Seamus Coogan Wrote:Mr Stapleton ran aground with a number of people on this thread.
https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/sho...old/page12
In the above thread we can see my first indepth replies to Mark's analysis.
https://deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/sho...old/page13
Now Mark bolted from the scene fairly shortly after this lot of notes above where I examined Pipers book. Note I call him bloody Pipes lol!
This should enlighten people as to why Pipers book was never taken seriously. It appears that Israel doing it are the least of his concerns.
No ducking and diving Mark cmon?
It looks like I'll have to look more closely at your 'rebuttal' of my arguments Mr. Coogan. In the thread you bring up, I see another poster questions whether you've read the book at all. Now lets start at the beginning of your 'rebuttal':
Mark states the following: My replies are in bold.
Kennedy was killed because Israel considered his firm opposition to the Dimona project an existential threat. Ben-Gurion indicated this in his correspondence with Kennedy in 1963. Also, Kennedy insisted that military aid to Israel be tied to concessions in regard to the Palestinians. He bargained tough and wouldn't give any ground.
Your opinions. Not evidence in anyway. Kennedy opposed to the Dimona Project? The Dimona project was started well before he came to power and was aided by the French. If the Israeli's were going to be hacked off with anyone it would have been de Gaulle.
Where's the correspondance? On one hand people say it's still classified (what utter crap) and the official documents say well.......they say this.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/israel/...rst/index.html
From Avner Cohen's Israel and the Bomb (1998) p.118: "In March 1963, Kennedy issued NSAM 231 which states:
The President desires, as a matter of urgency, that we undertake every feasible measure to improve our intelligence on the Israeli nuclear programas well as other Israeli and UAR advanced weapons programs and to arrive at a firmer evaluation of their import. In this connection he wishes the next informal inspection of the Israeli reactor complex to be undertaken promptly and to be as thourough as possible.
In view of his great concern over the destabilising impact of any Israeli or UAR program looking towards the development of nuclear weapons, the President also wishes the Department of State to develop proposals for forestalling such programs; in particular we should develop plans for seeking clearer assurances from the Governments concerned on this point, and means of impressing upon them how seriously such a development would be regarded in this country."
So it looks like Kennedy WAS opposed to the Dimona project, giving lie to your bombast Mr. Coogan.
IATB goes on to mention a conversation between Kennedy and Shimon Peres, who was in Washington on Hawk missile related business:
Kennedy: You know that we follow very closely the discovery of any nuclear development in the region. This could create a very dangerous situation. For this reason we kept in touch with your nuclear effort. What could you tell me about this?
Peres: I can tell you most clearly that we will not introduce nuclear weapons to the region, and certainly we will not be the first. Our interest is in reducing armament, even in complete disarmament.
The citation for this is listed as Dept. of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963: Near East, 1962-1963, vol 17 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1995)
NSAM 231 can also be found here:
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A7%D7%9...-_1963.gif