Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Switchboard >

Why aren't we talking about Abdul Qadeer Khan?

19:13 / 20.02.04

Why aren't we talking about Abdul Qadeer Khan/ Abd al-Qadir Khan?

He's the Pakistani nuclear scientist accused of selling lots of the country's secrets to others around the world.

As far as I can see, he's far more responsible for an expanding nuclear threat than Saddam Hussein ever was, yet you hear a lot less about him.

Why?

link

link

link

link

There seems to be a fair bit of a news story here, yet it's drawing very little comment. Why?

22:22 / 20.02.04

Didn't you get the memo, NMA? The Pakistanis are Our Allies in the War On Terrorism (tm).

13:02 / 23.02.04

It's a bit late to do anything about it now. Khan gets to wrap himself in the mantle of nationalism and hooking a few islamic brothers up AND he gets to keep the money. He's the guy that gave Pakistan da bomb, os he's a hero. What the restless people think matters more to Musharraf than what the U.S. thinks; hence the theater of the wagging finger. The U.S. didn't grumble at the obvious sham, since they know how uneasily Musharraf wears the crown. If the ISI (Pakistani intelligence, who could help find bin Laden but won't) and the military wanted to they could probably get rid of Musharraf. My own speculation is that army and spooks have historically barely tolerated each other, so they just leave leadership to Musharraf as long as he doesn't gore anyone's oxen.

Khan had help, thanks to European countries trying to cultivate a non-US source of enriched plutonium. This might be useful as a stick to beat Germany and France during the next disagreement over The War Against Terrorism, but the Netherlands, who sided with the US in Iraq, were involved too.

And it also happened so fast that there wasn't much to say about it.

unheimlich manoeuvre

14:06 / 09.03.04

Pakistan tests longest-range nuclear-capable missile

Pakistan missile 'could reach all Indian cities'

The test came after Israel last week concluded a deal to sell India a strategic airborne radar system despite warming ties between Islamabad and New Delhi.

Perhaps, I am not cynical enough. WMD's in the hands of suspected supporters of Islamic terrorism.

And the USA's response is....

03:01 / 11.03.04

It's weird how the first we know anything of Abdul Qadeer Khan is when he chooses to confess after however many years of selling nuclear know how to potentially dangerous regimes, for crying out loud he's not only an Islamist nuclear scientist - let's be honest that's precisely the kind of dude we probably should be keeping tabs on, but he was handing out fliers for his services!
It's easily a bigger intelligence cock up than 9/11, and probably with far more profound long term consequences. Aside from the usual media impotence, I guess it's less sexy than 9/11 so even more unlikely to yield much critical attention.

Harold Washington died for you

06:55 / 11.03.04

AQ (as his friends call him) is just the face, the national hero. The people doing seriously nefarious shit avoid television cameras. Besides, AQ may have patriotically stolen those nuke plans but he wasn't keeping all the "secrets" in a file cabinet in his basement. Whoever runs Pakistan would have to know about it and provide security to boot.

I'm learning to stop worrying. It is inevitable They will catch up with Us in technology at some point. There are several options what happens then, but sadly Bush is betting on SDI: The Empire Strikes Back.

13:53 / 11.03.04

Perhaps, I am not cynical enough. WMD's in the hands of suspected supporters of Islamic terrorism.

A whole country? And what different are these people than the rest of the terror obsessed governments of the world? In the case of the American government, it 'helps' with the military and 'unhelps' with the CIA's drug wars by the sound of things, and that's just one of the many. The Pakistani's have been manipulated just like the rest, they're no worse.

17:04 / 11.03.04

Pakistan's intel agency, the ISI, was instrumental in forming/financing/arming the mujahideen in the 80's, and the spin-off that became Al-Qada. They also had/continue to have a major role in the Golden Crescent heroin trade (according to research done by Professor Alfred W. McCoy, author of "The Politics of Heroin").

The ISI was heavily involved with the BCCI scandal as well (BCCI was a Pakistani bank, though it had branches the world over); it helped to launder their drug money and act as a conduit for continued Al-Qada funding after the Soviets withrdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. The ISI reportedly has many Al-Qada sympathizers, regardless of what Musharaff says or does. Therein lies the problem. (Additionally, the ISI is also now the main supporter of Kashmiri separatists, according to India.)

All in all, a very dangerous game of brinksmanship to be sure.