Harold Ford's Offensive Gaffe
By Hal G.P. Colebatch
Published 10/30/2006
At a news conference of 27 October, Ford, apart from stumbling into gaffes regarding North Korean nuclear testing, simultaneously mentioned Australia with rogue nations planning to get nuclear weapons and thus posing a threat to the United States. It seems that, according to Mr. Ford, Australia has an interest in nuclear weapons and is part of the broader nuclear threat to the U.S.
"We are in a world today where more countries have access to nuclear weapons than ever before," Ford is reported to have said. He added that when he left college in 1992 he thought the nuclear age had come to an end and that "America would find ways to eliminate the number of chances that a rogue group or a rogue nation would get its hands on nuclear material.
"Today nine countries have it -- more than ever before -- and 40 are seeking it, including Argentina, Australia and South Africa." Ford went on to state that this made the U.S. less safe because "more countries have nuclear weapons today which means the possibility of nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands has increased dramatically."
The reference to South Africa is, incidentally, also false. South Africa probably had a nuclear weapons program under the Apartheid regime but has since broken it up. He claimed North Korea had conducted two nuclear tests, the first of which he said occurred on July 4. This apparently confused the ballistic missile tests then with the October nuclear test. It is, however, the reference to Australia that is grossly outrageous.
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