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Arab Nation May be Going Nuclear
January 08, 2010
Military.com|by Bryant Jordan
According to an expert on the Middle East, Israel may soon no longer be alone in possessing nuclear weapons in that volatile region of the globe.
But the other power with "the bomb" may not necessarily be Iran. While some countries claim Tehran is bent on becoming a nuclear-armed power – a claim Iran denies – an Arab country already is taking steps to go nuclear, says Jim Hoagland, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post journalist, who spoke Thursday at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"As a senior Arab political official who was in town recently said to a small group of us, [that] it's clear there is already activity underway on the Arab side on the development of nuclear weapons," Hoagland told a packed room at the institute's offices. Hoagland did not identify the Arab official or others in the "small group," and hastened to add that there were "no details to provide."
Hoagland was at the institute to offer some analysis of remarks made earlier by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, who gave an assessment of U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mullen's take, not surprisingly, is that there are encouraging signs of progress in both countries.
Mullen said little about Iran besides calling it a destabilizing influence in the region. He also said it was his opinion that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Mullen left immediately after his remarks and a handful of questions, and was not there when Hoagland spoke.
Hoagland did not respond to Military.com's request for additional comment and it is still unclear which Arab nation he was referring to.
Israel is the only known Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons -- with anywhere from 100 to 400 warheads in its stockpile. The Jewish nation -- which has never signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty -- never confirms or denies its nuclear status. And the U.S., to avoid an embarrassing clash with its closest ally in the region, never confirms or denies Israel's nuclear arsenal as well.
In 2007 Israel bombed a Syrian site that it claimed was being used for nuclear weapons development. Syria has denied the accusation and an official with a Vienna-based agency that follows nuclear weapons issues says there has never been evidence shown to support the Israeli claim.
The official, who spoke to Military.com on condition he and his group not be identified, said he has heard no other claims that an Arab country was working on building a nuclear bomb.
"There have been no such reports recently, not even in the last couple of years," he said. "I haven't heard of any new findings of any new country pursuing nuclear weapons capability."
John Pike, a national security analyst and director of Globalsecurity.org, said he does not know which country Hoagland might have been talking about. He believes the Syrian facility was a nuclear weapons program, but is no longer operating.
Beyond that, he told Military.com in an email today, Egypt "has had the rudiments of a program, but never seriously" pursued one. He said he also believes Saudi Arabia has "some kind of arrangement with Pakistan."
Pike states on his Web site that the Saudis do not have nuclear weapons, but that some countries fear it may attempt to buy warheads rather than try to develop them. He says Saudi officials have discussed buying from Pakistan intermediate-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Hoagland offered his nuclear tidbit in response to a reporter's question about U.S. offers to provide a security "umbrella" to Middle East countries in order to discourage them from starting nuclear weapons programs of their own as a hedge against Iran.
"I think there's some interesting continuity on this point," Hoagland said. "During the Bush administration there was discussion about a nuclear umbrella, a doctrine that would be directed at reassuring Arab states in the Gulf, Arab states at large, that they would be protected against an Iranian nuclear weapon."
The same guarantee was offered Turkey, but that country already operated under the assumption the U.S. was watching its back against a possibly nuclear Iran, and didn't feel the need for a nuclear program, according to Hoagland.
He said that then-Senator Hillary Clinton, as a presidential candidate in 2008, talked about a "strategic umbrella" for Israel, intended to reassure the Israelis they need not attack Iran at that time.
Hoagland, an opinion columnist for the Post for about 20 years, was also the paper's senior foreign correspondent, and staffed its desks in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. In a Jan. 3 column he announced he would quit writing weekly for the paper in order to focus on longer-term projects, including a book.
Arab Nation May be Going Nuclear
January 08, 2010
Military.com|by Bryant Jordan
According to an expert on the Middle East, Israel may soon no longer be alone in possessing nuclear weapons in that volatile region of the globe.
But the other power with "the bomb" may not necessarily be Iran. While some countries claim Tehran is bent on becoming a nuclear-armed power – a claim Iran denies – an Arab country already is taking steps to go nuclear, says Jim Hoagland, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post journalist, who spoke Thursday at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"As a senior Arab political official who was in town recently said to a small group of us, [that] it's clear there is already activity underway on the Arab side on the development of nuclear weapons," Hoagland told a packed room at the institute's offices. Hoagland did not identify the Arab official or others in the "small group," and hastened to add that there were "no details to provide."
Hoagland was at the institute to offer some analysis of remarks made earlier by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen, who gave an assessment of U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mullen's take, not surprisingly, is that there are encouraging signs of progress in both countries.
Mullen said little about Iran besides calling it a destabilizing influence in the region. He also said it was his opinion that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Mullen left immediately after his remarks and a handful of questions, and was not there when Hoagland spoke.
Hoagland did not respond to Military.com's request for additional comment and it is still unclear which Arab nation he was referring to.
Israel is the only known Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons -- with anywhere from 100 to 400 warheads in its stockpile. The Jewish nation -- which has never signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty -- never confirms or denies its nuclear status. And the U.S., to avoid an embarrassing clash with its closest ally in the region, never confirms or denies Israel's nuclear arsenal as well.
In 2007 Israel bombed a Syrian site that it claimed was being used for nuclear weapons development. Syria has denied the accusation and an official with a Vienna-based agency that follows nuclear weapons issues says there has never been evidence shown to support the Israeli claim.
The official, who spoke to Military.com on condition he and his group not be identified, said he has heard no other claims that an Arab country was working on building a nuclear bomb.
"There have been no such reports recently, not even in the last couple of years," he said. "I haven't heard of any new findings of any new country pursuing nuclear weapons capability."
John Pike, a national security analyst and director of Globalsecurity.org, said he does not know which country Hoagland might have been talking about. He believes the Syrian facility was a nuclear weapons program, but is no longer operating.
Beyond that, he told Military.com in an email today, Egypt "has had the rudiments of a program, but never seriously" pursued one. He said he also believes Saudi Arabia has "some kind of arrangement with Pakistan."
Pike states on his Web site that the Saudis do not have nuclear weapons, but that some countries fear it may attempt to buy warheads rather than try to develop them. He says Saudi officials have discussed buying from Pakistan intermediate-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Hoagland offered his nuclear tidbit in response to a reporter's question about U.S. offers to provide a security "umbrella" to Middle East countries in order to discourage them from starting nuclear weapons programs of their own as a hedge against Iran.
"I think there's some interesting continuity on this point," Hoagland said. "During the Bush administration there was discussion about a nuclear umbrella, a doctrine that would be directed at reassuring Arab states in the Gulf, Arab states at large, that they would be protected against an Iranian nuclear weapon."
The same guarantee was offered Turkey, but that country already operated under the assumption the U.S. was watching its back against a possibly nuclear Iran, and didn't feel the need for a nuclear program, according to Hoagland.
He said that then-Senator Hillary Clinton, as a presidential candidate in 2008, talked about a "strategic umbrella" for Israel, intended to reassure the Israelis they need not attack Iran at that time.
Hoagland, an opinion columnist for the Post for about 20 years, was also the paper's senior foreign correspondent, and staffed its desks in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. In a Jan. 3 column he announced he would quit writing weekly for the paper in order to focus on longer-term projects, including a book.
Arab Nation May be Going Nuclear
