Saturday, January 07, 2006

Whose Intelligence?

In the torrent of disturbing revelations about the CIA's dysfuntionality, surely this one ranks, particularly in view of the looming nature of danger from Iran.
From the article:

Posted on Wed, Jan. 04, 2006

Book alleges CIA inadvertently gave Iran formula for nuclear bomb

BY TRACY CONNOR
New York Daily News

The CIA may have handed Iran the formula for building a nuclear bomb in a clumsy covert operation involving a double-crossing Russian agent, a new book charges.

The blueprint that was funneled to Tehran contained an error that was meant to derail the Islamic state's efforts at building a nuclear arsenal.

But the built-in flaw was so transparent the Russian engineer doing the CIA's dirty work spotted it immediately - and even offered to help Iran fix it.

The stunning account is one of the revelations in the new book "State of War," which details how the CIA repeatedly bungled its dealings with Iran.

The nuclear snafu happened in February 2000 when the CIA enlisted the Russian defector to supply misinformation to Iran as part of a program code-named Merlin.

He was given plans for a "firing set" for a Russian-designed bomb - the trigger for a chain reaction that Iran needed to build its own nukes.

The sophomoric nature of this scam reminded me of the Clinton bullsession (the other thing for which he's famous, talking about action) in which the President posited a mission involving masked special forces descending ropes from helicopters into a fireside desert gathering of al Qaeda terrorists. In fact, it was a modification of that far-fetched plan which resulted in the ill-fated battle in Mogadishu. It is chilling that so-called adults in charge of keeping us from harm could indulge in such fantasy and game-playing.

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