May 29, 2004
The WMD Argument
by JeremyNuke Trafficker Arrested:
May 28, 2004 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- Authorities Friday arrested a Sri Lankan businessman accused of brokering nuclear black market deals -- the most senior figure in the proliferation network of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan to be jailed since it was exposed this year....
Buhary Syed Abu Tahir was picked up under a security law allowing indefinite detention without trial and taken to a prison camp, three months after police cleared him of breaking any Malaysian laws for arranging for a company controlled by the prime minister's son to make centrifuge parts for Libya's nuclear programs.
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Tahir's arrest is believed to be the only detention of a senior operative of Khan's network since he admitted in February to selling know-how and secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf pardoned Khan after he made a public apology.
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International investigators say Khan's network operated on five continents and was able to exploit loopholes in international nonproliferation treaties to provide what International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei called a "nuclear supermarket."
I've been on the receiving end of sneers, shouts and insults for suggesting that the Bush administration might have had genuine concerns about Saddam obtaining nuclear weapons -- occasionally the mere use of the term "WMD" has been enough to draw a patronizing sniffle, a contemptuous shake of the head.
Reading the phrase "nuclear supermarket," I have a profound feeling that, in the taking down of Saddam, something awful has been erased from this world's future, something in whose loss I will silently rejoice the next time I'm being sneered or shouted at (or trolled).
-Jeremy
Bush did a great thing despite the sneers of the unconvinced left about the WMD's, especially by opening up the underground nuclear weapons supermarket. We're not done yet with the revelations either. Libya had a nuclear program and stopped but the question that no one is asking is how could a small poor country sustain a nuclear program(oil doesn't make you rich)? It takes a lot of people and a large industrial organization even today and even with the blueprints and prefabbed centrifuges. There is a good case that it was Saddam's program outsourced to a safe place.
Posted by: Paul at May 30, 2004 05:45 PM
An intriguing thought, to say the least.
Posted by: Jeremy at May 30, 2004 11:41 PM
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