AQ Khan: Return of the mad nuclear scientist

Let Us Build Pakistan

By Tarek Fatah

As Israeli politicians and intelligence officials bicker publicly about Iran’s capability of making a nuclear bomb and its capacity to strike Israel, they seem blind to what is happening next door in Pakistan that has both the bomb and strike capability, and soon the political leadership to order such a strike.

TWO DANGEROUS MEN.

Like the rest of the West, Jerusalem seems incapable of sifting through the myriad of complexities that allow Pakistan, the most dangerous enemy of the West to escape scrutiny. Islamabad’s military capabilities are not restricted to nuclear bombs alone; it has deviously managed to squeeze billions of dollars from the very West its undeclared jihad wishes to destroy. Israel’s defence minister Ehud Barak insists Iran is “determined to obtain nuclear weapons,” adding, “And they are getting closer. We are approaching what I’ve termed the immunity zone — the moment when Iran’s nuclear program will be sufficiently developed and secretly concealed, that it will be immune to any surgical attacks.” Israel is particularly concerned with Iran’s underground Fordo site buried deep inside a mountain near the city of Qom, where centrifuges are enriching uranium to 20 percent purity. Well, unbeknownst to the Israelis and perhaps the Americans, the man who supplied the Iranians the centrifuges and who amassed a fortune selling stolen nuclear know-how from the Netherlands and components manufactured in Pakistan to Iran, Dr. A. Q. Khan is being set up to become the next president of nuclear-armed Pakistan. Time magazine called this dangerous rogue scientist “The Merchant of Menace” in 2005 and had this to report on Khan’s Iranian connection: “... IAEA officials say, [A. Q.] Khan did establish contact with the Iranians. A key member of the network has told investigators that Iran bought centrifuges from Khan. The IAEA reports that the Khan network also provided Iran with blueprints to manufacture more P-1 and P-2 centrifuges.” Seven years ago Time reported, “Khan is under house arrest, his every move monitored by Pakistani government agents. He is said to be in failing health,” predicting Khan “will probably live out his days a recluse.” Not so fast. The man Pakistan promised would never be allowed to peddle his nuclear wares again, is today a free man and has teamed up with the notorious pro-Taliban Pakistani politician, Imran Khan donning the title of ‘Patron’ of cricketer-turned politician’s political party. While the anti-American Imran Khan is being groomed by Pakistan’s military-judicial-jihadi complex to take over as the country’s next prime minister after the 2013 elections, the mad scientist Dr. A. Q. Khan is being promoted as the country’s next president. Already a Facebook page has emerged with the title “We want Imran Khan as PM and AQ Khan as president.” The possibility of President A. Q. Khan of Pakistan is already creating waves in The Netherlands; Holland is to host the 2014 World Nuclear Security Summit where Pakistan will be at the table and some members of the Dutch media are raising the issue with alarm. It seems neither the U.S. nor Israel have woken up to the scenario of a nuclear-armed Pakistan headed by a pro-Taliban prime minister and a rogue nuclear scientist as the president; one who admits to have sold nuclear parts and know-how to both Iran and North Korea.