Posted on 09/09/2005 3:10:23 AM PDT by Arjun
CIA asked Dutch govt not to act against A Q Khan September 09, 2005 11:40 IST Last Updated: September 09, 2005 11:51 IST
Former Dutch Premier Ruud Lubbers has said that the Netherlands government, in 1975 and in 1986, had refrained from acting against disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadir Khan following requests from the United States Central Intelligence Agency, media reports said.
A Q Khan transferred centrifuges to N Korea
Dutch newspapers, Telegraaf, NRC Handelsblad, and Radio ARGOS quoted Lubbers as saying that BVD, the Dutch intelligence agency, had also asked the ministry of economic affairs in 1975, then headed by him, not to act against Khan.
"I think the American intelligence agency put into practice what is very common there; just give us all the information. And do not arrest that man; just let him go ahead. We will have him followed and that way gain more information," Lubbers told VPRO Argos Radio in an interview.
According to the interview transcript, he asked, "what are we doing here? We have watched this man for 10 years already. Apparently, he is up to some fairly serious things. .... And again I'm told: No, just leave it to the intelligence agencies. .... Yes, in hindsight that is very stupid indeed."
Pak refuses US access to A Q Khan
The economic affairs ministry, then headed by Lubbers, had in its purview Urenco, the uranium enrichment firm in Almelo where Khan worked in 1975 when suspicions about his spying had arisen in the Dutch government circles.
Asked when did he first hear Khan's name, Lubbers said Khan was "a young Pakistani who works there (Urenco) and there are indications that he is doing things he shouldn't. He takes home information and copies it. And we have to sort that out. And maybe deny him entry from now on."
Lubbers, who later rose to become the prime minister of the Netherlands, also said, "I seem to recall from those days that I had once asked whether it is sufficient to merely deny him entry or should we do more. The answer I was given at that time was that the American intelligence agency preferred not to arrest the man but to have him followed."
Complete Coverage: Pakistan's nuclear bazaar
In the radio interview, he maintained that Khan was "caught in the act" by the security regime in Urenco which "reported it to the BVD. The BVD reported it to its counterpart in Washington.
"The counterpart in Washington then follows a course that amounts to: let him go and we will gain more information. And that is where things start to go wrong," Lubbers said.
The Dutch newspapers, Telegraaf and NRC Handelsblad, also reported that the matter was debated in the Netherlands Parliament and that a Dutch businessman appeared before the local courts on charges of trying to supply parts for nuclear bombs to Khan.
Although this is presented as a typical CIA bungle, it's not necessarily so.
Not necessarily so?
Seems like a major bungle to me.
This AQ Khan crazy has been extremely charitable with stolen goos - nuke tech in this case - and has generously shared with the likes of Iran, N Korea, Libya etc (could this august company get any worse?).
I believe the CIA was acting under political compulsions arising from America's Afghanistan ops against the Soviets which sorely needed Pak's help the.
The chickens are coming home to roost now.
Even as we speak, in the name of help on the war on terror, we've been cutting Pak too much slack on the all-important nuke proliferation issue, methinks.
Could be. Could be otherwise. Occasionally in the past the CIA has helped see that equipment reached certain countries because they had gotten access to it beforehand. One of the most succesful cold war operations was such. One can hope. I don't work in the CIA and can't be certain. All I'm saying is that what we hear in newspapers is not necessarily the whole story.
The CIA seems totally incapable of doing anything right.
The CIA and Hogans Goat seem to be compatible.
I don't believe 50% of the population is compromised of the same radicals you find in the media spotlight.
Given the CIA's employment pool, by definition half are below average intelligence. Common sense would lead one to assume that they are the office directors who run the show and make the decisions.
Paging Valerie Plame!
How do you figure that this is not necessarily a CIA bungle?
How is Khan disgraced? Last I heard, Mushie lionized him...
Nah. Ya just never hear about it when they get it right... The problem disappears and the solution never was...
Where is Jack Bauer when we need him. Our real life people are just useless doofuses.
I thought I answered that. But notice I said not necessarily.
You're not necessarily a mindless defender of internationalist bureaucracies that frustrate American national objectives.
I guess you're pretty sharp.
What percentage of that 50% votes Dem "just because they always have." The belief systems are different and don't reflect the 50% of the population that you've stated - imop.
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