Posted on 01/07/2006 10:21:17 AM PST by Kaslin
In a hairbrained scheme that was personally approved by then-President Clinton, the CIA deliberately gave Iranian physicists blueprints for part of a nuclear bomb that likely helped Tehran advance its nuclear weapons development program.
The allegation, detailed in the new book "State of War," by New York Times reporter James Risen, comes as the Iranian nuclear crisis appears to be coming to a head, with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urging that Israel be "wiped off the map" and his government announcing last week that it will resume uranium enrichment on Monday.
Reports Risen: "It's not clear who originally came up with the idea, but the plan [to give Tehran nuclear blueprints] was first approved by Clinton."
Beginning in February 2000, the CIA recruited a Russian scientist who had defected to the US years earlier. His mission: Take the nuclear blueprints to Vienna to sell them - or simply give them - to the Iranian representatives for the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Dubbed "Operation Merlin," the plan was supposed to steer Iranian physicists off track by incorporating design flaws in the blueprints that would render the information worthless.
But in what may turn out to be one of the greatest foreign policy blunders of all time, Operation Merlin backfired when the Russian scientist spotted the design flaws immediately - and even offered to help Iran fix the problems.
Risen said the Clinton-approved plan ended up handing Tehran "one of the greatest engineering secrets in the world, providing the solution to one of a handful of problems that separated nuclear powers such as the United States and Russia from rogue countries such as Iran that were desperate to join the nuclear club but had so far fallen short."
He noted that thanks to the bizarre operation, Iran could now "leapfrog one of the last remaining engineering hurdles blocking its path to a nuclear weapon."
Ironically, Risen's New York Times has declined to cover Mr. Clinton's Iranian nuclear debacle - concentrating instead on his book's dubious claims that the National Security Agency was first authorized to commence domestic wiretapping by President Bush.
Still, with Operation Merlin going so badly off track, "State of War's" revelations certainly warrant the kind of full blown congressional investigation now planned for the wiretap pseudo-scandal.
Risen's report could also have a serious implications for Sen. Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. Mrs. Clinton has been sharply critical of President Bush's handling of the Iranian nuclear crisis, complaining that a nuclear-armed Tehran would be a much more serious threat to the U.S. than Iraq.
Rush was talking about this. Jail Clinton, bomb Iran.
BTTT
Reports Risen: "It's not clear who originally came up with the idea, but the plan [to give Tehran nuclear blueprints] was first approved by Clinton."
LOLOL. Sometimes the left's best laid plans come back to bite them. Don't lose this one!
Related piece by Ledeen....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1553194/posts
WTH ???
Please tell me this isn't true
Jail Clinton for this? The guy must $hit Ice Cream. Just add 1 more to his list of crimes.
And the NY Times thought that wiretaps were a bigger issue. The Old Gray Lady is a whore!!!
Evidently there is/was nothing that Klinton would not do to screw America......
Not to defend Clinton here, but if the Russians could spot the design flaws in our plans, they probably knew enough to given Iran the "blueprint" anyway.
I see we both saw this at the same time. The Dems plan backfired a little bit with Rosen, didn't it?
Does anyone believe that Clinton ever gave anything away? (including his used underwear.) He sold it.
The traitor Bubba knew EXACTLY what he was doing.
Any comment from Joe Biden about this yet?
And let's see ... who was Secretary of State at the time
hmmmmmm
"It's not clear who originally came up with the idea
...do I smell Maddie Halfbright?
Clinton(s) and "scheme" go together like bacon and eggs.
Clinton screwed this nation in many more ways than one. And while we seek to clean this mess up, the Clintons will stand on the sideline and criticize every one of our nation's moves to correct the problems they created.
Thanks, I bookmarked it for later reading
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.