Iran offered Benazir $4b for nuclear tech: Beg
Sunday, May 14, 2006
ISLAMABAD: Pakistans former army chief says Iranian officials came to him for advice on heading off an attack on their nuclear facilities, and he in effect advised them to take a hostage Israel.
Retired Gen Mirza Aslam Beg said he suggested their government make it clear that if anything happens to Iran, if anyone attacks it it doesnt matter who it is or how it is attacked that Irans answer will be to hit Israel; the only target will be Israel.
Since Beg spoke in an interview with The Associated Press, echoes of his thinking have been heard in Iran, though whether they result directly from his advice isnt known. Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, was quoted last week as saying that if America does make any mischief, the first place we target will be Israel. The threat was disavowed the next day by Brig Gen Alireza Afshar, deputy to the chief of Irans military staff, who said it was Dehghanis personal view and has no validity as far as the Iranian military officials are concerned.
And on Tuesday, Israels vice premier, Shimon Peres, warned that Those who threaten to destroy are in danger of being destroyed. In the AP interview that took place several weeks before these threats were exchanged, Beg said a delegation from the Iranian Embassy in Pakistan had come to his office in January, seeking advice as Western pressure mounted on Iran to abandon its nuclear effort. Beg said he offered lessons learned from his experience dealing with Indias nuclear threat.
He said he told the Iranians, whom he did not identify, that Pakistan had suspected India of collaborating with Israel in planning an attack on its nuclear facilities. By then, Pakistan had the bomb too. But both countries had adopted a strategy of ambiguity, he said, and Pakistan sent an emissary to India to warn that no matter who attacked it, Pakistan would retaliate against India. We told India frankly that this is the threat we perceive and this is the action we are taking and the action we will take. It was a real deterrent, he recalled telling the Iranians. He said he also advised them to attempt to degrade the defence systems of Israel, harass it through the Hamas government of the Palestinian Authority and the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, and put second-strike nuclear weapons on submarines.
Although analysts are divided on how soon Iran might have nuclear weapons, Beg said he is sure Iran has had enough time to develop them. But he insists the Pakistani government didnt help, even though he says former prime minister Benazir Bhutto once told him the Iranians offered more than $4 billion for the technology.
Ephraim Asculai, a former senior official with the Israel Atomic Agency Commission, said he didnt think Begs remarks reflected official Pakistani policy.
Asculai said he believed Iran learned more from Iraq than from Pakistan, recalling that as soon as the 1991 Gulf War broke out, Saddam Hussein fired missiles at Israel, even though it wasnt in the US-led coalition fighting Iraq.
Beg became army chief of staff in 1988, a year after Pakistan confirmed CIA estimates that it had nuclear weapons capability. He served until 1991 and now runs his own think tank. He speaks freely and in detail about the nuclear issue, but many critical blank spots remain and the subject remains one of great sensitivity, clouded by revelations in 2004 that AQ Khan, who pioneered Pakistans nuclear bomb, sold nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
The bigger picture has also changed radically. Pakistan is now a US ally in the war on terrorism, and Asculai said Pakistani government officials have often suggested that they would be willing to have ties with Israel under certain conditions.
In the AP interview, Beg detailed nearly 20 years of Iranian approaches to obtain conventional arms and then technology for nuclear weapons. He described an Iranian visit in 1990, when he was army chief of staff. They didnt want the technology. They asked: Can we have a bomb? My answer was: By all means you can have it but you must make it yourself. Nobody gave it to us. AP
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
Salaam to all the Muslims,
Old news, but I wonder how true it is?
Salaam to all the Muslims.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
ISLAMABAD: Pakistans former army chief says Iranian officials came to him for advice on heading off an attack on their nuclear facilities, and he in effect advised them to take a hostage Israel.
Retired Gen Mirza Aslam Beg said he suggested their government make it clear that if anything happens to Iran, if anyone attacks it it doesnt matter who it is or how it is attacked that Irans answer will be to hit Israel; the only target will be Israel.
Since Beg spoke in an interview with The Associated Press, echoes of his thinking have been heard in Iran, though whether they result directly from his advice isnt known. Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani, an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, was quoted last week as saying that if America does make any mischief, the first place we target will be Israel. The threat was disavowed the next day by Brig Gen Alireza Afshar, deputy to the chief of Irans military staff, who said it was Dehghanis personal view and has no validity as far as the Iranian military officials are concerned.
And on Tuesday, Israels vice premier, Shimon Peres, warned that Those who threaten to destroy are in danger of being destroyed. In the AP interview that took place several weeks before these threats were exchanged, Beg said a delegation from the Iranian Embassy in Pakistan had come to his office in January, seeking advice as Western pressure mounted on Iran to abandon its nuclear effort. Beg said he offered lessons learned from his experience dealing with Indias nuclear threat.
He said he told the Iranians, whom he did not identify, that Pakistan had suspected India of collaborating with Israel in planning an attack on its nuclear facilities. By then, Pakistan had the bomb too. But both countries had adopted a strategy of ambiguity, he said, and Pakistan sent an emissary to India to warn that no matter who attacked it, Pakistan would retaliate against India. We told India frankly that this is the threat we perceive and this is the action we are taking and the action we will take. It was a real deterrent, he recalled telling the Iranians. He said he also advised them to attempt to degrade the defence systems of Israel, harass it through the Hamas government of the Palestinian Authority and the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, and put second-strike nuclear weapons on submarines.
Although analysts are divided on how soon Iran might have nuclear weapons, Beg said he is sure Iran has had enough time to develop them. But he insists the Pakistani government didnt help, even though he says former prime minister Benazir Bhutto once told him the Iranians offered more than $4 billion for the technology.
Ephraim Asculai, a former senior official with the Israel Atomic Agency Commission, said he didnt think Begs remarks reflected official Pakistani policy.
Asculai said he believed Iran learned more from Iraq than from Pakistan, recalling that as soon as the 1991 Gulf War broke out, Saddam Hussein fired missiles at Israel, even though it wasnt in the US-led coalition fighting Iraq.
Beg became army chief of staff in 1988, a year after Pakistan confirmed CIA estimates that it had nuclear weapons capability. He served until 1991 and now runs his own think tank. He speaks freely and in detail about the nuclear issue, but many critical blank spots remain and the subject remains one of great sensitivity, clouded by revelations in 2004 that AQ Khan, who pioneered Pakistans nuclear bomb, sold nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
The bigger picture has also changed radically. Pakistan is now a US ally in the war on terrorism, and Asculai said Pakistani government officials have often suggested that they would be willing to have ties with Israel under certain conditions.
In the AP interview, Beg detailed nearly 20 years of Iranian approaches to obtain conventional arms and then technology for nuclear weapons. He described an Iranian visit in 1990, when he was army chief of staff. They didnt want the technology. They asked: Can we have a bomb? My answer was: By all means you can have it but you must make it yourself. Nobody gave it to us. AP
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
Salaam to all the Muslims,
Old news, but I wonder how true it is?
Salaam to all the Muslims.
