Nuclear Reactors

The New York Times leads with Iran's nuclear ambition prompting nations across the region to look into developing their own nuclear technology. The Washington Post leads with an update of yesterday's top story: the U.S. military now confirms Marines fired on civilians during an incident in Afghanistan last month, killing or injuring more than 40 people. The Los Angeles Times goes with reports that Iraqi Sunnis have set up a parallel intelligence agency within the Iraqi government to counter the predominately Shiite official agency, which is entirely funded by the CIA.

The NYT paints the nuclear ambitions of virtually every Middle Eastern nation as the byproduct of fears that a nuclear Iran would dominate the region. All the nations concerned say they only want nuclear technology for generating electricity (despite the region's vast oil reserves) and the paper treats this claim with healthy skepticism, assuming that at least some of the states in question would want to pursue nuclear weapons. The article's most startling claim: most Arab nations would prefer a U.S. military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities to Iran having nuclear weapons. In a related story, the NYT says North Korea failed to meet deadlines for shutting down its nuclear facilities, leaving the U.S. with relatively few options for bringing the nation in line with the commitments it made last February.

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- Slate, Jesse Stanchak