US special unit 'stands by to steal atomic warheads'

The Telegraph UK ^ | 10/2/9/01 | Ben Fenton

[vrwc54]

An elite American military unit is preparing for possible incursion into Pakistan in order to steal its nuclear weapons arsenal, it is reported today.

The special forces unit is training with Israel's most trusted anti-terrorist unit, and would be called into action in the event that Gen Pervaiz Musharraf lost power in Pakistan, the New Yorker magazine said.

The CIA believes that Pakistani army officers sympathetic to the Taliban could pose a threat to Gen Musharraf, and that some of the country's estimated 24 nuclear warheads could be stolen by renegades within Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI.

Seymour Hersch, a journalist whose reporting on the post-September 11 crisis has been broadly accurate so far, said that members of Israel's Unit 262, or Sayeret Matkal, came to America soon after the attacks and have been training with Pentagon special forces.

Mr Hersch quoted a "senior military officer" as confirming that intense planning was going on for the "exfiltration" - theft - of warheads. But there are doubts about whether the CIA - or any other intelligence agency - knows the exact location of Pakistan's warheads, which were first tested, to the surprise of American intelligence agencies, in 1998.

The fear that Gen Musharraf could lose control of the country and some or all of the warheads is based on the close links between the ISI and the Taliban. Last week, the Pakistani president dismissed such concerns.

"We have an excellent command-and-control system which we have evolved, and there is no question of their falling into the hands of any fundamentalists," Gen Musharraf said. Pakistan is thought to have a number of intermediate-range missiles to carry its warheads as well as using F-16 fighter-bombers.

There are a number of possible targets for the use of these weapons by renegades sympathetic to the Islamic extremists in Afghanistan. These include India, itself a nuclear power, or the four American aircraft carriers and British vessels currently cruising off Pakistan's coastline as bases for air and commando attacks on the Taliban and al-Qa'eda.

[vrwc54]

I couldn't get the direct link to work when I tried to put it above, but you can find a link to the article on the news page which I put up top.

[vrwc54]

FYI

[KQQL]

I bet this story is true.

[Quix]

When are we going to see some press people keel hauled and then hung from the ?yard arm?

I didn't realize press people could operate so deceptively, treasonously well after multiaxial lobotomies. They must come from long lines of suicidal maniacs on both sides of their families.

[Elihu Burritt]

But there are doubts about whether the CIA - or any other intelligence agency - knows the exact location of Pakistan's warheads, which were first tested, to the surprise of American intelligence agencies, in 1998.

Sort of answers his own question there, doesn't he.

[mystery-ak]

If it's true, it's no longer a secret.

[NeoCrusade]

I have a feeling that India would resolve that situation if it occured.

[Dog Gone]

We have contingency plans to do just about everything.

[Centurion2000]

Just had afunny thought. Silly but funny, the CIA steals the warheads and a Pakistani fighter. They vanish and come back out during ramadan when they bomb the Kaaba and make it look like some form of Islamic terrorist.

Get some whiz-kid at the Farm to make a full time real video to make a film of Bin Laden stating that he is now Zoroastrian and had to destroy all the old images of his ex-religion.

Poetic justice

[vrwc54]

Maybe this information was leaked on purpose as some sort of warning.

[mystery-ak]

You're right about that...India is itching to get Pakistan

[Cicero]

I can't imagine a more destructive story, in every possible way. Why on earth did they print it? This one can't possibly fall into the category of disinformation or deliberate leak. The most dangerous result could be that it will encourage Pakistani militants to overthrow the government.

[vrwc54]

Apparently it's going to be in the New Yorker, and it most likely was leaked on purpose. I don't know what the purpose would be though.

[silmaril]

Quix asked:
When are we going to see some press people keel hauled and then hung from the ?yard arm?

I don't blame Hersh so much as the officials who spoke with him. They're the ones who are truly out of line.

[vrwc54]

We have to hope that there is an explanation for this leak which we can't understand. I don't think it was malfeasance.

[Amerigomag]

Doesn't the UK have something called "the Offical Secrets Act". I'd say it's time to implement it's provisions....or stop including Mr. Blair in any further US briefings.

[115thINTC]

Damm the media, to h**l!!! This information is closely held. Now the shell game begins.

[gcruse]

Dealing with those who leak information...