The more this gets out in the open, the easier it should be to deal with Pakistan. Funny, looking at the dateline. I was just watching "Wind and the Lion." Brian Keith "chewed the carpet" as Theodore Roosevelt. "Oh, TR, where are you when we really need you!" :>)
January 6, 2004 - New York Times
Pakistan Called Libyans' Source of Atom Design
By PATRICK E. TYLERand DAVID E. SANGER
TRIPOLI, Libya, Jan. 5 — Pakistan was the source of the centrifuge design technology that made it possible for Libya to make major strides in the last two years in enriching uranium for use in nuclear weapons, Bush administration officials in Washington and other Western experts said Monday.
The officials emphasized that they possessed no evidence that the Pakistani government of President Pervez Musharraf — a crucial ally in the pursuit of Al Qaeda — knew about the transfer of technology to Libya, which helped finance Pakistan's early nuclear weapons program three decades ago. Many of the centrifuge parts that Libya imported, and which Italy intercepted in October, were manufactured in Malaysia, according to experts familiar with the continuing investigation.
The timing of the transfer of the centrifuge design from Pakistan calls into question General Musharraf's ability to make good on his vow to President Bush that he would rein in Pakistani scientists selling their nuclear expertise around the globe. The general made that pledge shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States. Yet the main aid to Libya appears to have come since those attacks, suggesting that Pakistani scientists may have continued their trade even after the explicit warning.
"It has all the hallmarks of a Pakistani system," a senior official in Washington said. "These guys are now three for three as supplier to the biggest proliferation problems we have," the official added, referring to previously disclosed Pakistani aid to the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran.
Libya agreed on Dec. 19 to dismantle its nuclear program and open itself to full inspections, which have already begun. But on Monday Mr. Bush issued a statement saying American economic sanctions against Libya would continue until it takes "concrete steps" to disarm.
The president pointed the way to a lifting of sanctions, however. "As Libya takes tangible steps to address those concerns," Mr. Bush said in a statement to Congress, "the United States will in turn take reciprocal tangible steps to recognize Libya's progress."
The United States and Britain have declined to identify publicly the sources of uranium enrichment technology shipped to Libya. They still will not discuss the origin of many of the parts that Libya obtained from middlemen and dealers. Those shipments are often hard to trace; the ship containing the Malaysian-made components in October picked them up in Dubai, a major transshipment point for both legitimate and banned technology.
One Western diplomat said Monday that some Pakistani nuclear scientists operated as though they were running "Nukes 'R' Us."
Still, a senior Bush administration official said it would be wrong to say the Pakistani government was involved in the shipment.
"This is intellectual property," the official said, "and the technology of uranium enrichment is out there on the black market." He added that to say the government of General Musharraf was involved would be like saying "an American drug smuggler arrested on the border was working for the United States government."
While Washington has waxed eloquent over the Libyan decision to disarm, some officials are concerned that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, could change his mind, especially if the United States does not to act on an implicit pledge to lift the economic sanctions.
To speed disarmament, the United States, Britain and Libya have agreed to begin negotiations later this week in London to work out detailed plans to verify and dismantle Libya's nuclear, chemical and other weapons programs.
Senior Western officials said Monday that over the weekend, the United States and Britain agreed on a common approach after a visit to London by John R. Bolton, the under secretary of state in charge of nonproliferation matters.
Separately on Monday, the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said in the House of Commons that he had invited the Libyan foreign minister, Abdelrahman Shalqam, to come to London "soon" to discuss "the process of implementing the decision by Libya to dismantle its weapons programs." After the mechanics of a disarmament plan are worked out, Mr. Straw said, it will then be Libya's responsibility to report separately to the international agencies that will undertake the long-term monitoring of military laboratories in Libya to ensure that it does not renege on its pledges to give up illicit programs.
"We have committed ourselves to helping with the preparation" of Libya's submissions to the international treaty agencies, Mr. Straw said, "and to helping dismantle the programs Libya has agreed to destroy."
Mr. Straw's statement appeared to be a carefully calibrated division of labor among the main players in Libya's disarmament, and spoke of relevant international agencies playing a part, at least after initial talks.
Earlier comments from senior Bush administration officials had suggested that there was an effort by Washington to sideline Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency, which he heads, from playing a key role in setting out a plan for dismantling Libya's nuclear program.
Monday's statements in London and by a senior American official suggested that Mr. ElBaradei would initially play a subordinate role as Britain and the United States move swiftly to inventory the full scope of Libya's illicit weapons programs and then take a prominent role in their dismantling.
In his statement to the Britsh commons today, Mr. Straw alluded to the coming negotiations in London that will be carried out by diplomats from the three countries along with Central Intelligence Agency experts, British intelligence officers and Mr. Kussa, a Western official said.
"Britain and the United States will now be taking forward the practical issues of verification and of the dismantling of these weapons in partnership with Libya" and the international agencies that monitor the treaties banning the spread of nuclear and chemical weapons.
However, a senior Bush administration official said by telephone from the United States that personnel from the I.A.E.A. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will not be present for the London talks.
Patrick E. Tyler reported from Tripoli, Libya, for this article and David E. Sanger from Washington.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company |
