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Carter says Israel has 150 nukes

Aijaz Ahmad: Why is corporate media marginalizing a former president?

May 30 - Former US President Jimmy Carter has again come under fire in the US mainstream media, since publicly saying that Israel has 150 or more nuclear weapons in its arsenal.

Details about Israel's nuclear weapons programme started emerging in 1986.

International nuclear experts now believe that Israel maintains a cache of between 100 and 300 nuclear weapons, though Israel, backed by the US, maintains a policy of nuclear ambiguity.

The Real News Network's Senior News Analyst Aijaz Ahmad says, "Pundits of the corporate media want to suggest that Carter is somehow divulging state secrets which he knows because he has been president of the United States, and that he's out to hurt Israeli national interests."

This despite Carter having gone to Syria to facilitate a dialogue between Syria and Israel. "The Bush administration doesn't like it, so corporate media doesn't like it either," says Ahmad, and adds,  "Pundits in that media even suggest that were Carter to endorse Barack Obama, his endorsement would be a liability."

Resolutions to make the Middle East a zone free of nuclear weapons have been moved by Iran, Egypt, and Syria, multiple times. But, "no such resolution can be seriously considered in the Se... >>>