The return of a fugitive arms dealer to the United States should
trigger a debate on Israel's unacknowledged nuclear weapons program.
By Dan Plesch
July 30, 2001
LONDON -- The case of Richard Smyth, an elderly American recently jailed in Spain, could shine some badly needed light on Israel's super-secret atomic weapons program.
Smith had been on the run since 1985, when U.S. authorities in
Los Angeles charged him with selling 850 Kryton high-speed nuclear
triggers to Israel. Smyth jumped bail and fled the country before
he could be brought to trial on more than two dozen counts of
violating the Arms Export Control Act.
Two weeks ago, police finally arrested Smyth in Spain, where's
he's been living for the past 16 years. Now the high court in
Madrid will decide if the 71-year-old Smyth is to be extradited
to the United States. If he he's sent back, Israel's unacknowledged
nuclear weapons program could end up under cross examination alongside
Smyth.
The prospect of Smyth's return to the United states for trial
is bound to be embarassing for both Israel and the United States.
At a minimum, the alleged smuggling operation will appear as treacherous
behavior towards an ally that has supplied Israel with billions
of dollars in aid over the years -- as clear a case of 'biting
the hand 'as one could ask for.
For the United States, any public trial of Smyth is bound to shine
unwelcome attention on Washington's tacit agreement for the past
three decades to close its eyes to Israel's nuclear weapons program.
But if the United States is serious about bringing lasting peace
to the Middle East, some exposure of this dark corner could be
beneficial. Though peace seems as far away as ever right now,
any negotiations for an eventual settlement of Israeli-Arab conflict
will have to deal with the problem of weapons of mass destruction.
And in this discussion, Israel's nuclear weapons are as much a
part of this problem as the WMD programs of Iraq and Iran..
It's hard to see our own actions and those of our friends as being threatening to others. And it's easy to say that those we distrust will behave badly regardless of what we do. But the reality in the Middle East is that since the 1960s, only Israel has had nuclear weapons, and this has acted as a powerful incentive to other states to acquire these and other weapons capabilities. Arab moderates see little reason to act against Saddam Hussein's nuclear ambitions when it is not even possible to discuss the existence of Israel's nuclear program.
Israel should no longer avoid discussing its nuclear weapons by maintaining the fiction that it does not have them, and the United States should no longer join in this charade. Ideally. Washington should encourage the dialogue by preparing a framework for the control and elimination of all weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East, both Arab and Israeli.
It may take the return of Richard Smyth to begin this long overdue
process. But if an honest debate over Israel's nuclear arms emerges
as a result, much can be done to encourage moderate Arab opinion
and rebuild the consensus against Saddam Hussein.
Daniel Plesch is Director of the British American Security
Information Council which studies nuclear proliferation.
(Copyright 2001, Global Beat Syndicate, 418 Lafayette Street,
Suite 554, New York, NY 10003 http://www.nyu.edu/globalbeat/syndicate).