William Cohen, Secretary of Defense under President Clinton from 1997-2001, and the only ever opposition party member to serve in the post, gave an interview with India News about US policy, and had some interesting comments. Perhaps understanding his audience, his focus was not Iran’s development of the bomb but Pakistan:

Cohen reiterated that India’s nuclear weapons could not be compared to those of North Korea or a bomb Iran might want to develop. ‘We don’t want to see an Islamic bomb being developed,’ he said, speaking about concerns over the nuclear ambitions of Pyongyang and Tehran.

Pointed out that an ‘Islamic bomb’ already exists in Pakistan, he said: ‘And there is always concern about that. We are thankful that President Musharraf has been working with the US, and I know this from my own experience when I was Secretary of Defence.’

‘He was very helpful in impeding, in stopping a major terrorist operation from occurring. He has been committed to that. We always worry about what happens without him… Musharraf is someone who is strong to control any leakage of that technology in the hands of messianics or motivated by other concerns.’ Cohen also said that Washington was trying to encourage Musharraf with a view to marginalising Islamic extremists in Pakistan.

What will happen when Musharraf leaves or dies?

‘We have hopes there will be a return to democratic rule. That continues to be our hope; whether it becomes a reality remains to be seen. One may anticipate that another strong military man may come forward should Mush not be there.’

Um, “Mush?”

I think what Cohen means is that the US opposes an Islamist bomb, not an Islamic bomb. Or at least I hope that’s the way the US thinks about it. As discussed previously, this is an important distinction. Were, say, Malaysia or Turkey to develop nuclear weapons for objectively correct reasons of national security, the US and the rest of the world would probably accept it, just as the world has adjusted to the spread of the bomb to the USSR, Britain, France, China, and India. Speaking of China and India:

Cohen denied that the US was courting India so as to contain China – an assessment that he said was ‘completely off the mark’. ‘China cannot be contained,’ he declared. ‘We are not able to contain China; our assessment is to engage china.’ He underlined that it was in Washington’s interests that India should also have good relations not just with the US but with Japan, Australia and China as well.

(Keep in mind that Cohen is not a member of a current administration and is not necessarily stating actual US policy.)

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