Posted on 04/17/2006 3:08:48 PM PDT by Gengis Khan
WASHINGTON: Pakistan's role in nuclear proliferation is getting fresh attention in Washington amid a fervid debate in the United States about how close Iran is to building a nuclear weapons arsenal.
Having credulously accepted the Bush administration's explanation, based on "assurances" from Islamabad, that Pakistan was not officially involved in the proliferation and it was the work of a rogue scientist, US analysts are now re-examining this claim in the light of new relevations about Iran's nuclear programme.
Based on Iranian president Ahmedinijad's assertions about advances in the programme, it now transpires that Pakistan's rogue scientist AQ Khan may have had a longer and deeper relationship with Iran than previously known.
Much of the fresh details about the Khan scam is contained in a new documentary on the Discovery Times channel titled 'Nuclear Jihad' that is being screened nationwide today.
According to previews, the thesis of Nuclear Jihad is that Khan has hastened the day when terrorists not linked to nation-states will have access to nuclear bombs.
The documentary raises more questions than it answers though. For instance, it raises the now well known fact that the Dutch were about to arrest Khan in 1975, but the CIA asked them to back off so that they could tail him and get more details.
As it turned out, the CIA lost sight of that objective during the Afghan crisis. There are also questions about how Khan could have commandeered so much military support, including airplanes, if the Pakistani government was not in on the proliferation deals.
The Pakistani government and military role has so far gone uncensured in the US strategic community and among lawmakers, some of whom are more exercised over the proliferation prospects arising from the Bush administration's civilian nuclear agreement with India.
Sundry experts such as ex-weapons inspector David Albright, non-proliferation guru Robert Einhorn, and arms control expert Mich-ael Krepon have all been relatively quiet on the Pakistani role in proliferation while fulminating about the US-India agreement.
Albright in particular made a big to-do recently about the possibility of rogue players buying centrifuge design information through the Indian procurement system, but has said little about Pakistan's supply of centrifuge technolgy to Iran and other countries.
But successive U.S administrations and their minions in think-tanks have a history of duplicity on proliferation issues, according to some in the Indian nuclear community.
For instance, they say, throughout the 1990s, China proliferated to Pakistan under the watch of the non-proliferation guru and Clinton's pointman on the issue, Robert Einhorn.
Einhorn is now among the leading lights of those opposing the US-India nuclear deal and a tutor to many former officials and lawmakers.
The Bush administration has preferred to believe the Pakistani military government's version that Khan was acting in his individual capacity, ostensibly because it fears Islamabad will not cooperate in the war on terror if confronted on this issue.
As a result, US has accepted Pakistan's insistence that it will not give access to Khan for questioning. And US experts have fallen in line with this argument despite a compelling case to bring in Khan, now that the Iranian nuclear horse has bolted the stable.
Yeah - our great allies...
This is 1938 all over again. The eve of the 3rd World War.
Again...they all want the islamic bomb. They have little regard for human life, so, I doubt the Iranians would have any reservations in using one.
Ping!
Meanwhile........
US-Pakistan nuclear deal possible: Hagel
* Opposes use of military force against Iran
* Holds meetings with Musharraf, Kasuri
By Shahzad Raza
ISLAMABAD: The United States might strike a deal for cooperation in civilian nuclear technology with Pakistan some time in the future as it recently has with India, US Senator Chuck Hagel said on Thursday.
Hagel also opposed the use of military force against Iran to freeze its nuclear programme.
“There may be an agreement between the United States and Pakistan in future on the nuclear issue, but I do not represent the United States government,” Hagel said at a press conference at the US Embassy following meetings with President General Pervez Musharraf and Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, along with US Ambassador Ryan C Crocker.
Asked to comment on the affect of the India-US civil nuclear agreement on Pakistan-US relations, he said Pakistan and China must not view it as a threat. He observed that the agreement represented cooperation in science, education and agriculture, and the nuclear aspect was just one part of the deal.
He conceded that energy was a crucial resource for a country to meets its economic and social needs. During his meeting with the president, Musharraf told the senator that Pakistan’s growing energy requirements would be met through a variety of sources including nuclear power generation.
He outlined Pakistan’s view on the US-India nuclear agreement and stressed that there were concerns about its implications for regional stability and security. The president underscored that Pakistan must have access to civil nuclear energy.
In a separate meeting, Foreign Minister Kasuri told Hagel that the denial of nuclear cooperation to Pakistan would be regarded as discriminatory by the government and people of Pakistan.
Referring to the statements of President George Bush and top US officials, the senator told journalists that he did not think the military option a viable solution to the Iran nuclear dispute. “Iran is a complicated issue. A responsible approach to these challenges is to work closely with our friends and allies including Pakistan, the United Nations and with the IAEA,” he said.
Hagel told journalists that during their meeting Gen Musharraf had assured him that the next general elections in Pakistan would be fair and transparent. He said it was not his place to comment on the president’s uniform, but the matter should be resolved by the leaders and people of Pakistan. He said the US was ready to support a resolution of the Kashmir dispute. “We can help enhance confidence between India and Pakistan. And we must.”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C04%5C14%5Cstory_14-4-2006_pg7_1
I agree. I've got a bad, bad feeling about all this.
"I agree. I've got a bad, bad feeling about all this."
I used to hear from relatives what it was like right before World War II. That most people could see it coming, yet they had were in denial. Many of those peopel would be dead in under 6 years.
I think World War III has already started.
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