NYT: Musharaff Confirms Nuclear Exports (by Khan to North Korea)

[DeepModem Mom]

Pakistan Leader Confirms Nuclear Exports
By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: September 13, 2005


President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan said yesterday that he believed that a Pakistani nuclear expert who ran the world's largest proliferation ring exported "probably a dozen" centrifuges to North Korea to produce nuclear weapons fuel. He added, however, that after two years of interrogations there was still no evidence about whether the expert also gave North Korea a Chinese-origin design to build a nuclear weapon.

General Musharraf's comments, which echo statements he made last month to Japanese reporters, were made in an interview a day before the United States was to reopen talks with North Korea about its nuclear program in Beijing.

The Pakistani leader's comments about the results of the interrogations of the expert, A. Q. Khan, a national hero who is under a loose form of house arrest in Islamabad, are significant because they tend to confirm the accusations American intelligence officials made against North Korea in 2002.

At that time, North Korean officials appeared to confirm that they had secretly started up a second nuclear program to build atomic weapons using uranium technology obtained from Mr. Khan's network, as an alternative to a plutonium program that was frozen under a 1994 agreement with the United States. But ever since, North Korea has denied that a second, secret bomb program exists.

A dozen centrifuges would not be enough to produce a significant amount of bomb-grade uranium. But American officials say they would have enabled North Korea to copy the design and build their own....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/international/asia/13musharraf.html

[NNN0LHI]

1. I am unable to get past "President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan"

From another article:

Furthermore, it is now about time to revise the term “dictator” to name a regime’s strongman, for reasons that having nothing to with opposing or accepting dictatorship, but for the way that Washington is using that term. First, when a strongman ends his alliance with Washington, this turns him immediately from a “man whom we can deal with,” “moderate,” or a “president” into a “dictator.” Second, the noun, “dictator” has become a weapon of propaganda and a motive for war against nations that oppose Washington’s polices.

A recent example of a strongman’s imperialist rehabilitation is Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf. When Musharraf overthrew the elected government of Pakistan and became, de facto, the “dictator” of Pakistan, the U.S. called him, in fact, “dictator” and “military ruler,” and Britain slammed Pakistan with sanctions. But when he allied himself with Washington and London after 9/11, he became, “His Excellency, President Musharraf.”

[lateo]

2. Yes, indeedy.

My freeper twin brother and I have had this discussion a couple of times. He believes Bush is "steadfast" and holds true to his "with us or against us" mantra. I bring up the point about this very topic. And the fact that Pakistan is ruled by a dictator and is a terrorist country. The Taliban and AQ all trained there and are considered heroes in that country.

Yet they are our ally in the war on terror?

Why...that sounds so..."nuanced"...

[leveymg]

3. For more than two decades, the CIA actively "monitored" Khan as he

used Saudi money to move U.S. nuclear technology to Pakistan, where it was in turn swapped with North Korea for Chinese missile technology. Similar deals were made by Khan with Libya and Iran. In the end, Pakistan and N. Korea ended up with nuclear-tipped intermediate range missiles, Iran had missiles with chemical and biological warheads and, along with Libya, had started its own nuclear program.

I would like to know, what exactly did the CIA manage to accomplish during all those years, other than building up networks of agents inside the Khan program -- along with overlapping money laundering, drugs, and terrorism networks -- and facilitating their movements into the US and around the world?

[blm]

4. BushInc has been WORKING WITH Khan for decades. It's part of BCCI.

This whole BULLSHIT story about CIA "monitoring" is to cover Bush ass if any media bothers to notice the greater connections.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

6. Joseph Trento's new book covers this ground well

it's called "Prelude to Terror" (though you wouldn't know it as it's patently being spiked by the publisher) and covers the rogue CIA formed in the 70's and the birth of the 'Safari Club' which covers familiar ground such as Nugan-Hand, BCCI, the Wilson affair, funding the mujahideen, the so-called 'Islamic bomb', the October Suprise & the funding of Saddam.

There's sadly very little online about the book. Dave Emory's a fan & has done two shows on it so far -- his notes of which can be found here:

The Safari Club
http://spitfirelist.com/f522.html

The Safari Club and the Islamic Bomb
http://spitfirelist.com/f524.html

audio here:
http://www.spitfirelist.com/mp3/

There's also an interview with Trento by Thom Hartmann. I haven't actually listened to this but Hartmann's a good interviewer so I'd imagine its worth a listen:

http://www.djrserv.com/Audio/72805/72805_JoeTrento_PreludeToTerror.mp3

[struggle4progress]

5. kick

[seemslikeadream]

7. If this planet blows to pieces this year, thank Khan Labs' and Bush

You may never have heard of Khan Laboratories, but if this planet blows to pieces this year, it will be thanks to Khan Labs' creating nuclear warheads for Pakistan's military. Because investigators had been tracking the funding for this so-called "Islamic Bomb" back to Saudi Arabia, under Bush security restrictions, the inquiry was stymied. (The restrictions were lifted, the agent told me without a hint of dark humor, on September 11.)

Noam Chomsky, who read the story on page one of the Times of India, has wondered, "Why wasn't it all over US papers?

.. A top-level CIA operative who spoke with us on condition of strictest anonymity said that, after Bush took office, "There was a major policy shift" at the National Security Agency. Investigators were ordered to "back off" from any inquiries into Saudi Arabian financing of terror networks, especially if they touched on Saudi royals and their retainers. That put the Bin Ladens, a family worth a reported $12 billion and a virtual arm of the Saudi royal household, off limits for investigation.

I probed our CIA contact for specifics of investigations that were hampered by orders to back off of the Saudis. He told us that Khan Laboratories investigation had been effectively put on hold.



http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=312&row=0


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1104251