Sunday, December 26, 2004

Loose nukes . . . again

From NYT:

[. . .]

"This was the first time we had ever seen a loose copy of a bomb design that clearly worked," said one American expert, "and the question was: Who else had it? The Iranians? The Syrians? Al Qaeda?"

[. . .]

Nearly a year after Dr. Khan's arrest, secrets of his nuclear black market continue to uncoil, revealing a vast global enterprise. But the inquiry has been hampered by discord between the Bush administration and the nuclear watchdog, and by Washington's concern that if it pushes too hard for access to Dr. Khan, a national hero in Pakistan, it could destabilize an ally. As a result, much of the urgency has been sapped from the investigation, helping keep hidden the full dimensions of the activities of Dr. Khan and his associates.

There is no shortage of tantalizing leads. American intelligence officials and the I.A.E.A., working separately, are still untangling Dr. Khan's travels in the years before his arrest. Investigators said he visited 18 countries, including Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, on what they believed were business trips, either to buy materials like uranium ore or sell atomic goods.

[. . .]


The one guy who we can prove peddled nuclear secrets to anyone with money, never received any 'justice'. He's sitting in his mansion under house arrest (that's real punishment), because Bush sold his soul to that little cutthroat in Pakistan. We should have bombed them into nonexistence along with the Taliban. Oh, that's right, we fucked that up too. But at least we got all them WMDs Saddam had. Oh, that's right . . .

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