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:
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What about those “30 proliferating companies in Europe”?
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:
Khan and the IAEA
To follow up to the earlier posting today about Benazir Bhutto’s remarks yesterday, in which she said allow IAEA inspectors to question Abdul Qadeer Khan, I think it appropriate to cite some of what Mark Hibbs previously wrote, in this November 23 2007 Nucleonics Week article:
Let’s keep ‘generic’ for drug prescriptions
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:
Questioning President Musharraf’s hero?
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.
Dr Khan – Educator of the Year
Dr Khan is a man of many talents; not all of them appreciated. But it should be noted that he has done his part for the Pakistani educational system. In that regard we take our hats off to Ms Noreen Mushtaq D/O Mushtaq Ahmed. She is one of the three women who swept all top three positions in the Bachelor of Education (BEd) annual examination 2006, the result of which was announced by the University of Balochistan (UoB) Quetta this past Saturday. Ms Mushtaq is a student at the Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan College of Education in Quetta.
Khan and Clearstream?
In two previous posts, I’ve mentioned press reports about Dr Khan and Syria, one saying there may have been a connection, the other saying no way.
Khan and the Butter Factory
On May 6 2007, The Washington Times published an article by editor at large Arnaud de Borchgrave, talking about the common link between North Korea, Iran, and Libya. That would be Dr Khan's network, of course. Or as JRR Tolkien memorably put it in the Lord of the Rings, One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.