DOGG
29-03-2005, 12:11 AM
WASHINGTON, March 27. — Former US President Gerald Ford’s top officials had recommended the Iranian uranium enrichment programme — the shut-down of which the USA now demands, according to declassified US documents. The officials included Ford’s Secretary of State Mr Henry Kissinger, current Vice-President Mr Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld.
The Ford administration of the 1970s even recommended to Iran at one point to make the nuclear project a joint one with Pakistan, the newly declassified documents reveal. The Ford administration “at one point suggested joint Pakistani-Iranian reprocessing as a way of promoting nonproliferation in the region ‘because it would cut down on the need for additional reprocessing facilities’”, the Washington Post said in a report, after reviewing the documents.
Mr Cheney, Mr Rumsfeld and Mr Wolfowitz do not want to talk about it now. Mr Kissinger, however, told the Post: “They (Iranians) were then an allied country (under the Shah) and this was a commercial transaction. We did not address the question of them one day moving toward nuclear weapons.”
Mr Joseph Cirincione, a nonproliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Post: “Do the Iranians remember that they (the then Ford administration leaders) said this? Yes, the Iranians sure remember that they said it.” Cirincione described as “the worst idea imaginable” the Ford administration’s suggestion for a joint Pakistani-Iranian reprocessing plant. He added: “It is absolutely incredible that the very same players who made those statements then are making completely opposite ones now.”
Mr Charles Naas, who was deputy US ambassador to Iran in the 1970s, said proliferation was high in the minds of technical experts “but the nuclear deal was attractive in terms of commerce, and the relationship (with Iran and Pakistan) as a whole was very important”. He added that Mr Cheney, Mr Rumsfeld and his deputy Mr Paul Wolfowitz were all in positions to play significant roles in Iranian policy then, “but in those days, you have to view Mr Kissinger (who now opposes such a deal) as the main figure.”
Documents show that US companies, led by Westinghouse, stood to gain $6.4 billion from the sale of six to eight nuclear reactors and parts to Iran. Iran was also willing to pay an additional $1 billion for a 20 per cent stake in a private uranium enrichment facility in the USA, according to the documents.
Oh the irony (http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=8&theme=&usrsess=1&id=72475)
The Ford administration of the 1970s even recommended to Iran at one point to make the nuclear project a joint one with Pakistan, the newly declassified documents reveal. The Ford administration “at one point suggested joint Pakistani-Iranian reprocessing as a way of promoting nonproliferation in the region ‘because it would cut down on the need for additional reprocessing facilities’”, the Washington Post said in a report, after reviewing the documents.
Mr Cheney, Mr Rumsfeld and Mr Wolfowitz do not want to talk about it now. Mr Kissinger, however, told the Post: “They (Iranians) were then an allied country (under the Shah) and this was a commercial transaction. We did not address the question of them one day moving toward nuclear weapons.”
Mr Joseph Cirincione, a nonproliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Post: “Do the Iranians remember that they (the then Ford administration leaders) said this? Yes, the Iranians sure remember that they said it.” Cirincione described as “the worst idea imaginable” the Ford administration’s suggestion for a joint Pakistani-Iranian reprocessing plant. He added: “It is absolutely incredible that the very same players who made those statements then are making completely opposite ones now.”
Mr Charles Naas, who was deputy US ambassador to Iran in the 1970s, said proliferation was high in the minds of technical experts “but the nuclear deal was attractive in terms of commerce, and the relationship (with Iran and Pakistan) as a whole was very important”. He added that Mr Cheney, Mr Rumsfeld and his deputy Mr Paul Wolfowitz were all in positions to play significant roles in Iranian policy then, “but in those days, you have to view Mr Kissinger (who now opposes such a deal) as the main figure.”
Documents show that US companies, led by Westinghouse, stood to gain $6.4 billion from the sale of six to eight nuclear reactors and parts to Iran. Iran was also willing to pay an additional $1 billion for a 20 per cent stake in a private uranium enrichment facility in the USA, according to the documents.
Oh the irony (http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=8&theme=&usrsess=1&id=72475)