-making capability. We need to create a new international regime that prevents any new country from building such facilities and puts the existing facilities under international safeguards.

In the 10 years since publishing this article, Cirincione has altered his position to bring it more in line with what the Obama administration is proposing in negotiations—to permit Iran to retain the most controversial aspects of its nuclear infrastructure.

... 

“Joseph Cirincione was right in 2005 when he said that we cannot leave Iran ‘a screwdriver’s turn’ away from bomb-making capability,” said Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). “He was correct when he said that ‘we can live with an Iran with nuclear power reactors, we cannot accept an Iran with the plants to enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium.’”

“Now that he has changed his mind, Joe should explain why and whether he has any red lines left that if not met would render a nuclear deal unacceptable,” Dubowitz said.

It's called 'party uber alles' I'm afraid.  That and the desire for a good job and a cushy retirement.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Iran sanctions regime, Iranian nuclear threat, nuclear proliferation, P 5+1, uranium enrichment

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:13 PM