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Fresh Nixon Papers
November 28, 2007 4:45 PM
Senior Washington Correspondent John Cochran blogs:
Just when we think we know all there is to know about the Nixon years, another batch of papers or audiotapes emerges with more chewy morsels.
As a reporter who occasionally covered Richard Nixon's presidency, I was fascinated to see the latest "dump" of Nixon documents released Wednesday by the National Archives.
So far, the most interesting papers I have seen today are not about the Watergate scandal or domestic issues, but about national security. The new revelations would have made big headlines back then, but some people may now find this all a bit arcane. Not me.
Let's start by going back to the summer of 1969 when the CIA was telling Nixon and Henry Kissinger that Israel had either already developed a nuclear bomb or was on the verge of developing it. Even if Israel did not yet have the bomb, Nixon saw no way to stop the Israelis. He, like previous American presidents, did not want Israel to have nukes because he feared it would further de-stabilize the Mideast and possibly cause the Soviet Union, then an ally of many Arabs, to bomb Israel.
In what was then a Top Secret memo, Kissinger told Nixon that since the U.S. could not stop Israel from having nukes, the important thing was to protect Israel's secret: "While we might ideally like to halt actual Israeli possession, what we really want at a minimum may be just to keep Israeli possession from becoming an established international fact."
The policy Nixon and Kissinger adopted was essentially "Don't Ask; Don't Tell." That policy is still in effect today. There have been many leaks about the Israeli nuclear program, but no official confirmation either from Israel or the U.S.
Some of the newly released Nixon papers have virtually nothing to do with the present, but they can still be riveting. Just below is a good example of the Realpolitik hardball that Nixon and Kissinger loved to play.
It's December, 1973. Kissinger is meeting with Rui Manuel Patricio, the Foreign Minister of Portugal which was then a dictatorship fighting against guerrillas in its African colonies. American law forbade selling weapons to Portugal to fight the Africans.
The Portuguese F.M. said Soviet MIG planes would soon attack a Portuguese colony, Guinea.
Read an excerpt of their conversation after the jump… Including a possible hint as to who would be the middle man in getting Hawk missiles to Portugal for use against Africans.
Here is part of the conversation in their own words:
Kissinger: You need Hawk missiles.
FM Patricio: Yes, we need ground to air missiles. Military disaster in
Guinea…could lead to a change of government in Portugal…this could mean
we would withdraw from NATO…also from Angola and Mozambique.
K: We are familiar with this.
FM: A defeat in Guinea would be very bad. The Soviets would be very interested…We are in mortal danger.
K: We cannot give you ground to air missiles directly but we must
figure out some way to get them to you indirectly. I am sure we will
succeed.
FM: It is not my style to be dramatic.
K: No, you are doing very well…do you care where the missiles come from?
FM: No.
K: We're trying to work it out…we must work out the process of getting
you Hawks. If we give them to you directly, the Congress will forbid
it. Then it would be useless for you.
FM: I don't know about the Congress, but they should be concerned about keeping friends alive.
K: The Congress has passed laws this year against our own U.S.
interests. It will be nothing for them to pass laws against the
interests of other countries. You saw what they did about Vietnam.
FM: But this concerns our survival.
K: Congress doesn't understand this. They are only interested when it
is a question of the survival of Israel…You don't have to convince me.
We will do what is humanly possible, EVEN IF I HAVE TO SHOOT A FEW OF
MY COLLEAGUES IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT.
FM: This is a question of life or death for us.
K: I understand. There is a prohibition against sending arms to you in
Africa. We could only send them to you for use in Portugal and there is
a prohibition against a diversion. We must send them indirectly.
Kissinger concludes with what appears to be a hint as to who would be
the middle man in getting Hawks to Portugal for use against Africans:
K: Your ambassador is talking to the Israeli Ambassador in Washington. They are to meet on Monday.
November 28, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (10)
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yep, is it any wonder were in war now?
Posted by: da Aman | Nov 28, 2007 6:41:42 PM
The arrogance of the war criminal Kissinger is on full display. Is it any wonder that we have had the tragic policies of this administration when Cheney and Rumsfeld were incubated in the Nixon White House.
In a parallel world where justice prevailed, they would all be doing time in prison.
Posted by: Jerry | Nov 28, 2007 6:45:05 PM
OMG!!!!!!!!
If this was standard operating procedure thirty years ago, what the hell are they doing now that we DON'T know about??
Back then, we didn't know that they were doing those things, today, we know King George has PUBLICLY admitted they're doin' much, much worse.
It frightens me to even think how far they'll go?
Posted by: jim center | Nov 28, 2007 6:49:26 PM
Um, you left out the part where Kissinger says that Israel likely stole or otherwise illegally obtained fissionable material from the United States in 1965.
Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 28, 2007 7:15:06 PM
Hmmm... Reminds of those armed Nukes from Minot, ND on Aug 29th which were "accidentally" sent to Barksdale AFB, and the strange deaths surrounding the incident... Not much in the Main Stream News about that!
Posted by: Midwest Spirit | Nov 28, 2007 7:19:23 PM
Also, recall it was Israel whom we used as a middleman to get weaponry to Iran during the Iran-Contra deal.
Yes, who knows what they've done, how many laws they've violated. They have no respect for Law and a Democratically controlled Congress and recently for the Constitution itself.
Posted by: MarkH | Nov 28, 2007 8:06:29 PM
Mordechai Vanunu spent 18 years (1986-2004) in an Israeli jail for divulging details of its nuclear weapons program. He was charged (and perhaps convicted) of being a spy.
Posted by: Candadai Tirumalai | Nov 29, 2007 11:32:59 AM
Sounds like an early version of Iran-Contra. Were Ollie North and Powell merely following the Nixon-Cheney precedent: Find a way, even if it is illegal?
Posted by: Anonymous | Nov 29, 2007 2:44:05 PM
hmmm....the policies of old must have worked since it kept us Americans safe at home
Posted by: dan | Dec 21, 2007 5:23:41 PM
Hahahaha, Have these policies kept us safe in any way? How can you call this safe, We have the lowest percentage of troops on home ground we have had in god knows how long, terror in Iraq spirals uncontrollably, and I don't even want to hear about 9/11 again. We are constantly on edge.... oh wait, we stopped believing that level orange BS. We don't have to live in constant fear. Now we just wait to see how long before we are bought into war with Iran, and, consequently, Russia!
Posted by: can't stop laughing | Jan 24, 2008 7:11:39 PM
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