The author of this piece was formerly a member of Pakistani Military Intelligence, before becoming a journalist who works for the Washington Post. He seems to have a lot of contacts with his former employer, and has broke much of what we have read about Abdul Qadir Khan in the last week. As to the motive of those giving him this information, who can say?
Pakistan was left with no option but to institute a swift and thorough investigation into the alleged connections between a few Pakistani nuclear scientists headed by Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan with the nuclear black market, when it was provided ‘mind boggling’ evidence by the top United States government officials, who arrived in Islamabad to meet top military leadership in the first week of October last year, informed officials said. "The US government, in order to emphasise the importance of the evidence of nuclear proliferation against Pakistani scientists, used the usual diplomatic channels and at the same time the military channel was used at the highest level," an informed official said.
| "The jig's up, Perv. This's what we've got. You can do something with it, or we will. It's your choice..." |
October 6, 2003 was the crucial day on the subject. On this day the US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Assistant Secretary of State (South Asia) Christina Rocca, loaded with intelligence information against Dr A Q Khan and a few other nuclear scientists, called on President Pervez Musharraf at the Army House in Rawalpindi and requested an independent verification, followed by a stern action against the scientists named in the report, an official said. "We were told that Pakistan’s failure to take action will most certainly jeopardise ties of the country with the US and other important nations," an official said. "Nuclear proliferation has taken place either you as a country take the responsibility or let the world know if it was an act of some individuals," said the official summarising the message carried by the Armitage-Rocca team.
| So Armitage and Rocca suggested how to save face? Kewl. They've started giving the Paks lessons in being Byzantine... |
Underlining the importance and severity of the issue, the US Central Command chief Lt-Gen John Abizaid also arrived in Islamabad for an October 6 meeting with President Musharraf, also at the Army House. "This was the most important development for us since 9/11," a senior official said. "For one more time the ball was in the court of General Musharraf."
| That's actually a correct statement. It folds the entire issue of nuclear proliferation into the antiterrorism picture, and it exposes the nuclear black market in the process. |
Officials said that the ‘incredible evidence’ collected by the US intelligence services detailed almost all foreign travels of Dr A Q Khan, particularly to the UAE, Malaysia, Libya, Iran and North Korea in the previous few years. Minute details of his meetings with active nuclear black marketers were provided, and documents were given to prove the sale of nuclear hardware and designs to many countries. Bank accounts establishing the profits made through this sale were also handed to Pakistan authorities. "It seemed that the Americans had a tracker planted on Dr A Q Khan’s body," said a Pakistani official. "They had perfect information on Dr Khan’s abortive attempt to sell nuclear secrets to Saddam Hussain in 1992 and for his travel to Beirut in mid-1990s for a clandestine meeting with a top Syrian government official. They know much more than us about Dr Khan’s wealth spread all over the globe," he said.
On the one hand it is good that the CIA has such vast knowledge about what was going on, but on the other hand it is depressing that something wasn’t done about it years ago.
| Without being politically partisan, it should have been jumped on at some point during the 90's, though we weren't in a position to bring pressure at the time. International relations, and relations with South Asia in particular, were in a much different state under Clinton-Albright. 9-11-01 untied the Gordian knot. Bush and his team are doing things that weren't possible under Clinton. |
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