Nukes: Irate Over Intelligence Recent revelations in the British press and a newly published American book could hamper efforts to crack down on nuclear-weapons traffickers, according to U.S. and British intel officials. Last week The Guardian newspaper published details of what it said was a confidential "early warning" assessment, naming a large assortment of companies and individuals around the world suspected of involvement in nuclear proliferation. But officials on both sides of the Atlantic told NEWSWEEK that The Guardian's document was actually a list of suspected proliferators drawn up by Germany's BND intel agency for circulation to European companies and scientists; the hope was that if potential equipment suppliers were approached by someone on the BND list, they might alert the authorities. Now that the list is public, said the officials--who asked not to be identified because they were discussing intelligence matters--nuclear traffickers who service rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea may go further underground.
The intel community is also furious over disclosures in James Risen's "State of War" about a Clinton-era CIA plot, Operation Merlin. Risen writes that a former Russian nuclear scientist on the agency payroll was to take Russian nuke blueprints and leak them to Iran. The catch: they contained faulty info that the CIA hoped Iran would incorporate in a bomb design. But the initiative went awry when the scientist noticed the flaws and told the Iranians. Current and former U.S. intel officials, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, complain that while the plan Risen cites may have ended years ago, similar tactics could be used today. They say the book puts bad guys on guard.
--Mark Hosenball
IRAQ No 'Big Bang' Ending
After a lull in violence following what the United States had considered highly successful elections in Iraq on Dec. 15, the country was again faced with a string of deadly sectarian attacks last week that threatened to wreak havoc on the formation of a new government. On Thursday, bombings across Iraq killed at least 130, including an estimated 60 Shiite pilgrims outside a mosque in Karbala. A suicide bomber in the Sunni city of Ramadi killed about 70 people who had lined up outside a police station to join the force. The recent violence, says a Western diplomat in Baghdad who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, now "makes it more difficult" for Iraqis to advance the negotiations in what the United States hopes to be a government of "national unity," which would include Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. "It's important for Iraqi leaders to understand the game and rise above it," he adds. That will be difficult: the results from the Dec. 15 vote are still being contested and are not expected to be resolved until the end of January. Meanwhile, no one expects the insurgency to stop any time soon. "There's not going to be a sudden 'big bang' end to the fighting here," says the diplomat.
--Michael Hastings
Waiting on a Fig Leaf
Will Haiti ever hold its elections? Last week, the Caribbean island nation's presidential vote was postponed for the fourth time since November. The U.N. Security Council convened on Friday and implored Haiti's leaders to hold elections by Feb. 7. But experts say that could still be too soon. "The last thing those interested in Haiti want is a process that is not viewed as legitimate and credible," says Robert McGuire, a Haiti expert at Trinity University in Washington. That may be difficult. A motley crew of 35 candidates--among them a former guerrilla believed to have drug ties and an alleged assassin who was arrested last week for possession of illegal weapons--is contesting the election, making it extremely likely that any result will be challenged by everyone but the winner. "If they lose, they're not going to accept it," says Robert Fatton Jr., a Haiti expert at the University of Virginia. "I don't see any type of consensus."
Meanwhile, the security situation on the island continues to deteriorate. A frenzy of abductions, reportedly as many as eight to 10 a day over the past few months, has transformed Haiti into the kidnapping capital of the world. "[Haiti] has no institutions, no judicial system, no government," says Fatton. "What's amazing is that everything isn't completely out of control, because no one is in control." And few observers expect elections--even if they are free and fair--to solve Haiti's problems. "The international community simply sees the elections as an exit strategy," says Dan Erikson of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank. The prospect of such a departure, particularly of the U.N. peacekeeping force, doesn't bode well for Haitians. "Everything points to some sort of deterioration, [and] everyone is afraid of that possibility," says Fatton. "It's a very dangerous moment. Everything is up for grabs." For a country that has endured 33 military coups in its 200-year history, that must have a familiar ring to it. But it's still an eerie one, even for Haiti.
--Malcolm Beith
Q&A Syria
Former Syrian vice president Abdel Halim Khaddam, in exile in France, is presenting himself as the man who might help replace Bashar al-Assad's increasingly isolated regime in Damascus. Last week he went public with specific accusations concerning its alleged involvement in the 2005 killing of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri. NEWSWEEK's Christopher Dickey spoke with Khaddam in Paris:
Regarding Syrian threats against Hariri, what did you hear exactly?
The threats started from several people. From Assad. From Lebanese officials connected to the Syrian government.
But were people talking directly to you about this?
[In the summer of 2004] I had a meeting with Assad. He was nervous. He immediately told me, "I had Hariri visiting." And then he started telling me what he told Mr. Hariri: "You are working against Syria. You are working to bring a new president... You should know that I am the decision maker. Whoever works against my will, I will crush him."
Do you believe the Syrian government killed Hariri?
I don't want to get into the work of the United Nations investigation committee. I just present facts. The investigation committee will conclude the truth.
For the full interview, go to NEWSWEEKInternational.com
Avian Flu: East Meets West
The bird flu that claimed three children's lives in Turkey last week may well turn out to be the beginning of the worst human outbreak of the disease yet. Lab tests confirmed that two of the children had definitely succumbed to the deadly H5 strain of the disease, and the other two in the same family caught it as well. The deaths, near the remote city of Van in eastern Turkey, were the first human fatalities outside East Asia. And by Saturday night, 30 people had been hospitalized with suspected bird flu at the Van University Hospital. Other suspected human bird-flu cases were emerging at many hospitals in Turkey's impoverished east. If even half of the Van hospital cases prove to be bird flu, it would be the worst outbreak of the disease in the two years since it began, according to the WHO.
The disease rarely infects humans, but when it does, the mortality rate is 50 percent. And although the WHO believes the Turkish victims had exposure to chickens, rather than human-to-human contact, there have been a handful of single cases of direct human-to-human transmission in Southeast Asia. "That's our biggest fear," says WHO virologist Caroline Brown.
--Sami Kohen and Rod Nordland
Economics: Hip to Be Square
Economics, perhaps the geekiest of geek subjects, got a serious makeover last year. Consider the numbers: "Freakonomics," a book by economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner, spent 34 weeks on The New York Times best-seller list; John Perkins's "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" was on for seven weeks. Meanwhile, economics is the hottest undergrad degree at Harvard and New York University; the number of econ majors is up some 40 percent over the past five years. Still not convinced? Two words: Angelina Jolie. Last fall she teamed with leading economist Jeffrey Sachs in an MTV documentary about Kenya's economy. That's hot.
What sparked the trend? It's a mystery--even to the number crunchers. "We'd like to say it's because economics is so interesting and because economists are so handsome and intelligent," says John Siegfried, an econ professor at Vanderbilt University. "But there's no good answer." There's no doubt that "Freakonomics" did its part in glamorizing the trade. The book, says Publishers Weekly senior editor Charlotte Abbott, is poised to inspire a slew of splashy knockoffs. Levitt and Dubner are planning a new book of their own, tentatively titled--what else--"Superfreakonomics." They're also enjoying the spoils that come with hotness: regular TV gigs on "Good Morning America," "World News Tonight" and "Nightline," as well as a newly commissioned documentary. "I'm thrilled to be Steven's collaborator," says Dubner. "So if the price is that he's deemed the sexy one, that's all right with me."
--Elise Soukup
Q&A: Jake of All TradesJake Gyllenhaal is Hollywood's sexiest man--despite what the editors at People magazine say. The actor took a break from his heartthrob duties to speak with NEWSWEEK's Ramin Setoodeh.
In "Jarhead" you played a Marine. Is it time for us to get out of Iraq?
Honestly, I'm feeling more like maybe we should.
"Brokeback Mountain" is a breakthrough movie. Why do you think people oppose gay marriage?
I don't think I could give you a coherent reason. Ultimately the movie is about the struggle of love--with a new way of looking at it. Whether it will change minds is not something you can know in the present moment.
I've seen your butt at least twice this year.
I respect that people are interested in that. I'm flattered by it. But I hope there are more important things in the stories that they're moved by.
What's your take on Jennifer Aniston's breakup with Brad?
Are you kidding me? It's none of my business. They're both wonderful people.
According to our informal office pool, you--not Matthew McConaughey--should've been People's sexiest man.
You're pinning me against him? I have no hard feelings.
The Home Front: Days of Our Lives
A new generation of military wives--defying the un-written rule that you don't whine about your husband's job--are sharing their deployment woes in new books. Sarah Smiley recently released "Going Overboard: The Misadventures of a Military Wife," a humorous take on the home front. "Just because your husband is getting shot at, does that make everything else in your life null and void?" she quips. After Jessica Redmond's husband was deployed to Iraq, she e-mailed other spouses asking how they were coping. She got 50 replies in 48 hours and turned some of their stories into "A Year of Absence: Six Women's Stories of Courage, Hope and Love." The women discuss once taboo topics like mental illness and drinking problems. But this confessional style goes too far for some. "We have to know our boundaries," says 20-year Army wife Patti Correa, whose own book, "From a Pebble to a Rock," offers historical, morale-boosting portraits of military wives. "Some newer spouses may not."