Free Republic

When experts from the US and the IAEA came upon blueprints for a 10-kiloton atomic bomb in the files of the Libyan weapons program earlier this year, they found themselves caught between gravity and pettiness. The discovery gave the experts a new appreciation of the audacity of the rogue nuclear network led by A. Q. Khan, a chief architect of Pakistan's bomb. Intelligence officials had watched Dr. Khan for years and suspected that he was trafficking in machinery for enriching uranium to make fuel for warheads. But the detailed design represented a new level of danger, particularly since the Libyans...

WASHINGTON: Under tremendous pressure from the United States, Islamabad’s ruling dispensation appears to be zeroing in on Pakistan’s national hero, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, as the source of nuclear proliferation. Several people, perhaps up to 25, included some of Khan’s closest aides, have been detained in recent days. Some of them have been dragged out of their homes kicking and screaming, according to family members who have spoken to the Pakistani media. Khan himself has been treated more circumspectly, but he has also been questioned exhaustively and further steps against him seem imminent. The military government already seems to be...

Nuclear weapon 'brochure' adds to US dilemma over Musharraf By Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 05/01/2004) Pakistan faced embarrassment yesterday with the publication of a sales brochure from its top-secret nuclear facility, apparently hawking technology and components to would-be nuclear powers. The brochure from the AQ Khan Research Laboratories, the centre of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, has an official-looking seal on the cover saying "Government of Pakistan". Nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan Its publication in The New York Times yesterday undercuts Islamabad's claims that any transfer of its nuclear technology to rogue states has been the work of individuals. It...

In some more indictment of Pakistan's role in nuclear proliferation, reports said on Sunday that the Kahuta-based Khan Laboratories, founded by father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb AQ Khan, "may be the source of greatest level of nuclear weapons proliferation since the Cold War". The Observer reported that dramatic evidence from Iran and Libya reveals a clandestine network stretching from North Korea, Malaysia and China to Russia, Germany and Dubai. "Yet one country more than any other stands accused of easing this proliferation. "In the network of illegal radioactive trade, all roads point to Pakistan. More precisely, they lead to the...