"Pak Army planned nuke attack in 99"

The Hindu ^ | May 12, 2002

[Sawdring]

London, May 12. (PTI): The Pakistani army mobilised its nuclear arsenal against India in 1999 - during the Kargil conflict -- without the knowledge of its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, The Sunday Times reported today quoting a senior White House adviser at that time.

In a paper to be published shortly by the University of Pennsylvania, Bruce Riedel, who was a senior adviser to then US President Bill Clinton on India and Pakistan, recalls how the president was told that he faced the most important foreign policy meeting of his career.

"There was disturbing information about Pakistan preparing its nuclear arsenal," Riedel has written.

According to the report, Riedel and other aides feared that India and Pakistan were heading for a "deadly descent into full-scale conflict, with a danger of nuclear cataclysm". They were also concerned about Osama Bin Laden's growing influence in the region.

Intelligence experts had told Riedel that the flight times of missiles fired by either side would be as little as three minutes and that "a Pakistani strike on just one Indian city, Mumbai, would kill between 150,000 and 850,000 alone.".

[Sawdring]

Maybe Musharraf's coup was a good thing.

[weikel]

It was.

[Soul Citizen]

How interesting, since under Clintons watch, he was directly responsible for the nuclear proliferation to China, who shared it with N. Korea, who shared it with Pakistan, who used it against India.

Clintons Legacy

[AM2000]

I don't know about that. If this article says anything, it's that Pakistan needs to get its rogue generals in check and solidify civilian control of the armed forces. How they go about doing that is another question, but that's what they need.

[Sawdring]

China shared its own design with Pakistan. Clinton might be responsible for not acting in response to Chinese proliferation but I doubt Pakistan is using US technology from China.

[NerdDad]

I can see the Clintonista spin now. Bubba used his influence to stop a nuclear conflict. He saved millions of lives. He saved the world from war. He was the greatest president of all. blah, blah, blah.

[Free the USA]

Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.

[Sawdring]

I agree, but in the short term the real people in charge weren't making policy while Sharif didn't know what was happening. Now that Musharref is in charge at least the US or India has someone to talk with before a situation gets out of control and the weapons are launched on Indian cities.

[Cicero]

How interesting, since under Clintons watch, he was directly responsible for the nuclear proliferation to China, who shared it with N. Korea, who shared it with Pakistan, who used it against India.

Just so. I remember reading here in the forum that U.S. intelligence knew that nuclear missile warheads were on a Chinese freighter headed for Pakistan, but as usual clinton pretended that nothing was happening, and the U.S. press eagerly cooperated. China got the missile and warhead technology from Bernie Schwartz and clinton, and clinton looked the other way while the Chinese proliferated it to numerous dangerous rogue nations, including North Korea and Iran.

[Mitchell]

Ping.

[AM2000]

Let's see.. the same military that was surreptitiously prepping its nuclear arsenal while their civilian leaders were publicly engaged in peace overtures, is now suddenly trustworthy enough to talk to? I don't buy it. As far as the Indians are concerned, Musharraf can't be trusted - Kargil proved it, and this article only solidifies the belief.

[AM2000]

Yeap.

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

Actually, if the "civilians" were in control, India would have been nuked by now. The military is the ONLY stabilizing influence in that misbegotten country. (Check out those Pakistani Taliban fighters, and the bombers who are attacking Allied forces in Pakistan- I don't think they are "rogue Generals".) Being reflexively anti-military is not always a good position to take...

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

" the real people in charge weren't making policy ..."

Well, if they weren't "making policy", then they were not the "real people in charge", were they?

[AM2000]

The Pakistani PM invited the Indian PM to Lahore for peace talks. The Indian PM accepted, and he went. They talked. What resulted was a document, outlining a plan for further peace talks.

While this was happening, General Musharraf was working overtime, behind Prime Minister Sharifs back, to sabotage the Lahore Declaration. The intrusion into Kargil happened. Sharif didn't know about it, but he did order the pullback. Musharraf was humiliated, so Sharif was ousted. By Musharraf.

So you'll excuse me if I have more faith in the good intentions of the Pakistani civilian establishment than in the Pakistani military.

[Sawdring]

Let's see.. the same military that was surreptitiously prepping its nuclear arsenal while their civilian leaders were publicly engaged in peace overtures, is now suddenly trustworthy enough to talk to?

What good does making peace with a President who doesn't have power do? I never said anything about trust but certainly you would have a better chance at stopping an escalation in a conflict with the people who actually control one of the sides instead of dealing with a figure head.

[AM2000]

The Sharif administration was making policy. The Army was who was really in charge.

[AM2000]

Fair enough. However, there is no reason to believe the Pakistani military has any intention of establishing peaceful relations with India. But they could, if they wanted to.