|
Libya Paid Qadeer $100m in Nuke Deal
Libya paid at least $100 million to the nuclear arms network run by the father of Pakistanâs atom bomb for equipment needed in Tripoliâs own drive to build a bomb. A senior Bush administration official said Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani scientist, cut a âvery lucrativeâ deal in the 1990s to supply Libya with almost everything it needed for its nuclear arms program, from centrifuges to on-site training. âIt was truly one-stop shopping,â said Jim Wilkinson, deputy White House national security adviser.In addition to Libya, Khan has admitted selling nuclear secrets to Iran and North Korea but was pardoned by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Khan may have sold his nuclear wares to other nations as well, administration and congressional officials say. The White House put some of Libyaâs centrifuge parts on display for the first time on Monday at the heavily guarded Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Tripoli agreed to give up its nuclear weapons program in December, prompting the Bush administration to ease some US sanctions. âThe Khan networkâs financial dealings were deliberately complex and we do not have a complete picture,â said Wilkinson. âThe developing picture, however, indicates that the Khan network received at least $100 million for supplying technology, equipment and know-howâ to the Libyans alone. It was the White Houseâs first public accounting of Khanâs business dealings with Libya, and it topped previous estimates by diplomats of transactions totaling between $50 million and $100 million. The Khan network stretched across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Mohamed El-Baradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency Posted by: Fred 2004-03-16 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=28287 |