Beyond Sand and Oil: The Nuclear Middle East

246 Pages·2011·3.193 MB·English

by  Jack Caravelli

Beyond Sand and Oil

Beyond Sand and Oil
The Nuclear Middle East
JACK CARAVELLI
Praeger Security International
Copyright 2011 by Jack Caravelli
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
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permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Caravelli, Jack, 1952-
Beyond sand and oil: the nuclear Middle East / Jack Caravelli.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-313-38705-0 (hard copy: alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-313-38706-7 (ebook)
1. Nuclear arms control—Middle East. 2. Weapons of mass destruction—Middle East.
3. Middle East—Military policy. I. Title.
JZ5675.C38 2011
355.02(cid:2)170956—dc22 2010039769
ISBN: 978-0-313-38705-0
EISBN: 978-0-313-38706-7
15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.
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Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911
This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
To Chris Caravelli and Artyom Caravelli.
They are a source of pride and joy.

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
I. Programs 1
1. Israel: Ein brera 3
2. Libya: Delusions of Grandeur 30
3. Iraq: War without (Nuclear) Weapons 50
4. Iran: A Relentless Pursuit 80
II. Policy Challenges 117
5. Meeting the Iranian Challenge 119
6. The Changing Face of the Nuclear Middle East 152
7. Beyond the Middle East: The Changing Face of
Nuclear Security Challenges in the 21st Century 167
8. Shaping the Nuclear Future: Nuclear Renaissance,
Nuclear Disarmament or Both? 194
Notes 205
Bibliography 219
Index 225

Preface
I n summer 2009, I taught a course on nonproliferation issues at Frank-
lin College. Located in the idyllic city of Lugano, Switzerland, Franklin
College is an American-accredited college with an impressively diverse
international enrollment. Its highly dedicated faculty and administrators
convey an almost old-fashioned commitment to personal interaction and
respect for their students, creating an environment highly conducive to
learning.
M y experience there taught me a number of lessons that have been
brought forward into this book. In preparing the lectures I was acutely
aware that having served in various U.S. government positions that some
of the students, particularly those from outside the United States, might
harbor preconceived ideas that my presentations on such a politically
charged topic as nuclear weapons in the Middle East would be biased in
favor of those long supported by U.S. policy, beginning with Israel. In one
respect they were partially correct; I long have respected the people and
culture of that diminutive nation that to Israelis often appears as afl oat
in a sea of regional hostility. (That I harbor respect for, and had worked
with, those in the Arab world also took several students by surprise.) But
if there is any truism in assessing nuclear developments in the Middle
East, it is that the way things appear on the surface often are bent in new
directions through the prism of deeper refl ection. For this reason I decided
long before the fi rst words fl owed in the classroom that I would pres-
ent as balanced a portrait of the region’ s nuclear programs—civilian and
military—as possible, although I also was committed to conveying my
assessment of the political dynamics underlying those programs. That