Posted on 12/21/2003 10:09:21 PM PST by bd476
"Inquiry Suggests Pakistanis Sold Nuclear Secrets" By THE NEW YORK TIMES Published: December 22, 2003
"Western agencies have been investigating Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's bomb."
This article is by William J. Broad, David Rohde and David E. Sanger.
"WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 — A lengthy investigation of the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan, by American and European intelligence agencies and international nuclear inspectors has forced Pakistani officials to question his aides and openly confront evidence that the country was the source of crucial technology to enrich uranium for Iran, North Korea and other nations.
Until the past few weeks, Pakistani officials had denied evidence that the A. Q. Khan Research Laboratories, named for the man considered a national hero, had ever been a source of weapons technology to countries aspiring to acquire fissile material. Now they are backing away from those denials, while insisting that there has been no transfer of nuclear technology since President Pervez Musharraf took power four years ago.
Dr. Khan, a metallurgist who was charged with stealing European designs for enriching uranium a quarter century ago, has not yet been questioned. American and European officials say he is the centerpiece of their investigation, but that General Musharraf's government has been reluctant to take him on because of his status and deep ties to the country's military and intelligence services. A senior Pakistani official said in an interview that "any individual who is found associated with anything suspicious would be under investigation," and promised a sweeping inquiry..."
(excerpt)
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
No surprise, but very interesting that it's coming out now. I think the Libya thing and this are related, and that all of this represents an important new stage in the war against terror: the bad guys are beginning to accept that the Americans are serious, and the only way to be safe if you don't already have enough nukes to make the Americans nervous (i.e. only Russia and China) is to get right with George.
yep, as soon as Saddam went down we advanced to the "next" level on Americas Revenge Tour! First Afgan (minue OBL), then Iraq, then Libya, then maybe Pakis and then OBL just in time for GW's re-election speech. Then in '04...Iran gets their long overdue ass kicking
Nuclear Program in Iran Tied to Pakistan
Pan Yans Wife posted the story as covered in the Washington Post:
Nuclear Program in Iran Tied To Pakistan
New York Times version names Abdul Q. Khan as the likely culprit, and refers to Khan as "Pakistan's Father of the Atomic Bomb." He's the metallurgist who stole European technology to enrich uranium.
Now Kahn is being investigated as the probable person who sold detailed centrifuge blueprints to Iran. Charges have not been made against Kahn, allegedly because of Khan's deep ties to Pakistan's military.
Indeed, and it looks like Syria is jumping on the fight wagon.
his new nasty should come as no surprise to William J. Broad (Spying Isn't the Only Way to Learn About Nukes, The New York Times, May 30, 1999), who must surely give the megaton-ic bulk of the credit for this proliferation to the clintons....
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Pakistani officials say that since Dr. Khan's retirement, he has no longer been officially affiliated with the laboratory that bears his name. Still, one former Pakistani military official described him as a proud nationalist who saw himself as a Robin Hood-like character outwitting rich nations and aiding poor ones. Dr. Khan, he said, "was not that sort that would think it was a bad thing" to share nuclear weapons technology. "In fact, he would think it was a good thing. Inquiry Suggests Pakistanis Sold Nuclear Secrets |
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Since 1993, officials say, the Energy Department's "openness initiative" has released at least 178 categories of atom secrets. By contrast, the 1980s saw two such actions... Its overview of the disclosures, "Restricted Data Declassification Decisions," dated January 1999 and more than 140 pages long, lists such things as how atom bombs can be boosted in power, key steps in making hydrogen bombs, the minimum amount (8.8 pounds) of plutonium or uranium fuel needed for an atom bomb and the maximum time it takes an exploding atomic bomb to ignite an H-bomb's hydrogen fuel (100 millionths of a second). No grade-B physicist from any university could figure this stuff. It took decades of experience gained at a cost of more than $400 billion. The release of the secrets started as a high-stakes bet that openness would lessen, not increase, the world's vulnerability to nuclear arms and war. John Holum, who heads arms control at the State Department, told Congress last year that the test ban "essentially eliminates" the possibility of a renewed international race to develop new kinds of nuclear arms... "The United States must stand as leader," O'Leary told a packed news conference in December 1993 upon starting the process. "We are declassifying the largest amount of information in the history of the department." Critics, however, say the former secrets are extremely valuable to foreign powers intent on making nuclear headway. Gaffney, the former Reagan official, disparaged the giveaway as "dangling goodies in front of people to get them to sign up into our arms-control agenda." Thomas B. Cochran,:..."In terms of the phenomenology of nuclear weapons...the cat is out of the bag." ...[F]ormer Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the "extensive declassification" of secrets had inadvertently aided the global spread of deadly weapons. ["inadvertently" ??] |
his new nasty should come as no surprise to William J. Broad (Spying Isn't the Only Way to Learn About Nukes, The New York Times, May 30, 1999), who must surely give the megaton-ic bulk of the credit for this proliferation to the clintons....
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