Pakistan Nuclear Proliferation - 31 Jan 2004

kgoan · Post by **kgoan** » 03 Feb 2004 10:44

BTW folks:

On a preliminary basis, I don't see the need to get overly excited or optimistic. (Sorry JUmrao-ji, but hold the black label just yet).

Specifically, a lot of the drama *seems* to be driven by Xerox's enemies within Pak itself - especially the PAEC folk who, it seems, really loathe him for taking all the credit they believe belongs to themselves.

If you look at some of the stuff by Kamran and in the other Pak papers, it seems to me that Kamrans leaks probably comes from the PAEC people who see an opportunity to use a nail-gun on their most disliked competitor.

Xerox was previously protected by the civilians and the generals, and he was smart enough to build a public persona for himself - something that no Pakistani leader has since Bhutto the Elders time. Now that he's no longer protected, he's fair game - but his popularity protects him so far - otherwise he'd be gone by now.

This is just the standard methodology by which top people in Pakistan get overthrown - there's no retirement scheme in Pak land, the only way to get rid of the top people is to blast them out - sometimes literally.

The conflict at this stage seems to be between pro- and anti-US people within Pak Land. (Or more accurately, - between virulent anti-US types and just "moderate" anti-US types).

I'm not sure if this point is understood by some folks. See, we here know quite well the difference between the Sethi/Ayaz/ types and their "moderate" hatred of India and the "virulent" hatred of the "extremists".

The US will buy into the "moderate" types - primarily because the "moderates" are not prepared to die for their hatred while the "extremists" are.

So I don't expect much to change after the shouting is over - not while PAEC is kept out of things and the China factor is still so "hidden".

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 03 Feb 2004 10:46

Originally posted by parsuram:
One possibility I would suggest, though risky and dangerous, would be to press the US at this time to take Indian PKF contengent(s) in Afghanistan. It should be attractive to the US as a breather for its forces, and pakis wailing against it at this time should not be a factor.

Parsuram,

The US probably has more pressing worries than getting a breather. The pakistani situation is almost getting out of their control, and they need to empower mushy to do a good cover up in the short term, it seems to me. And the last thing they will want is to pressure mushy any more than they are doing now.

AXK will be prime scapegoat, and since he is so popular among the jihadi types, he will be "investigated and charged" by the pakistani army, just like Omar Saeed Sheikh. And the US will let this happen. AXK will be under "house arrest" while his trial drags on and on due to "legal and constitutional" issues. smoke and mirrors.

Rich · Post by **Rich** » 03 Feb 2004 11:32

Originally posted by Rangudu:
Kamran Khan's report in Washington Post. Paki papers are out today due to Eid.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6884-2004Feb2.html

Musharraf Named in Nuclear Probe </font>

from you-know-where. Methinks Mushy's goat is cooked.

Manne · Post by **Manne** » 03 Feb 2004 12:44

We all fall down... :p

Army chiefs in nuke leak: Khan

Prateek · Post by **Prateek** » 03 Feb 2004 13:05

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow/471824.cms

Army chiefs in nuke leak: Khan

http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=22211&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs
Pakistan's nuke king points finger at army chiefs

Prateek · Post by **Prateek** » 03 Feb 2004 13:08

Pak will decide whether to prosecute Khan: US

http://www.indiaexpress.com/news/world/20040203-0.html

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=53626
France ready to provide nulcear security assistance to Pakistan
Monday February 02, 2004 (1211 PST)

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 03 Feb 2004 13:25

Originally posted by Sridhar:
Is it only me who has a feeling that Mushy is soon gonna be history? l.

Not so fast Shridhar.

Musharaf in the best leader TSP has had since Yahya khan who lost half the (abomi)nation.

My Musharraf live long. He is a genuinely good leader.

kgoan · Post by **kgoan** » 03 Feb 2004 14:33

Interesting:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6915-2004Feb2.html

I hear a brushing sound and the flap-flap of carpets being lifted.

. . . President Bush will appoint [a commission] to investigate the failures of prewar intelligence on Iraq will also review the CIA's misjudgments about weapons programs in Iran, Libya and North Korea, administration officials said yesterday.

Bush said the nine-member panel -- which White House officials said would include current and former officials with experience in intelligence matters -- will "look at our war against proliferation and weapons of mass destruction, kind of in a broader context."

Although the secret weapons programs of Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea and Pakistan have long been a top concern of U.S. national security officials, the intelligence agencies have missed critical weapons developments in each country. Administration officials have found themselves surprised at recent disclosures about nuclear weapons programs in Iran, Libya and North Korea. And the intelligence community was caught off guard when Pakistan tested a nuclear device in 1998.

Other names floated by officials were William H. Webster and James Woolsey, both former CIA directors

.
I look forward to hearing that a certain Mr. Ijaz has been appointed to this commission.

jrjrao · Post by **jrjrao** » 03 Feb 2004 15:02

LA Times chimes in:

Pakistan Caught in a Web of Evidence

Pakistan's admission that the father of its atomic bomb orchestrated illegal sales of nuclear weapons technology to three countries came in response to intense pressure from the United States and the United Nations.

Among other evidence, inspectors recently discovered blueprints linked to Khan in Iran and Libya and entire centrifuge assemblies in Libya that appear to have been shipped directly from Pakistan, according to diplomats familiar with the international inquiry.

Iranian officials also told the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency that Pakistani scientists had introduced them to a private proliferation network that stretched from Germany to Malaysia, the diplomats said.

In Washington, a State Department official said the United States was eager to learn whether Khan's proliferation network extended to the military authorities who have long controlled the country's nuclear program.

He said there were concerns that Musharraf might not push for a thorough investigation, fearing he could provoke new threats to his leadership.

After two recent assassination attempts, <u>he is guarded by an American military team </u> the Carnegie Endowment expert.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 03 Feb 2004 15:27

TSP will decide whether to proecute AXK - Boucher.

The United States has said it was for Pakistan to decide whether to prosecute scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan for leaking nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya and Iran.

"They are the ones conducting the invetigation and making any decisions as to what should happen to individuals or programmes," US State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday.

He said the US welcomed Pakistan's investigation of the leakage of nuclear secrets and was following the events.

"It is a sign of how seriously Pakistan takes the commitments that President Musharraf has made to make sure that his nation is not a source of prohibited technologies for other countries," Boucher said.

Pakistan in this process has been working "very closely with th e IAEA and other governments as they investigate."

Boucher said that the US has had exchanges with Pakistan in the past on nucelar developments around the world. "We know," said Boucher, "this has been a subject of importance to us. But if you look at the information the Pakistanis are providing, they are talking more about information that came out through the mechanism of the IAEA."

Sridhar · Post by **Sridhar** » 03 Feb 2004 17:43

Originally posted by shiv:
Musharaf in the best leader TSP has had since Yahya khan who lost half the (abomi)nation.

My Musharraf live long. He is a genuinely good leader.

Shiv:

I forgot to add in my post - that I pray for his long life. Shimon Peres was not too much off the mark, was he!

Rangudu · Post by **Rangudu** » 03 Feb 2004 17:55

My letter to the San Jose Mercury News

Pakistan's dealings are not a surprise

Daniel Sneider hits it out of the park yet again with his latest column on Pakistani nuclear proliferation (Opinion, Feb. 1).

It is really funny to see the current and past U.S. non-proliferation high priests express shock at the recent nuclear revelations about Pakistan. It's all fake, of course. For decades, anyone that cared to know was aware that Pakistan has been dealing in nuclear technology with rogue nations and shady middlemen.

It is clear that the failure of U.S. diplomats to act on Pakistan's nuclear profligacy is much worse than the U.S. intelligence failure in Iraq. The State Department needs to be called into account for this. But don't count on it happening anytime soon.

Vivek_A · Post by **Vivek_A** » 03 Feb 2004 18:20

North Korea now has paki nukes!!

30 billion $ doesn't buy a lot of good intel...or analysis for that matter.

Rangudu · Post by **Rangudu** » 03 Feb 2004 18:23

Originally posted by Vivek A:
North Korea now has paki nukes!!

30 billion $ doesn't buy a lot of good intel...or analysis for that matter.

Is there some new information you know that merited the <img src="http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/ubb/icons/icon4.gif" alt="" /> sign?

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 03 Feb 2004 19:04

China hopes TSP will "properly handle" the proliferation issue.
Warning from China to TSP...

Rangudu · Post by **Rangudu** » 03 Feb 2004 19:07

Yeah, the Chinese are saying - Don't give out our name if you know what's right for you

Jeezus - this is the Nuclear Sopranos or what.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 03 Feb 2004 19:22

Khan's colleagues turned him in - Shyam Bhatia

In recent years Khan has boasted of how he is descended from Shahabuddin Ghauri, founder of the Slave Dynasty which ruled Delhi between 1206 and 1290, who is buried in Jhelum. Khan has spent millions of rupees refurbishing the tomb of his 'ancestor' that had fallen into disrepair.

Vijay J · Post by **Vijay J** » 03 Feb 2004 19:28

Looks like the PAEC KRL fight which is responsible for most of the anti-Khan news material out there is scaring people. If KRL people open their mouths about Chinese involvement things could get seriously hot, so the Chinese have weighed in.

I think this alliance of China Pakistan and America is the real strategic constant of Asia. Look at the current situation, Chinese, American and Pakistani firefighting units appear to be responding to the blaze of proliferation news and publicity, talk about international cooperation. Quite a menage a trois, no? now the only question is can they control the blaze?

Which by the way, brings to mind another question, something people on this thread might want to consider.

The Americans used the IAEA to push Iran and Libya to shop the Pakistanis, in doing so they hoped to create a political challenge to the Jihadis inside the Pakistan Army but now if this non-proliferation blaze that the Americans have so carefully set were to proceed in an uncontrolled fashion, isn't it possible that the Jihadis themselves would pour fat into the fire?

Couldn't the Jihadis gain from discrediting the US government? Every day this proliferation crisis dominates the news the fear of a Jihadi nuke grows palpably. At the end of the day, all that this publicity about proliferation from Pakistan is add to the negative publicity faced by the Bush Adminstration over the missing WMD in Iraq and its handling of proliferation issues.

The Jihadis all over Pakistan want to depict the search for WMD in Iraq as a cover for an imperialist agenda by the US. Any negative publicity on US handling of proliferation issues works to the Jihadis' benifit as it depicts the entire proliferation agenda as a sham.

So wouldn't the jihadis gain from keeping this blaze of proliferation publicity going? What is the worst thing that could happen? the world will know with certainity that the Jihadis have a nuke already, if that is something that the Jihadis want to put out there, why shouldn't they push up the proliferation publicity?

jrjrao · Post by **jrjrao** » 03 Feb 2004 20:29

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
February 03, 2004, Tuesday
HEADLINE: Confession by the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb I've sold nuclear secrets to Libya, Iran and N Korea

BYLINE: By Ahmed Rashid in Lahore and Anton La Guardia

.....
Senior Western officials have given Gen Musharraf private assurances that if he takes stern action they will take at face value his claims that nuclear technology was sold by scientists for "greed" and not at the behest of Pakistani governments.
...

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 03 Feb 2004 20:37

Originally posted by jrjrao:
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
February 03, 2004, Tuesday
HEADLINE: Confession by the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb I've sold nuclear secrets to Libya, Iran and N Korea

BYLINE: By Ahmed Rashid in Lahore and Anton La Guardia
.....
Senior Western officials have given Gen Musharraf private assurances that if he takes stern action they will take at face value his claims that nuclear technology was sold by scientists for "greed" and not at the behest of Pakistani governments.
...

Me thinks that the pressure is another tactic by Bush on Mush to get Bin Laden before November. Bush will save Mush's a** and tell the whole world it is all the fault of Xerox Khan and Mush will deliver Bin Laden before November and every one is happy.

Anyone care to disagree?

Umrao · Post by **Umrao** » 03 Feb 2004 20:38

Those SA analysts like Cohen et al must be more squirming by the day than Paki Generals and Santists. Revelation after revelations day after day.

Vinod Ji · Post by **Vinod Ji** » 03 Feb 2004 20:43

From not so credible intelligenceonline :p

Iran identifies proliferating Pak generals
3 February 2004: Iran has forwarded to the IAEA the names of fourteen serving and retired Pakistani-army generals involved in nuclear proliferation, but General Pervez Musharraf says he cannot be expected to prosecute all of them.

There are the names of nine serving generals on that list, and two of them are close aides of General Musharraf.

The list was received by the IAEA ten days ago, and to US interlocutors, Musharraf says that it is impossible to try all of them without destabilising his regime.

Diplomats would not release the names, saying that there was a strong possibility of a counter-coup against Musharraf.

“Nobody knows what to do about the names,” a diplomat said. “Musharraf’s idea is to sideline them, make it impossible for them to come back to positions of power, but it is not as decisive as a public trial. Musharraf is opposed to a public trial.”

Leaks to Pakistani newspapers suggest that the so-called father of the Pakistan bomb, A.Q.Khan, has confessed to selling nuclear technology to Iran, Libya, and North Korea, but Khan is under house arrest, with no immediate possibility of a trial.

Khan was sacked as the prime minister’s advisor on strategic issues, which is the course that Musharraf wants to follow with the other exposed proliferators.

So far, Musharraf has shown a distinct disinclination to prosecute anyone from the Pakistan army, since his own power flows from it.

jarugn · Post by **jarugn** » 03 Feb 2004 23:36

Pakistani newspapers defend Khan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A8262-2004Feb3?language=printer

member_6062 · Post by **member_6062** » 03 Feb 2004 23:37

Originally posted by John Umrao:
Folks>> Another angle that needs to be neatly tied up is the MI 5, break in into London Paki High commisioners office sometime back must have given a lot of info

Time for BRF article even if it is fiction, will be of immense pleasure to read while sipping Black Label or say Famous Grouse on rocks and soda?

I too think that the MI 5 break in had something to do with pakistans cooperation with the west and India. Also MI5 might have got evidence of Pakistans role with WMD for Iraq.

Maybe Mushy is going to help both Bush and Blair out by providing proof that AQ Khan helped Iraq out with WMD, and for this alone Pakistan and he will be left alone.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » 03 Feb 2004 23:39

AXK tells Qazi Hussain: I didn't confess.

Sam CS · Post by **Sam CS** » 04 Feb 2004 00:40

Originally posted by vijayk:
Me thinks that the pressure is another tactic by Bush on Mush to get Bin Laden before November. Bush will save Mush's a** and tell the whole world it is all the fault of Xerox Khan and Mush will deliver Bin Laden before November and every one is happy.

Anyone care to disagree?

How could anyone disagree with that? I think it is 800% certain that BL will be pulled from a rat hole for TV cameras before November. Don't know for sure if such pressure indeed needs to be applied on Mush to make it happen.

But, if that happens, Mush's ass-ass-e-nation is 1200% certain. Is that something Bush can live with?

Ramanujan · Post by **Ramanujan** » 04 Feb 2004 00:54

more here..

AQK names Musharaff - he knew all along...

Khan Names Musharraf, Other Army Commanders in Pakistani Proliferation Probe

The “father” of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, has told interrogators that he provided North Korea with nuclear weapons-related technologies with the knowledge of senior military officers, including now-President Pervez Musharraf, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Feb. 2).

A friend of Khan’s and a senior Pakistani investigator said that Khan told authorities that Musharraf, formerly head of the military, and two other army chiefs knew and approved of his transfers to North Korea. They also said Khan told interrogators that retired Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg, head of the Pakistani Army from 1996 to 1998, knew of his nuclear assistance to Iran.

The Pakistani military’s spokesman, Gen. Shaukat Sultan, denied that Musharraf had been involved in any nuclear-related transfers during his military tenure.

“General Pervez Musharraf neither authorized such transfers nor was involved in any way with such deeds, even before he was president,” Sultan said.

Acting on Khan’s claims, though, investigators have recently questioned both Beg and Gen. Jehangir Karamat, who was head of the army from 1996 to 1998, a senior Pakistani military official said, adding that both men have denied any knowledge of the transfers.

During a press briefing Sunday night, Lt. Gen. Khalid Kidwai, the head of Pakistan’s Strategic Planning and Development Cell, described Khan’s detailed 12-page confession, in which he admitted to having provided nuclear assistance to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Kidwai said that the transfers began in 1989 and were facilitated by a network of middlemen, including three German businessmen and a Sri Lankan currently in custody in Malaysia (see related GSN story, today).

Khan also told authorities that he had had supplied Iran and Libya with surplus equipment from the Khan Research Laboratories, Pakistan’s main nuclear weapons facility, that he knew would not provide either country with a near-term uranium enrichment capability, the senior Pakistani investigator and a senior intelligence official said.

“Dr. Khan is basically contesting the merit of the nuclear proliferation charges,” the investigator said. “Throughout his debriefing, Dr. Khan kept challenging the perception that material found from the Libyan or Iranian programs would allow them to enrich uranium,” the investigator added (Lancaster/Khan, Washington Post, Feb. 3).

Motivations

According to sources, there were various motivations at work behind Khan’s assistance to Iran, Libya and North Korea, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Some diplomats in Vienna said the money paid by Iran for Khan’s nuclear aid was used to keep Islamabad’s own nuclear program alive in the early 1990s, when it was affected by U.S. sanctions. While it is still unknown exactly how much Iran paid, the amount is suspected to be “tens of millions of dollars” said two diplomats familiar with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s investigation into Iran’s nuclear efforts.

Money also appears to be a prime motivation behind Khan’s aid to Libya’s nuclear program, according to diplomats familiar with investigation there.

“Best guess is that the Libyans paid $40 million or more for centrifuges, components and designs,” said a diplomat who has seen documents provided by Libya.

North Korea, however, apparently provided weapons, rather than money, for the aid it received, according to the Times. In late 1993, as Pakistan was completing work on its own nuclear weapon, Khan met with President Benazir Bhutto shortly before she was to travel to North Korea to meet leader Kim Jong Il, the Times reported.

According to two former Pakistani officials, Khan said, “If you are going to North Korea, it would be very good if you could talk to Kim Jong Il about helping us with this nuclear project.”

Khan told Bhutto that he wanted long-range missile designs, and she agreed on the basis that she could reduce the Pakistani military’s pressure on her government by aiding Khan, the two former Pakistani officials said. Bhutto returned from North Korea with computer disks containing missile plans, the Times reported.

Bhutto denied that she had traded nuclear technology to North Korea in exchange for the missile plans, saying instead the Pakistan paid for them, the former officials said. U.S. intelligence and other sources, though, later reported that Pakistani nuclear technology was being exchanged for North Korean missiles because Pakistan was unable to pay (Los Angeles Times, Feb. 3).

Meanwhile, Khan’s exposure and reported confession have probably damaged the international black market used to aid Iran, Libya and North Korea’s nuclear efforts, according to diplomats and Western experts.

Khan’s exposure means that the covert network is “now busted up,” said Institute of Science and International Security President David Albright.

Ramanujan · Post by **Ramanujan** » 04 Feb 2004 00:56

From MSNBC

Pakistan’s army knew of nuclear transfers

parsuram · Post by **parsuram** » 04 Feb 2004 01:17

This was probably related & tied in to all these events - was odd at the time. Wife of north Korean Ambassador to Pakistan was murdered at a (nuclear?) facility, I think. Was about 3-4 years ago. Ring a bell any one?

laxmibai · Post by **laxmibai** » 04 Feb 2004 01:22

Report from December 2002

http://www.japantoday.com/gidx/news244417.html

TOKYO — North Korea in 1998 transported Pakistan-supplied equipment for its clandestine nuclear weapons program in the coffin of the murdered wife of a North Korean diplomat to Islamabad, a major Japanese daily reported Sunday.

The daily, quoting Britain's Sunday Telegraph, said the 54-year-old wife was shot to death on June 7, 1998, by a group of masked gunmen who broke into her home.

The counsellor doubled as the representative of the largest North Korean arms export company in Pakistan and went missing in Pakistan after the murder, the report said, quoting the British daily.

The Sunday Telegraph quoted Pakistani police officials as saying the wife had offered information on Pyongyang's traffic in weapons to Western diplomats, according to the Mainichi report.

PS: The footnote 24 in this talks of a 1998 Sunday Telegraph article:
http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/week/pdf/nkpaki.pdf

Rangudu · Post by **Rangudu** » 04 Feb 2004 01:31

Arnaud de Borchgrave with another fine commentary piece.

Link Here

Commentary: Pakistan's Dr. No

By Arnaud de Borchgrave
UPI Editor at Large
Published 2/2/2004 3:06 PM

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- After three years of denials that anything was amiss in Pakistan's nuclear establishment, President Pervez Musharraf has finally conceded that a national icon, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, is a criminal proliferator of nuclear secrets.

AQK, a devout Muslim with a penchant for the lifestyle of the rich and famous, is under house arrest after admitting that he had peddled nuclear know-how to North Korea, Iran and Libya. After Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi decided last month to dismantle his embryonic nuclear weapons program under international inspection, AQK's assistance could no longer be denied. AQK and his nuclear scientists had given Libya the wherewithal, originally stolen from the Netherlands, to manufacture the centrifuge technology needed to refine uranium to weapons-grade quality.

Under questioning by Musharraf himself, AQK confessed to being the "enabler" for the secret nuclear weapons programs of both North Korea and Iran, the remaining two members of President Bush's axis of evil trio. Iraq was the third.

AQK's Khan Research Laboratories -- the heart of Pakistan's nuclear establishment -- was so secret that even civilian prime ministers were not allowed to visit the installations near Islamabad. KRL was under the strict control and supervision of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. Both the KRL and ISI are known for their anti-American culture.

In 2001, a U.S. spy-in-the-sky satellite at Pyongyang airport in North Korea photographed a Pakistani C-130 as it loaded missiles for Pakistan. These missiles were exchanged for nuclear weapons technology. ISI was in charge of the entire operation.

AQK's motivations were ideological as well as the lure of lucre. He had a well-known loathing of the United States that dated back to 1989 when the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan and the U.S. began punishing Pakistan for its secret quest to acquire a nuclear arsenal. The George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations imposed a series of diplomatic, economic, and military sanctions against Pakistan, which kept denying that it was involved in anything beyond the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

AQK was generously compensated for helping America's enemies achieve nuclear weapons capabilities. He made dozens of trips to North Korea and to Dubai, where he maintained a mansion, and met with Libyan and Iranian nuclear scientists. He also conducted similar meetings in Casablanca, Morocco, and Istanbul, Turkey. Anyone who knows anything about Pakistan's ultrasecret nuclear activities also knows that these activities could not have taken place without the full knowledge -- and approval -- of ISI.

President Musharraf first suspected something was amiss when he relieved AQK as head of Pakistan's nuclear program and appointed him as an adviser to the president on nuclear affairs. But AQK continued his nuclear proliferation activities unimpeded until last week when he was fired as an adviser to the president and placed under house arrest.

Two Pakistani nuclear scientists under AQK's orders journeyed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, shortly before Sept. 11 to confer with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban leader who is now in hiding, and Osama bin Laden. Shortly after Operation Enduring Freedom toppled the Taliban regime, one of Mullah Omar's messages warned of an event that would soon hit the U.S. "so terrible that it defies description." Some intelligence analysts relate Omar's statement to the visit of the two Pakistani scientists before the U.S. attack who presumably told his interlocutors how to assemble a "dirty bomb," or a blend of conventional explosives with radioactive materials.

After the liberation of Kabul and Kandahar, the CIA submitted to Musharraf a list of half a dozen nuclear scientists it wanted investigated for links to al-Qaida. The two who had visited Kandahar before Sept. 11, Suleiman Asad and Muhammad Ali Muktar, suddenly were working in Burma on undisclosed research and therefore unavailable.

Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmud, former director of Pakistan's Atomic Energy Commission, and Chief Engineer Chaudry Abdul Majeed had also befriended Taliban leaders, according to documents captured in Kabul.

Shortly before Enduring Freedom got under way Oct. 7, 2001, Musharraf dispatched the head of ISI, accompanied by some of Pakistan's politico-religious leaders, to urge Omar to give up bin Laden and thus avoid an American attack. The ISI chief ignored Musharraf's orders and advised Omar not to surrender bin Laden. Musharraf fired him.

Two Pakistani generals -- former army chief Gen. Aslam Beg -- and former ISI chief Gen. Hamid Gul -- are close to AQK and are believed to have been aware of his self-appointed mission to proliferate nuclear weapons knowledge to America's enemies. Gul once said he looked forward to the day when a truly Islamic state could be established -- a new caliphate comprised of a nuclear arsenal and the oil resources of Iran and the Gulf after the demise of the Saudi royal family.

Islamist militants also see Iraq as a potential battlefield for a larger war of civilizations that Beg told UPI in December 2001 "is already upon us." The overall strategic objective of the AQK-Beg-Gul school of thinking is the humiliation of the United States, much the way the Soviets were humiliated and defeated in Afghanistan.

While Musharraf was in the United States in June 2003 to reassure President Bush about his pro-American bona fides, his own chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Gen. Mohammed Aziz Khan, said, at a public meeting, "America is the No. 1 enemy of the Muslim world and is conspiring against Muslim nations all over the world."

These are also the sentiments that inspire Pakistan's nuclear proliferation campaign. "To assume that only Dr. Khan and his no. 2, Muhammad Farooq, the head of overseas procurement, were involved is patently absurd," said a U.S. intelligence source who has served in Pakistan.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 04 Feb 2004 01:39

Me thinks that the pressure is another tactic by Bush on Mush to get Bin Laden before November. Bush will save Mush's a** and tell the whole world it is all the fault of Xerox Khan and Mush will deliver Bin Laden before November and every one is happy.

Anyone care to disagree?

__________________________________________________

No,
This Greek tragedy/comedy drama will end before Sep 11 this year. Just imagine Bush's rating when Obl is found On Sep10 0935a.m West coast time and flown to Nyc on C-130 on Sep 11 and welcomed by Nyc Fire department. And as a Reward ( RAW-ard) Mushy gets his allocation of 72 (jihadi hooris in burkas wearing heavy duty boot) same Night.

Its time to Enjoy and Smoke Cigar and Watch the Whole play Unfold and Listen to the musings of Mr. Magoos of SD or NPT high Priests. Mushy cant do any wrong, still.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 04 Feb 2004 01:45

Originally posted by Vijay J:

I think this alliance of China Pakistan and America is the real strategic constant of Asia. Look at the current situation, Chinese, American and Pakistani firefighting units appear to be responding to the blaze of proliferation news and publicity, talk about international cooperation. Quite a menage a trois, no? now the only question is can they control the blaze?

THis is the right way to look at the geopolitical changes. The blaze is created to change the situation and it is controlled blaze so that a new political order is created.

At the end of the day, all that this publicity about proliferation from Pakistan is add to the negative publicity faced by the Bush Adminstration over the missing WMD in Iraq and its handling of proliferation issues. Any negative publicity on US handling of proliferation issues works to the Jihadis' benifit as it depicts the entire proliferation agenda as a sham.

This way the Iraq WMD failure is going to be washed away with a bigger story and more serious. This may be alternative way to create political space wit the domestice audience.

Ramanujan · Post by **Ramanujan** » 04 Feb 2004 01:47

Rangudu, the ADB article again gives Musharaff a clean sheet....such brazen disregard for what has already been said and written is bit perplexing - otoh, it also suggests that foggies are still 400% behind musharat and that nothings going to shake their confidence.

vijayk · Post by **vijayk** » 04 Feb 2004 01:49

Originally posted by Ramanujan:
From MSNBC

Pakistan’s army knew of nuclear transfers

Unlike all the other Paki jihadis who somehow won't spill beans on Mushy/ISI/RAPE military even when they are arrested, Xeorx Khan is trying to take them down with him. He is not in any mood to keep his mouth shut save Mushy's skin to protect RAPE army. Mushy must be telling him "Please don't say anything. We will provide all comforts to you at your home supply anything you want and act as if you are being detained and interrogated for western eyes. Everything will be hunky dory after some time." But the old Xerox Khan is not in any mood to listen. I think the European and american press will come up with some lies and will try to save Mushy. We will see how far they will go to save Mushy's skin.

Prateek · Post by **Prateek** » 04 Feb 2004 02:07

Originally posted by Ramanujan:
Rangudu, the ADB article again gives Musharaff a clean sheet....such brazen disregard for what has already been said and written is bit perplexing - otoh, it also suggests that foggies are still 400% behind musharat and that nothings going to shake their confidence.

Give Mushy the clean chit so that his own Paki mullah citizens will be made to believe that Mushy is the west's (Kafir's) agent acting against the Paki mullahs and their friends. Pakis will get rid of him. Mushy will be gone soon, with or with out the clean c($)hit.

Rangudu · Post by **Rangudu** » 04 Feb 2004 02:08

Ramanujan,

I'm sure

ADB knows about Mush. Trust me.

Prateek · Post by **Prateek** » 04 Feb 2004 02:09

Khan nails Pervez for N-leaks’

Press Trust of India
WASHINGTON, Feb. 3. — Pakistani scientist Dr AQ Khan has revealed that General Pervez Musharraf himself was involved in nuclear proliferation, the Washington Post reported quoting a Pakistani investigator. The revelation is an embarrassment to the Bush administration which views the Pakistani President as its best bet in the region against terrorism and proliferation of WMD.
Dr Khan has also named Mrs Benazir Bhutto and former army chiefs Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg and Gen. Jehangir Karamat as being privy to the covert nuclear deals.
Dr Khan confessed he helped North Korea design and equip facilities for making weapons-grade uranium with the knowledge of senior military commanders, including Gen. Musharraf, the unnamed investigator was quoted as saying.
Gen. Beg, the army chief of staff from 1988 to 1991, was aware of assistance the scientist was providing to Iran’s nuclear programme and that Gen. Musharraf and two other army chiefs knew and approved of his efforts on behalf of Pyongyang, Dr Khan told investigators.
Dr Khan’s assertions contradict assertions by Gen. Musharraf and other officials that Dr Khan and at least one other scientist, Dr Md Farooq, acted out of greed and in violation of government policy that bars the export of nuclear weapons technology to any foreign country.
Dr Khan also urged the investigators to question the Pakistani President, Gen. Karamat and Gen. Beg as “no debriefing is complete unless you bring every one of them here and debrief us together”.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 04 Feb 2004 02:09

Originally posted by muddur:

Originally posted by Ramanujan:
Rangudu, the ADB article again gives Musharaff a clean sheet....such brazen disregard for what has already been said and written is bit perplexing - otoh, it also suggests that foggies are still 400% behind musharat and that nothings going to shake their confidence.
Give Mushy the clean chit so that his own Paki mullah citizens will be made to believe that Mushy is the west's (Kafir's) agent acting against the Paki mullahs and their friends. Pakis will get rid of him. Mushy will be gone soon, with or with out the clean c($)hit.

This is part of a larger policy of making sure that TSP does not destbilize politically due to the current fallout. The entire events are carefully watched to see any signs of revolt in the various institutions.

Rangudu · Post by **Rangudu** » 04 Feb 2004 02:17

<img src="http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/ubb/icons/icon4.gif" alt="" /> H&D Loss Alert! </font> <img src="http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/ubb/icons/icon4.gif" alt="" />

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=53626

France ready to provide nulcear security assistance to Pakistan

PARIS, Feb 03 (Online): France is ready to provide technical support in the field of nuclear security to Pakistan, a French Foreign Ministry spokesman announced Monday.

"The measures taken by Pakistan in the past weeks go in the right direction," said the spokesman, referring to promises of "heavy sanctions" by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to punish the scientists who allegedly sold nuclear secrets to Teheran, Tripoli and Pyongyang.

"France wishes that Pakistan could reinforce its control over the sensible material, equipment and technology particularly when eventual exportations are concerned," said the spokesman.

Pakistan launched its investigation more than two months ago after the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, found evidence pointing to Pakistani scientists involvement in Iran's nuclear program.

The country's top nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan was sacked as adviser to the prime minister on Saturday and is the main suspect in the investigation.