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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| A.Q. Khan and the Islamic Bomb |
| 2004-12-20 |
| The late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto projected to Saudi Arabia, Iran and Libya Pakistan's project for an atomic bomb as a project for an Islamic bomb to counter what he used to call the Christian, Jewish and Hindu bombs and persuaded them to share the cost of the project. While the exact amounts paid by these countries are not available, the major share came from Saudi Arabia and Libya and a smaller amount from Iran. While the flow of funds for the Islamic bomb project was substantial and regular from Saudi Arabia and Libya, it was sporadic from Iran. It was regular till 1979 when the Shah of Iran was in power. After the success of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the US and some other Western countries imposed economic sanctions against Teheran. The US froze all Iranian assets in US banks. The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s aggravated Iran's economic difficulties. Saudi Arabia, a Wahabi State, was extremely suspicious of the Shia revolutionaries of Iran. Gen.Zia-ul-Haq, who overthrew Z.A. Bhutto in 1977 and seized power, was himself worried over the radicalisation of the Shias of Pakistan, who constitute about 20 per cent of the population, following the success of the Shia revolution in Iran. The US was interested in the success of Iraq in its war against Iran and would have viewed adversely Pakistan hobnobbing with Teheran and adding to its military muscle. All these factors slowed down the flow of money from Iran, but not Iran's interest in benefiting from Pakistan's experience and military nuclear technology. After the end of the Iran-Iraq war, Iran's economic position once again improved and the flow of money to the Pakistan project increased and continued. [...] Was Pakistan's assistance to Iran and Libya confined to the setting-up of an uranium enrichment facility or did it go beyond to helping them to militarise their capability? Pakistan's own atomic bomb was based on a Chinese model with the help of drawings clandestinely given by China to Islamabad to counter India's perceived nuclear capability. Reliable sources in Pakistan have reported that when Pakistan carried out its nuclear tests at Chagai in May, 1998, nuclear scientists from Saudi Arabia and North Korea were present and that one of the devices tested was of North Korean origin. Past reports had spoken of the presence of only North Korean scientists at Chagai, but recent reports speak of the presence of Saudi scientists too in their capacity as the major financiers of the project. They also say that Pakistan shared the Chinese drawings definitely with Iran and Libya. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #10 What Tony said. Soviet marxism was not a death cult. There was no place in soviet doctrine for self-slaughter. However, suicide is an essential part of military success in the eyes of the islamist totalitarians. The logic of MAD does not apply here. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-12-20 6:41:58 PM |
| #9 Steve, that's a very interesting comment, it certainly puts things into perspective. Which is what your comment does as well Seafarious. By that I mean that by reading them, you get an understanding for the fact that although the US and the USSR had huge numbers of missiles pointed at each other, there was a certain 'scorpion dance' going on that both sides knew the rules to. The difference with todays 'religiously motivated' bomb owners is that they're just looking at simple outcomes, eg "we've got a bomb now, aren't we cool - let's give one to our friends in Hezbollah. They can kill the Zionists and we'll deny it!" and aren't looking at what the consequences would be. Basically, they're playing a very dangerous game - and the people they've started playing with, play for keeps. Wretchard's "The Three Conjectures" is a good dissection of what might happen if Iran (or indeed any Islamic state) starts dishing out bombs... |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2004-12-20 6:23:14 PM |
| #8 that smells like dog food or so it is said. Yup, of course the next sentence in that safety briefing goes something like "..of course, if it reaches a high enough level that you can smell it, your eyeballs will melt and your lungs dissolve, so don't worry about it.." |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-12-20 4:12:36 PM |
| #7 Mmmmmmm.... Titans! Gotta love 'em. Got the happy storable liquid propellant that smells like dog food..... or so it is said. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-12-20 3:07:10 PM |
| #6 Update: Tim's back. Here's the link. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2004-12-20 2:38:29 PM |
| #5 Steve, Tony: Tim Blair's site seems to be down right now (I think he got Instaswamped), but he has a very interesting link to a story about a Russian missile controller who "saved the world" in 1984. His computer told him "for sure" that the US had launched an attack, but he was able to think through the facts, decide that the US wouldn't launch a mere five missiles, and overrode the command for the Soviet counter-attack. |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2004-12-20 2:35:02 PM |
| #4 black humour yes, You needed black humor to survive a tour on a SAC base. Waking up every day with the sure knowledge you were a first strike target. Counting the number of alert tankers that scrambled, knowing anything over three (not counting ORI's) meant it was for real. Knowing those crews would not be coming back, not that there would have been a base to come back to. Keeping one eye on the flat Kansas horizon, watching for the rising plumes of the Titans that meant you had 30 minutes before the incoming missiles hit. Knowing that while the Titan force was past it's prime, they still carried the big city busters. The USSR knew it too, that's why the silos would have received a massive counter-strike. That's why the AF kept them for so long, as a RV sink. Every one that was assigned to them was one less for another target. There's another bit of black humor, RV - meaning re-entry vehicle. Official AF policy, we never confirm or deny that there are nuclear warheads on the missiles, just "re-entry vehicles". |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-12-20 2:14:59 PM |
| #3 "to counter the Christian, Jewish and Hindu bombs" - somehow that just sums it up for me. Well then, welcome to the club. It's a select club, and it has certain dues that need to be paid. Mainly that all your population centres, industrial areas, ports and dams are now being targetted by other countries bombs - and bearing in mind the people you've been selling them too, I think you'll find that it's more than one country that's targetting those areas. The way things are going, Pakistan is likely to have a very short life for a country (not even 60 years old). Damnit! - did none of these morons watch Dr Strangelove? - black humour yes, but all those phrases 'we lose 10-20 million tops' are based on real work by the RAND corporation and other thinktanks. Mega-death was not always the name of a metal band... |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2004-12-20 11:14:55 AM |
| #2 "...A.Q.Khan and other scientists involved have to be taken out of Pakistan and interrogated..." You've got about as much chance of that as taking the bombs out. |
| Posted by: Tom 2004-12-20 8:49:38 AM |
| #1 Saudi Arabia,....., enjoys a privileged position in the Pakistani nuclear establishment, The Saudis outsourced their nuclear program to Pakistan. Pakistan takes the heat, and the Saudis were hoping to quietly get a warhead for their chinese missiles. |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-12-20 8:38:52 AM |