Libya: Success, Concern and Relief

On the radar: Libya & Obama policy; Securing Gaddafi’s chem and nuclear materials; Rhetorical drumbeats about Iran and deterrence; Analyst assesses Inhofe’s intelligence; North Korea’s tepid 6-party offer; and Dick Cheney wanted to bomb something.

August 25, 2011 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke

Success: Libya validates Obama global strategy - From the outset of his administration, Obama’s pragmatic foreign policy has been guided by the convergence of shared interests and a statecraft that promotes America’s interests with respect for other nations and the strength of joint enterprise. As Joe Cirincione points out, events in Libya validate those principles and lead to a smart victory. http://ow.ly/6cvLU

Concern: Who is securing Gaddafi’s chemical and nuclear materials? - “Libya's research center in Tajoura on the outskirts of Tripoli continues to stock large quantities of radioisotopes, radioactive wastes, and low-enriched uranium fuel,” notes Ollie Heinonen in TIME. “The TNC...should assure the world that it accepts its responsibility and will take the necessary steps to secure these potentially dangerous radioactive sources.” http://ow.ly/6cwQI

Relief: Gaddafi’s most sensitive nuclear assets are safely housed in Oak Ridge, TN - thanks to NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative, as MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow pointed out last night. Watch her interview with Joe Cirincione last night. http://ow.ly/6cQAR

Flimsy but loud arguments about Iran and deterrence - A theme of the media narrative on Iran is that “the principles of deterrence somehow are repealed if one of the parties in a deterrent relationship wears a turban and a beard.” That media narrative is all rhetoric, no substance, notes Paul Pillar. http://ow.ly/6cxDZ

--Busting the “martyr state myth,” Matt Duss points out that the “undeterrable mad mullahs” talking point is unsupported by “anything like evidence, but rather [has] achieved the status of conventional wisdom simply by repetition.” http://ow.ly/6cyeO

What does repetition look like? - Michael Rubin provides a timely example of the unsubstantiated “mad mullahs” theme in The National Review. http://ow.ly/6cyjf

Inhofe’s misuse of intelligence - “By abandoning the subjunctive case used by the U.S. intelligence analysts [to posit when Iran might be able to field a nuclear weapon], Sen. Inhofe engages in the same type of malfeasance, which characterized the Bush Administration’s pre-war statements about Iraqi WMD,” says former intelligence professional Greg Theilmann. http://ow.ly/6czwO

”Still in Standstill” - Duyeon Kim at Nukes of Hazard gives context to the North’s offer of returning to the 6-party talks. http://ow.ly/6cAnd

Cheney wanted to bomb Syria in ‘07 - That’s the headline in previews of Cheney’s memoir. More helpful would be an appendix in the back of the book listing Middle Eastern states with which Cheney did or didn’t want to use military force. http://ow.ly/6cz4V