It is safe to say that in the course of his career, Dr Khan has affected the lives of many people, some positively, some negatively. One of the latter is former US intelligence analyst Richard Barlow.
As this July 7 Washington Post article recounted, Barlow is not a happy camper, even though he lives in one.
To excerpt briefly:
For those of you who were away on vacation in the summer, I'd like to remind you about this hearing that took place on June 27. It took place shortly after IISS rolled out its Nuclear Black Markets strategic dossier edited by Mark Fitzpatrick.
Specifically, it was joint hearing of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia and Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade, House Foreign Affairs Committee. The subject was 'AQ Khan's Nuclear Wal-Mart: Out of Business or Under New Management?'
A National Defense University report released earlier this month makes a connection between Khan-like networks and nuclear terrorism.
The report from the NDU's Center for Technology and National Security Policy found that global cooperation between law enforcement agencies and a coordinated nuclear detection network is needed if the world hopes to prevent terrorists from acquiring WMD material.
As you may have noted from previous posts I am, among other things, mightily impressed by the accomplishments of Dr Khan. In fact, to some degree I might even qualify as a fan, if not a groupie. There are times when it is hard waiting for the next Google news alert about him.
Still, I recognize that not everyone is as enamored by his history as I am. In fact, hard as it may be to believe, some people out there don't even know who he is. Gasp, the horror!
If Benazir Bhutto was floating a trial balloon when she talked about allowing IAEA inspectors to question Dr Khan I think it safe to say the results are in. And it appears, to paraphrase Franklin D Roosevelt, the only thing Dr Khan has to fear is not Benazir Bhutto. Consider some of the subsequent reaction, courtesy of BBC Monitoring International Reports, September 27, 2007:
Not to beat a dead horse, but I think this [Pakistan] Daily Times editorial nicely encapsulates the furore over Ms Bhutto's remarks about Dr Khan:
On September 18, I posted that that four former executives of Japanese company, Mitutoyo Corp, were found guilty of illegally exporting devices that could be used in producing nuclear weapons. That is true, but from the perspective of actually trying to prevent such things from happening there is more to the story. And, as is usually the case, the redoubtable reporter Mark Hibbs had the story first; back in January, to be precise. Here is some of what he wrote in the January 15 issue of Nuclear Fuel:
We wonder how Dr Khan feels about this. Even though it was Pakistani President Musharraf who relieved Dr Khan of his job and put him in house arrest in February 2004, Musharraff has always been protective of him. In the past, he said, He is my hero. He always was and still is, because he made Pakistan a nuclear power
(Shopping For Bombs, p 214). That helps explain why Musharraf has steadfastly refused to allow Dr Khan to be interrogated by outsiders.