Periscope

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