sanddy
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Pakistan's A.Q. Khan
Ratchets Up Anti-US
Rhetoric.
Thursday, 19 Jul 2012 12:45 PM
Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's
national nuclear hero, was also a
nuclear black market pariah. He sold
and smuggled bomb-making secrets
to North Korea, Iran, and Libya and
was put under house arrest by former President Pervez Musharraf for five
years (2004-09). This week, A.Q. Khan was back in
business to pull his country out
from under what he called "the slavery
of the United States." He had a
receptive audience of tens of millions
as the latest Pew Foundation survey indicates 3 out of 4 Pakistanis agree
that the United States is their "main
enemy." In 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush
conferred on Pakistan the title of
"major non-NATO ally." A metallurgist by training, Khan stole
nuclear bomb-making secrets from
the Netherlands where he was
working and fathered Pakistan's
nuclear arsenal, the first Islamic nation
to acquire one. Pakistan's first nuclear bomb test in
1998 came only two weeks after India
detonated its first five nuclear
explosions. Following his release from house
arrest three years ago, Khan, 75,
quietly went to work off-stage to form
a coalition of former military leaders
and prominent anti-U.S. politicians. Khan's new political party is named
"Tehrik-i-Tahaffuz Pakistan," which
means "Movement to Protect
Pakistan." There is already another
TTP Tehtik e Taliban Pakistan
which stands for the "Black Tornado." Khan will serve as "patron in chief" of
the new party. Addressing his new
anti-American flock, he said, "I never
wanted to join politics, but when your
country is on the verge of total
collapse, it is not right to remain a spectator." "Incompetent rulers have destroyed
our country," he said, pinning the
blame on former Prime Minister Syed
Yousuf Raza Gilani, convicted last April
of contempt of court for refusing to
ask Swiss authorities to reopen corruption proceedings against
President Asif Ali Zardari, husband of
the late Benazir Bhutto, who was
assassinated on Dec. 27, 2007. Khan described Gilani as former head
of the "thief family." Zardari has already served 11 1/2
years in prison for massive corruption
that was never proved. Last month, Raja Pervez Ashraf
replaced Gilani as prime minister
pending national elections before
February 2013. Khan has left no doubt that he expects
to be the next president of Pakistan.
And he has already picked the man he
wants as prime minister: Imran Khan,
chairman of Tehreek-e-Insaf
(Movement of Justice Party), dubbed Pakistan's Ron Paul, and one of the
world's eight all-time great cricketers.
He recently canceled a U.S. lecture tour. Provided his "grateful nation" wants
him as president, A.Q. Khan said he
wants Imran Khan as prime minister. The most powerful opposition leader
is former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
who was convicted of hijacking and
treason in 1999. Sharif, then in his
second term as prime minister, refused
to let an airliner carrying his dismissed military chief, Musharraf, to land in
Pakistan on his return from a
conference in Sri Lanka. Runways had been scattered with
obstacles, which the army removed,
allowing Musharraf's plane to land
with less than 5 minutes of fuel in its
tanks. The army then deposed Sharif
in a bloodless coup. Musharraf became president and
Sharif was convicted of hijacking and
treason, sentenced to life in prison. A compromise was negotiated
Sharif is immensely wealthy and he
was allowed to seek refuge in Saudi
Arabia, provided he stayed out of
politics for the next 10 years. He has
been cleared of all charges and Musharraf is now in self-imposed
exile. As head of the "Pakistan Muslim
League (N)," Sharif has been prime
minister twice and has been biding his
time for a return to high office. Imran Khan is certainly more popular
than Sharif, but Sharif has more
political clout. He was arguably the
most powerful prime minister in the
country's 65-year history. A.Q. Khan is a close friend of the
notorious Hamid Gul, the onetime
Pakistani intelligence chief who was a
partner of the late terrorist chief Osama
bin Laden and of Mullah Omar, the
Taliban chief now underground in Pakistan, protected by Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence agency. A.Q. Khan and Gul together have a
wide circle of friends and supporters
whose principal objective is to move
the United States and its NATO allies
out of Afghanistan, in effect sealing
victory for Taliban, whom they believe they can control. When and if the anti-U.S. coalition
moves as a cohesive front, and takes
over Pakistan from the top down, they
will be faced with a quagmire of
seemingly insuperable crises. These
range from banned terrorist networks operating increasingly above ground
to an economic disaster in a nuclear
power. It all adds up to something bigger
than all the combined threats now
facing the remainder of the moderate
democratic world. This is no Vietnam redux. It is bigger
than all the combined threats facing
the moderate world.
Pakistan's A.Q. Khan Ratchets Up Anti-US Rhetoric
Ratchets Up Anti-US
Rhetoric.
Thursday, 19 Jul 2012 12:45 PM
Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's
national nuclear hero, was also a
nuclear black market pariah. He sold
and smuggled bomb-making secrets
to North Korea, Iran, and Libya and
was put under house arrest by former President Pervez Musharraf for five
years (2004-09). This week, A.Q. Khan was back in
business to pull his country out
from under what he called "the slavery
of the United States." He had a
receptive audience of tens of millions
as the latest Pew Foundation survey indicates 3 out of 4 Pakistanis agree
that the United States is their "main
enemy." In 2004, U.S. President George W. Bush
conferred on Pakistan the title of
"major non-NATO ally." A metallurgist by training, Khan stole
nuclear bomb-making secrets from
the Netherlands where he was
working and fathered Pakistan's
nuclear arsenal, the first Islamic nation
to acquire one. Pakistan's first nuclear bomb test in
1998 came only two weeks after India
detonated its first five nuclear
explosions. Following his release from house
arrest three years ago, Khan, 75,
quietly went to work off-stage to form
a coalition of former military leaders
and prominent anti-U.S. politicians. Khan's new political party is named
"Tehrik-i-Tahaffuz Pakistan," which
means "Movement to Protect
Pakistan." There is already another
TTP Tehtik e Taliban Pakistan
which stands for the "Black Tornado." Khan will serve as "patron in chief" of
the new party. Addressing his new
anti-American flock, he said, "I never
wanted to join politics, but when your
country is on the verge of total
collapse, it is not right to remain a spectator." "Incompetent rulers have destroyed
our country," he said, pinning the
blame on former Prime Minister Syed
Yousuf Raza Gilani, convicted last April
of contempt of court for refusing to
ask Swiss authorities to reopen corruption proceedings against
President Asif Ali Zardari, husband of
the late Benazir Bhutto, who was
assassinated on Dec. 27, 2007. Khan described Gilani as former head
of the "thief family." Zardari has already served 11 1/2
years in prison for massive corruption
that was never proved. Last month, Raja Pervez Ashraf
replaced Gilani as prime minister
pending national elections before
February 2013. Khan has left no doubt that he expects
to be the next president of Pakistan.
And he has already picked the man he
wants as prime minister: Imran Khan,
chairman of Tehreek-e-Insaf
(Movement of Justice Party), dubbed Pakistan's Ron Paul, and one of the
world's eight all-time great cricketers.
He recently canceled a U.S. lecture tour. Provided his "grateful nation" wants
him as president, A.Q. Khan said he
wants Imran Khan as prime minister. The most powerful opposition leader
is former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
who was convicted of hijacking and
treason in 1999. Sharif, then in his
second term as prime minister, refused
to let an airliner carrying his dismissed military chief, Musharraf, to land in
Pakistan on his return from a
conference in Sri Lanka. Runways had been scattered with
obstacles, which the army removed,
allowing Musharraf's plane to land
with less than 5 minutes of fuel in its
tanks. The army then deposed Sharif
in a bloodless coup. Musharraf became president and
Sharif was convicted of hijacking and
treason, sentenced to life in prison. A compromise was negotiated
Sharif is immensely wealthy and he
was allowed to seek refuge in Saudi
Arabia, provided he stayed out of
politics for the next 10 years. He has
been cleared of all charges and Musharraf is now in self-imposed
exile. As head of the "Pakistan Muslim
League (N)," Sharif has been prime
minister twice and has been biding his
time for a return to high office. Imran Khan is certainly more popular
than Sharif, but Sharif has more
political clout. He was arguably the
most powerful prime minister in the
country's 65-year history. A.Q. Khan is a close friend of the
notorious Hamid Gul, the onetime
Pakistani intelligence chief who was a
partner of the late terrorist chief Osama
bin Laden and of Mullah Omar, the
Taliban chief now underground in Pakistan, protected by Pakistan's
Inter-Services Intelligence agency. A.Q. Khan and Gul together have a
wide circle of friends and supporters
whose principal objective is to move
the United States and its NATO allies
out of Afghanistan, in effect sealing
victory for Taliban, whom they believe they can control. When and if the anti-U.S. coalition
moves as a cohesive front, and takes
over Pakistan from the top down, they
will be faced with a quagmire of
seemingly insuperable crises. These
range from banned terrorist networks operating increasingly above ground
to an economic disaster in a nuclear
power. It all adds up to something bigger
than all the combined threats now
facing the remainder of the moderate
democratic world. This is no Vietnam redux. It is bigger
than all the combined threats facing
the moderate world.
Pakistan's A.Q. Khan Ratchets Up Anti-US Rhetoric
