Were are the WMDs?

[Guest guest]

ASHKELON, Israel (CNN) -- A defiant Mordechai Vanunu has calmly walked out prison after serving 18 years for spilling Israeli nuclear secrets to a British newspaper.

 

Sporting a dress shirt and tie and flashing V-for-victory signs alongside his brother Meir outside the Shikma Prison in the coastal city of Ashkelon, the former nuclear technician said he had no regrets over his actions.

 

"To all those calling me traitor, I am saying I am proud, I am proud and happy to do what I did," he said

 

Vanunu was convicted of treason and espionage and spent most of his term in solitary confinement after providing the UK's The Sunday Times with information and pictures of Israel's secret nuclear reactor in the desert town of Dimona.

 

His revelations gave a clearer indication of Israel's secret nuclear program and led experts to conclude that Israel possessed the world's sixth-largest nuclear arsenal with around 100 atomic weapons.

 

Visibly angry, Vanunu said he suffered "cruel and barbaric treatment" at the hands of Israel's security services during his detention.

 

"I suffered here 18 years because I am a Christian ... if I was Jewish I wouldn't have this suffering and isolation."

 

The first stop for Vanunu, a 50-year-old Moroccan Jew who converted to Christianity, was to a nearby Anglican church where he was greeted by dozens of supporters.

 

Vanunu has said that all he wants to do after his release is leave Israel and try to resume his life.

 

But Israel -- where Vanunu is widely despised as a traitor -- is worried he could reveal more secrets and has banned him from leaving the country for 12 months.

 

Among other restrictions placed on Vanunu: he is unable to have a passport, can only have contacts with foreigners by permission for six months, is barred from foreign embassies, is not allowed to conduct media interviews and is forbidden to discuss nuclear secrets.

 

He also will be under close surveillance and must inform authorities of his movements.

 

However, Vanunu said he didn't have any more secrets to reveal and urged Israel open its reactor at Dimona to international inspections.

 

"The article was published; there are no more secrets. I am now ready to restart my life," he said.

 

"Israel doesn't need nuclear arms, especially now that all the Middles East is free from nuclear weapons."

 

Limited freedom

I am a symbol of the will of freedom ... You cannot break the human spirit.

-- Vanunu

 

Israeli officials say the post-release restrictions on Vanunu could have been much tougher. They will be lifted if Vanunu toes the line.

 

"He promises to do as much damage and harm to Israel as he can," Israeli Justice Minister Joseph Lapid told CNN.

 

"He in this sense is a very, very unusual case where somebody spied on his country and betrayed his country and continues to do so and promises to do every harm that he can do to his country. So the sort of restrictions that we are imposing are very, very mild and moderate and limited."

 

Vanunu has also expressed concerns for his safety with some Israeli newspapers publishing the address in the Tel Aviv neighborhood of Jaffna where he was expected to live. It is now unclear where Vanunu will reside.

 

Vanunu became a technician in 1976 at Israel's Dimona Nuclear Reactor Center, where he signed a pledge to honor the Official Secrets Act.

 

He then secretly took photos inside the plant. At the same time, he was studying philosophy at Ben Gurion University, which many experts say contributed to a change in ideals.

 

By the time he was laid off from Dimona in 1985, Vanunu was feeling uncomfortable with Israel's nuclear secrets, his brother Meir said.

 

"He felt a duty -- according to what he said in the court, according to what he said in letters, and in my talks with him -- to speak about it to inform his own people and the international community," Meir Vanunu told CNN.

 

After moving to Australia, Vanunu met a Colombian journalist who encouraged him to tell his story.

 

Vanunu was in London for talks with The Sunday Times when he disappeared.

 

Shortly afterward, the newspaper published the photos of Dimona.

 

Two months later, while being taken into an Israeli court, Vanunu revealed how he was abducted and arrested by writing in black ink on his hand and showing it to photographers.

 

Nuclear 'ambiguity'

 

A file photo of the reactor at Dimona. Little else has been revealed.

He had been lured by a female Mossad agent to Rome, where he was drugged and smuggled back to Israel.

 

"He was extremely angry about that, and angry about the fact that they committed a crime but prevented him from speaking about it," Meir Vanunu said. "I was prevented from talking about it myself."

 

Convicted of treason and espionage at a closed trial, Vanunu was imprisoned for 18 years, the first 11 years and six months spent in solitary confinement.

 

Vanunu's admissions to The Sunday Times embarrassed Israel.

 

Rather than openly declare itself as a nuclear power, Israel still maintains a "strategic ambiguity" over its nuclear weapons capability.

 

Israel's military is believed to be capable of deploying nuclear weapons via fighter-bombers, land and submarine-launched missiles.

 

"We let you guess whatever you wish. What we have promised, and we keep the promise: We will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons in the Middle East," Lapid said.

 

"But you must know that we are a country threatened to be annihilated by our enemies. We are the only country in the world which is threatened by annihilation. And therefore we have the full right, not only the right, we have the obligation to do the utmost to keep our security in best shape."

[Kulapavana]

some asuras with WMDs are tolerated (and even greatly helped!) by other asuras holding power in the world... but in the end they are still just demons causing trouble to mother Earth and other living entities... and it takes very brave men like Vanunu to expose their evils.

[gHari]

Then what kind of deterrent is a secret bomb? Something smells fishy here.

 

[Kulapavana]

I'm not sure that nuclear weapons are a good solution to preventing war. They certainly seem to make asuras very bold in their demands. Instead of making efforts to live in peace with their neighbours, they produce a very tense "game of chicken" or a stalemate at best. And the fear is that sooner or later some irresponsible leader will push the big red button and millions will die instantly, and billions will die later. It is probably just a matter of time...

[theist]

One could argue that having nukes is what has kept the Arabs from launching another full scale attack on Israel.

[Dervish]

the former nuclear technician said he had no regrets over his actions.

 

 

"I gave it my best, I have no regrets at all!"

 

--

 

Seriously though, we knew Saddam was using chemical WMD's on the Iranians in the 1980's; there's even a photograph of Donald Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam Hussein in 1984, knowing very well that he was gasing the Iranians. Now the USA is not so sure Saddam has WMD's, and that justifies occupation? Don't get me wrong, Saddam Hussein should have been overthrown, but US action is over 20 years too late.

[theist]

My main man, William Hung. I saw him the other day. I should have got his autograph. Maybe get $10 on eBay

[Guest guest]

A Palestinian lawyer was on television the other day and made a good point. Imagine if China were to invade America and take over this land. Would America have no problem with that? Well that is exactly what happened to the Palestinian people. Prior to 1948 there was NO Israel. There were Jews, Christians, and Muslims living in that area. Then they (the powers that be) decided to formally create a country and flood the area with European Jews. They built up a modern country and today the Palestinian people pick their orange groves and work as domestic servants. Now if America was taken over by China and we were the domestic servants of the Chinese I guarantee you we'd be pissed. But in that scenario we'd call ourselves freedom fighters, and the Chinese government would label the Americans as terrorists.

[Kulapavana]

yes, one can argue things from that perspective also. but the thing is: asuras stand on both sides and ruin it for common people, be it Arabs or Jews. they could live in peace, just like they did before WW2, but powerfull asuras did not want peace - they wanted power. they use ideals like freedom and religion to manipulate common people so they can have more power. real freedom is in your consciousness.

[Dervish]

I agree with guest. One thing needs to be considered though. The British occupiers were far more brutal than the Israelis. There's a website cateloguing the astrocities committed by the British in Palestine, but I cannot find the URL. This doesn't exhonerate the Israelis or the Palestinians, however. But consider this. The British, as hostile occupiers, were overthrown by Gandhi and Satyagraha. If the Palestinians could follow Gandhi's example, the same example followed by Martin Luther King, Jr., then perhaps the Palestinians would have sovereignty.

[gHari]

Just remind the lawyer guy that the whole Israel State resulted because of the Arabs' demonic support of Hitler in the big war. That should shut up any self-respecting Arab. If they still want to argue after that, then they are not worth talking to. They are simply animals - too stupid to be ashamed of their role in the monster's war. To hell with them.

 

The lawyer is such a cheat and liar, trying to hide their evil in a faulty analogy.

 

Wake these morons up for their own good. The Allies would have been justified in invading and conquering the entire desert. They only lost a chunk; they should realize how lucky they are.

 

[Dervish]

The British occupied Palestine for a very long time. During World War I, British swelled their own ranks of their international armies with thousands of Palestinian conscripts by drafting the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916, which promised the Palestinians several items of relief as a colony. Subsequently, in November 1917, as the tide turned clearly in Allied favour, Balfour Declaration was drafted, contradicting everything stated in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. Aside from this double crossing action in an insidious attempt to buy mass wholesale third world support on empty promises, the British occupation of Palestine was brutal. Homes were blown up, and people were killed without just cause.

 

If some Palestinians supported the Germans in World War II, this was clearly the wrong course of action, but in light of the double crossing and brutal occupation, such desperate actions, using the axiom "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" can hardly be used as just cause to demonize an entire ethnic group.

 

The Palestinians were not the only British captives that followed this philosophy. After Iran was occupied by the British, The first Pahlavi Shah of Iran also supported Hitler (evidence of this alliance can be seen today by going to Iran and seeing the numerous train stations with nazi swatstika symbols, evidence of civil engineering cooperation between the two countries).

 

In India, Subhash Chandra Bose accepted Nazi support, in a seemingly knee jerk reaction to the British occupation of Mother Bharata. In addition, many Indian soldiers force-conscripted into the British army formed an Indian SS nazi unit known as the Azad Hind Legion.

 

So the Palestinians were not the only demons.

 

"The Enemy of my enemy is my friend". Something even the USA has unfortunately followed when fighting the USSR, with dire consequences. The support of radical muslim militants in Afghanistan in the 1980's who would eventually become the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, as well as the support of various central and south american dictatorships, and the Iranian Pahlavi dynasty (at the expense of the elected Mohammad Mossadeq), caused a backlash. This caused many to distrust the US and the allies. It's something that can be repaired, but will take time. It wont be mended through racism, on either side.

[gHari]

It was WWI, zi Kaiser not zi Itler: http://www.turkeyswar.com/campaigns/palestine.htm

 

The debt from http://www.themarcusgarveybbs.com/board/msgs/10499.html -----

<blockquote>World War I was a war that for four years devastated Europe and some parts of Asia and Africa

It was a war that was essentially based on economic rapaciousness of the industrialized nations. It remade the map of the world, particularly in the Middle East.

Furthermore, this war thoroughly undermined the national economy of all the countries involved.

The victorious countries, the allies, of course tried to transfer the entire burden of war expenses onto the vanquished countries. Among the vanquished countries, however, it was possible to get something only from Germany, since the allies of Germany (Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria) were in a very deplorable state.

 

Germany was the principal enemy of the allied countries. This nation had been in constant competition with other European imperialists which brought the industrialist rulers of Britain and France into the war. It is this background and other intrinsic variables that transformed geopolitical relations in the Middle East to its present state.

 

Turkey, a Muslim nation, entered the war in November, 1914,on the side of Germany; its leaders were hoping to sustain their vast, but crumpling empire. They had ruled throughout the Middle East and Southeast Europe for over four hundred years. While the most important site of the war was Europe, the Middle East was nevertheless an area of vital importance, both for the prosecution of the war itself, as well as for Britain's long range plans for the Middle East. </blockquote>

 

Hut! Hut!

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

They are raining down on iraq at the moment, and most are where I left them, in the bunkers all over the USA. In fact, millions of tons of WMDs came into my small town over the last few few weeks. There is no shortage of WMDs. The wires are all rusting now that I dont work on them any more, makes ya feel good, eh?

 

mad mahax

[krsna]