"If
the Boston Globe report is any way close to the truth, Pakistani
officials are in talks about flying Pakistan's stock of highly enriched uranium
to the U.S. … There is no reason for us to open up to any foreign power on this
highly sensitive issue - and no one should ever be permitted even to discuss
the possibility of our surrendering the most potent weapon of security."
A woman is one of tens of thousands fleeing fighting between the Taliban and the Pakistan military in the Swat Valley of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, May 5.
If the Boston
Globe report is any way close to
the truth, Pakistani officials are in talks with the U.S. about flying Pakistan's
stock of highly enriched uranium to the United States to be disposed of there.
That demand is based on the Americans' all-consuming fear that the dangerous material
could fall into the hands of militants, who, they believe, are knocking at Islamabad's
door and would like to use it against the United States by gaining control of
the reins of Pakistan's government. The newspaper cites two unnamed Administration
officials with direct knowledge of the discussions to secure Pakistani weapons.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
[The Globe
reports in part: "U.S. and Pakistani officials have begun
behind-the-scenes talks aimed at achieving a greater US role in securing
Pakistan's nuclear materials, including a proposal to ship some highly enriched
uranium to the United States for disposal, according to two administration
officials with direct knowledge of the discussions."]
Another story reports on a
poll that 87 percent of Americans are "somewhat concerned" and 60
percent "very concerned" about the security of these weapons.
President Obama's National Security Advisor General James Jones told
the BBC that although he has been assured by the Pakistan Army of the
safety of its nuclear weapons, Washington needed further guarantees since
"the world would like to know ... that there's absolute security and
transparency."
Much to the surprise of the nation
of Pakistan, which under no circumstances would countenance any compromise on
the nuclear assets so vital to our survival amid the hostile climate we live
in, the Boston Globe reports that officials from Islamabad have shed
their secretiveness about the program and are willing to cooperate. According
to the report, they feel that they have a reason to do so in the face of the
threatening inroads of the militants. If true, this is indeed a serious matter.
There is no reason for us to open up to any foreign power on this highly
sensitive issue - and no one should ever be permitted even to discuss the
possibility of our surrendering the most potent weapon of security. The United
States, which spared no stratagem it could dream up to scuttle Pakistan's
nuclear program while it was under way, still finds it hard to stomach the
reality that this nation tested the weapon successfully as a tit-for-tat to
India. Islamabad rightly ignored pressure from Washington not to demonstrate
that it possesses adequate deterrence, and proved the value of that deterrence
by warding off an Indian attack when New Delhi amassed troops along Pakistan's border
for 10 months in 2002.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
It's strange for an exponent
of non-proliferation [the U.S.] to have gone out of its way to offer New Delhi
the forbidden nuclear technology that would undoubtedly strengthen its arsenal
by calling it "civilian."
