posted
Wow! This looks bad. I mean, they aren't even saying "oh, we misread the intelligence." They just covered it up on purpose and everyone else figured out we were lying.
Cr@p
I hope this isn't true or that there's some reasonable explanation besides wanting to make N. Korea look bad and Pakistan (our current ally, but a really messed-up regime) look good.
Hmm...I wonder if a "fact-based" approach would even be considered as part of our diplomacy.
quote:U.S. Misled Allies About Nuclear Export North Korea Sent Material To Pakistan, Not to Libya
By Dafna Linzer Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, March 20, 2005; Page A01
In an effort to increase pressure on North Korea, the Bush administration told its Asian allies in briefings earlier this year that Pyongyang had exported nuclear material to Libya. That was a significant new charge, the first allegation that North Korea was helping to create a new nuclear weapons state.
But that is not what U.S. intelligence reported, according to two officials with detailed knowledge of the transaction. North Korea, according to the intelligence, had supplied uranium hexafluoride -- which can be enriched to weapons-grade uranium -- to Pakistan. It was Pakistan, a key U.S. ally with its own nuclear arsenal, that sold the material to Libya. The U.S. government had no evidence, the officials said, that North Korea knew of the second transaction.
Pakistan's role as both the buyer and the seller was concealed to cover up the part played by Washington's partner in the hunt for al Qaeda leaders, according to the officials, who discussed the issue on the condition of anonymity. In addition, a North Korea-Pakistan transfer would not have been news to the U.S. allies, which have known of such transfers for years and viewed them as a business matter between sovereign states.
The Bush administration's approach, intended to isolate North Korea, instead left allies increasingly doubtful as they began to learn that the briefings omitted essential details about the transaction, U.S. officials and foreign diplomats said in interviews. North Korea responded to public reports last month about the briefings by withdrawing from talks with its neighbors and the United States.
In an effort to repair the damage, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is traveling through East Asia this weekend trying to get the six-nation talks back on track. The impasse was expected to dominate talks today in Seoul and then Beijing, which wields the greatest influence with North Korea.
The new details follow a string of controversies concerning the Bush administration's use of intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. In the run-up to the Iraq invasion in March 2003, the White House offered a public case against Iraq that concealed dissent on nearly every element of intelligence and included interpretations unsupported by the evidence.
A presidential commission studying U.S. intelligence is reviewing the case, as well as judgments on Iran and North Korea. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence also is reviewing evidence on nuclear, chemical and biological programs suspected in Iran and North Korea.
The United States briefed allies on North Korea in late January and early February. Shortly afterward, administration officials, speaking to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity, said North Korea had sold uranium hexafluoride to Libya. The officials said the briefing was arranged to share the information with China, South Korea and Japan ahead of a new round of hoped-for negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program.
But in recent days, two other U.S. officials said the briefings were hastily arranged after China and South Korea indicated they were considering bolting from six-party talks on North Korea. The talks have been seen as largely ineffectual, but the Bush administration, which refuses to meet bilaterally with Pyongyang, insists they are critical to curbing North Korea's nuclear program.
The White House declined to offer an official to comment by name about the new details concerning Pakistan. A prepared response attributed to a senior administration official said that the U.S. government "has provided allies with an accurate account of North Korea's nuclear proliferation activities."
Although the briefings did not mention Pakistan by name, the official said they made it clear that the sale went through the illicit network operated by Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Abdel Qadeer Khan. But the briefings gave no indication that U.S. intelligence believes that the material had been bought by Pakistan and transferred there from North Korea in a container owned by the Pakistani government.
They also gave no indication that the uranium was then shipped via a Pakistani company to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and on to Libya. Those findings match assessments by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is investigating Libya separately. Libya gave up its nuclear weapons program in December 2003.
Since Pakistan became a key U.S. ally in the hunt for al Qaeda leaders, the administration has not held President Pervez Musharraf accountable for actions taken by Khan while he was a member of Musharraf's cabinet and in charge of nuclear cooperation for the government.
"The administration is giving Pakistan a free ride when they don't deserve it and hurting U.S. interests at the same time," said Charles L. Pritchard, who was the Bush administration's special envoy for the North Korea talks until August 2003.
posted
*sigh* Yet another thing to add on the list of 'we can't trust the U.S. government because...'
*tries to find a way to fit this into her corruption essay*
My problem is that the essay questions (which we have to follow) don't have a section for "government manipulates intelligence to further their chosen cause" because the U.S, is the sole country that can do it!
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote: My problem is that the essay questions (which we have to follow) don't have a section for "government manipulates intelligence to further their chosen cause" because the U.S, is the sole country that can do it!
Nah. Russia, Israel, and China do it all the time, too.
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posted
Oh, don't worry, this isn't the first time the evidence has been atrocious wrt NK.
There was an article in Foreign Affairs a while back about how it has come out we actually had zero evidence that NK was pursuing illegal nuclear programs, yet we broke the treaty with them anyways. As far as I can tell, the reasoning went something like "they're evil, so when we have hearsay that they are doing bad things it must be true".
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posted
Yep, why anyone thinks this administration is particularly good at reacting appropriately to data is beyond me.
edit: that is, their track record is incredibly consistent about only hearing what they want to hear, and that's one of the worst qualities for a presidential administration in my book, too much of my life is built on the notion that things must be questioned to have value.
They want justification for breaking a treaty? They see justification for breaking a treaty. They want to attack Iraq? They see evidence for attacking Iraq. It happens in the domestic arena as well, and seems to be why they think it okay to deny any kind of hearings or even counsel (as they did until forced to) to people held by the US -- because they want complete control of those people, so they see justifications for that.
posted
Oh, and lets give a quick little rundown here:
We have multilateral talks, with NK repeatedly requesting bilateral talks (until recently) but the US denying them.
In the Presidential campaign, Bush claims that bilateral talks would make the multilateral talks break down.
Bush administration intentionally distributes incorrect information about NK selling nuclear material to Libya.
Multilateral talks are going nowhere, partly because NK feels alienated based on this accusation.
NK stops asking for bilateral talks.
The two countries that are most important to multilateral talks, SK and China, talk about pulling out of them because they're so unproductive.
So it looks like we will no longer have multilateral talks, and probably not have bilateral talks.
<sarcasm>The deft ability with which the Bush administration navigates foreign relations astounds me.</sarcasm>
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posted
Oh, I'm watching a lovely interview of Rumsfeld by Stephanopoulous right now, which has mentioned the Washington Post article.
Rumsfeld's answers are classic "don't know, don't know, not for me to decide, I only tell my recommendations to the President" evasions on anything with any bad light on the administration.
Its actually a very interesting tactic I've seen this administration using -- refuse to engage on anything that could be damaging, and it'll be hard to sway the administration's supporters, as there's no conflict, just one side saying accusations (no matter how well grounded they are), and some people will ignore any accusations no matter how backed up by fact unless the accused side says something incriminating.
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