Some years back these two gentlemen wrote a well publicized paper on the Elephant in the room. I found a copy of their book which expands the reach and depth of their paper on Israel's nukes and the United States policy toward those weapons.With the Preface as well as their introduction included,along with chapter 1,this will be a longer entry then the ones to follow with this book.It makes absolutely no sense the control this little country has over the United States.I can think of no benefit to American civilians to count this country as an ally.
[....As the more recent cases of Iraq and North Korea remind us, such obfuscatory tactics are part of the standard playbook for all clandestine proliferators. U.S. officials remained suspicious about Jerusalem's nuclear plans, but Israel's deception worked because neither Kennedy nor his successor,Lyndon Johnson, was willing to withhold U.S. support if Israel were not more forthcoming. As a result, notes Avner Cohen in his detailed history of Israels nuclear program, "the Israelis were able to determine the rules of the [U.S.] visits and the Johnson administration chose not to confront Israel on the issue, fearing that Israel would end the arrangement . . . Kennedy threatened both Ben Gurion and [Levi] Eshkol that noncompliance . . . could jeopardize American commitment to Israel's security and well being,' but Johnson was unwilling to risk an American-Israeli crisis over the issue." 67 "Instead of inspections every six months," writes Bass, "in practice Johnson settled for a quick visit once a year or so." 68 And when CIA Director Richard Helms came to the White House in 1968 to inform Johnson that U.S. intelligence had concluded that Israel had in fact acquired a nuclear capability, Johnson told him to make sure that nobody else was shown the evidence, including Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. According to the journalist Seymour Hersh, "Johnson's purpose in chasing Helms—and his intelligence—away was clear: he did not want to know what the CIA was trying to tell him, for once he accepted that information, he would have to act on it. By 1968, the President had no intention of doing anything to stop the Israeli bomb." 69 [Not much dereliction of duty there,and we as a country are paying a heavy price for him acting like a monkey on this issue D.C.]
In addition to its nuclear arsenal, Israel maintains active chemical and biological weapons programs and has yet to ratify either the Chemical or Biological Weapons Convention. 70 The irony is hard to miss: the United States has pressured many other states to join the NPT, imposed sanctions on countries that have defied U.S. wishes and acquired nuclear weapons anyway, gone to war in 2003 to prevent Iraq from pursuing WMD, and contemplated attacking Iran and North Korea for the same reason. Yet Washington has long subsidized an ally whose clandestine WMD activities are well-known and whose nuclear arsenal has given several of its neighbors a powerful incentive to seek WMD themselves.
