I’ve developed a thick callus over my sense of the absurd through the years, but now and then something cuts right through and exposes the raw skin beneath. My flesh has been laid bare in recent days by the surreal nonchalance attending the revelation that Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist has been out peddling history’s most deadly weapons technology to every whacked-out rogue nation on the globe.
This week, Pakistan’s President-General Pervez Musharraf said he suspected Abdul Qadeer Khan was selling nuclear technology three years ago but didn’t want to do anything about it because Dr. Khan, father of Pakistan’s a-bomb, is considered a national hero.
“It was extremely sensitive,” Gen. Musharraf told the New York Times. “One couldn’t outright start investigating as if he’s any common criminal.” The sensitive Gen. Musharraf was not so shy about the delicacy of public opinion in October 1999, when he staged a military coup against Pakistan’s democratically-elected president, Nawaz Sharif.
So, Gen. Musharraf suspected in 2001 that Dr. Khan was selling nukes out of the trunk of his car, so to get him out of the weapons lab, he gave him a promotion. That’ll send a message to any would-be wrongdoers. Three years later, Dr. Khan is exposed and implicates Gen. Musharraf and other top generals in his nuclear moonlighting. Hmmm, that doesn’t look good. Next thing you know, Dr. Khan is on national tee vee, confessing his crimes, taking all the blame on himself. The next day, Gen. Musharraf grants Dr. Khan a pardon. What’s next, a joint appearance on Oprah?
Pretty strange stuff, but let’s say Pervez Musharraf lives in the delusional la-la land reserved for bully presidents who seize power by unconstitutional means. Who does he meet there? George W. Bush, of course. The day after Gen. Musharraf pardoned Dr. Khan for bringing the world closer to nuclear holocaust, a spokesman for the Bush State Department said, “I don’t think it’s a matter for the United States to sit in judgement on.”
Abdul Qadeer Khan sold nuclear secrets to Iran and North Korea, two-thirds of George Bush’s “axis of evil,” and it’s none of our business? And we still have the gall to defend the invasion of Iraq?
If you’re still here, if your head has not yet exploded, try to absorb the news that U.S. intelligence agencies – the vaunted U.S. intelligence agencies – had evidence in 2001 that Dr. Khan was out selling nukes, but they chose not to share that intelligence with their Pakistani counterparts until late last year. Why is it 2001 seems to ring a bell? Oh yes, that’s right, it’s the year America was ATTACKED BY TERRORISTS. Islamic fundamentalists are killing Americans by the thousand, we know Pakistan has a rogue scientist selling nukes to the nastiest people on earth and — we don’t do anything about it.
The explanation for all this, if it’s not clear by now, is the old boy network. Abdul Qadeer Khan is for Pervez Musharraf what Halliburton and Ken Lay are for the Bushies: a good ol’ boy. He’s a crony who can do no wrong and if it’s shown that he has done wrong, we’ll just let it slide. Pakistan, in the Bushview of the world, is a good ol’ nation. Nations are either “with us or against us” in the war on terrorism and Pakistan is with us, even if they sell nuclear weapons to those who are against us.
(Think about how Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia duck hunting with Dick Cheney does not constitute a conflict of interest in the mind of Mr. Scalia, even if Mr. Cheney is a principal in a case about to come before Mr. Scalia’s court. Now imagine Messrs. Scalia and Cheney are nations, their shotguns are nuclear missiles and you and I are ducks. It’s like that. There’s one set of rules for the oligarchs and one set for everyone else. They can do no wrong. We can do no right.)
Mr. Bush gave a speech yesterday, responding to the Pakistani nuclear yard sale. He called on other nations to stem the international trade in nuclear weapons technology. (Other nations, whose intelligence services were not sitting on evidence for two-plus years.) Mr. Bush called on the United Nations to criminalize proliferation of nuclear weapons.
In Islamabad, Gen. Musharraf will not share documents on the Khan case with the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, nor will he allow its investigators to enter Pakistan. Mr. Bush has nothing to say about this. His rules do not apply to Pakistan; Pakistan is a good ol’ nation.
The Wrath of Khan
I’ve developed a thick callus over my sense of the absurd through the years, but now and then something cuts right through and exposes the raw skin beneath. My flesh has been laid bare in recent days by the surreal nonchalance attending the revelation that Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist has been out peddling history’s most deadly weapons technology to every whacked-out rogue nation on the globe.
This week, Pakistan’s President-General Pervez Musharraf said he suspected Abdul Qadeer Khan was selling nuclear technology three years ago but didn’t want to do anything about it because Dr. Khan, father of Pakistan’s a-bomb, is considered a national hero.
“It was extremely sensitive,” Gen. Musharraf told the New York Times. “One couldn’t outright start investigating as if he’s any common criminal.” The sensitive Gen. Musharraf was not so shy about the delicacy of public opinion in October 1999, when he staged a military coup against Pakistan’s democratically-elected president, Nawaz Sharif.
So, Gen. Musharraf suspected in 2001 that Dr. Khan was selling nukes out of the trunk of his car, so to get him out of the weapons lab, he gave him a promotion. That’ll send a message to any would-be wrongdoers. Three years later, Dr. Khan is exposed and implicates Gen. Musharraf and other top generals in his nuclear moonlighting. Hmmm, that doesn’t look good. Next thing you know, Dr. Khan is on national tee vee, confessing his crimes, taking all the blame on himself. The next day, Gen. Musharraf grants Dr. Khan a pardon. What’s next, a joint appearance on Oprah?
Pretty strange stuff, but let’s say Pervez Musharraf lives in the delusional la-la land reserved for bully presidents who seize power by unconstitutional means. Who does he meet there? George W. Bush, of course. The day after Gen. Musharraf pardoned Dr. Khan for bringing the world closer to nuclear holocaust, a spokesman for the Bush State Department said, “I don’t think it’s a matter for the United States to sit in judgement on.”
Abdul Qadeer Khan sold nuclear secrets to Iran and North Korea, two-thirds of George Bush’s “axis of evil,” and it’s none of our business? And we still have the gall to defend the invasion of Iraq?
If you’re still here, if your head has not yet exploded, try to absorb the news that U.S. intelligence agencies – the vaunted U.S. intelligence agencies – had evidence in 2001 that Dr. Khan was out selling nukes, but they chose not to share that intelligence with their Pakistani counterparts until late last year. Why is it 2001 seems to ring a bell? Oh yes, that’s right, it’s the year America was ATTACKED BY TERRORISTS. Islamic fundamentalists are killing Americans by the thousand, we know Pakistan has a rogue scientist selling nukes to the nastiest people on earth and — we don’t do anything about it.
The explanation for all this, if it’s not clear by now, is the old boy network. Abdul Qadeer Khan is for Pervez Musharraf what Halliburton and Ken Lay are for the Bushies: a good ol’ boy. He’s a crony who can do no wrong and if it’s shown that he has done wrong, we’ll just let it slide. Pakistan, in the Bushview of the world, is a good ol’ nation. Nations are either “with us or against us” in the war on terrorism and Pakistan is with us, even if they sell nuclear weapons to those who are against us.
(Think about how Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia duck hunting with Dick Cheney does not constitute a conflict of interest in the mind of Mr. Scalia, even if Mr. Cheney is a principal in a case about to come before Mr. Scalia’s court. Now imagine Messrs. Scalia and Cheney are nations, their shotguns are nuclear missiles and you and I are ducks. It’s like that. There’s one set of rules for the oligarchs and one set for everyone else. They can do no wrong. We can do no right.)
Mr. Bush gave a speech yesterday, responding to the Pakistani nuclear yard sale. He called on other nations to stem the international trade in nuclear weapons technology. (Other nations, whose intelligence services were not sitting on evidence for two-plus years.) Mr. Bush called on the United Nations to criminalize proliferation of nuclear weapons.
In Islamabad, Gen. Musharraf will not share documents on the Khan case with the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, nor will he allow its investigators to enter Pakistan. Mr. Bush has nothing to say about this. His rules do not apply to Pakistan; Pakistan is a good ol’ nation.