Posted on 11/05/2001 2:01:20 PM PST by Rebelbase
LONDON, NOVEMBER 4: PAKISTAN is under pressure to move all or part of its nuclear weapons to China for safekeeping from fundamentalists and it is apprehensive of pre-emptive strikes on its nuclear sites by America, India or Israel to prevent the weapons falling into fundamentalist hands, media report said today quoting Pakistani sources.
The threat to weapons widely regarded as the Pakistan military’s ‘‘crown jewels’’ has forced Islamabad ‘‘to consider removing warheads to China, Pakistan’s closest strategic ally in the region,’’ the Sunday Times reported.
The prospect that loose warheads might be loaded onto helicopters or moved around a region foaming with fundamentalist turmoil is adding to fears in Washington that the war in Afghanistan might provoke a nuclear crisis.
According to the report, Abdul Sattar, the Pakistani Foreign Minister, insisted last week the arsenal was secure. But Washington officials have expressed mounting alarm that any coup attempt against General Pervez Musharraf, the military President, might put Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal at risk.
Pakistani generals were appalled by one authoritative American report last week that an elite Pentagon undercover unit, trained to disarm nuclear weapons, was exploring plans for a mission inside Pakistan. (PTI)
Trust them to what?
They already have a nuclear arsenal that far surpasses anything the Paks have, and they have the ICBM's to deliver them. The Pak warheads are a drop in the bucket.
I'd far prefer to see them in that hands of the Chicoms, if the alternative is seeing them in the hands of fundamentalist Muslims.
The Paks have 30-35 warheads with comparatively low yields, AND they have only medium range delivery capability.
Like I said... there is no "pretty" option, but if I had to choose between seeing them in the hands of the Chicoms, versus seeing them in the hands of Mullah Omar, I'd choose the Chicoms.
My fear, OWK, is that the former would almost certainly lead to the latter. PRC's not about to give OBL a nuke from their stockpile; hey, their generals have already taken the trouble to tell us those babies are targeted on L.A., etc. But a Pak nuke -- now, that's a horse of a different color. best, bb.
I see no reason to believe that if the Chinese wished to see nuclear weapons delivered to the hands of fundamentalist Muslim extremists... that they would not have already done so.
Well, OWK -- maybe PRC is more patient than you. The "spare nuke" lives in Pak, and last time I checked, it was still there. The urgent question is: For how long? Just because the Paks trust China -- they have a "strategic relationship" -- is no reason for us to. Of course, this complicates things enormously, since the Paks are supposed to be "friendlies." (Just barely.) JMHO FWIW. best, bb.
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