Article

2004-11-29 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Iran sez the Saudis got nukes from Pakistan

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Posted by Dan Darling 2004-11-29 2:31:58 AM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Dan,

I have seen this story now in several places but it just does not seem credible. Whats your take on it?

Posted by robi 2004-11-29 12:07:30 PM|| [http://robisen.com] 2004-11-29 12:07:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 I dunno, it seems credible to me. I've heard lots of speculation that the Pakistani program was bankrolled by the Saudis in the first place.

Posted by Robert Crawford 2004-11-29 12:18:10 PM|| [http://www.kloognome.com/] 2004-11-29 12:18:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Robert, I remember reading an article here on Rantburg that the Saudis had indeed bankrolled Dr. Khan's successful efforts...in order to acquire the results. As I recall, the Saudis put money in at one end, and were to get Pakistani cannon fodder and an atomic bomb from the other end. The cannon fodder definitely arrived in the Kingdom, but I don't remember that the bombs did -- the process may have been messed up by Dr. Khan's exposure and arrest. It would be very interesting to see Iran's evidence, though.

A related thought: it has been commented on here at Rantburg on the level of technical expertise required to maintain atomic bombs in working order (as bombs, I mean, rather than as expensive containers of radioactive material). With high-skill foreigners continuing to leave Saudi Arabia (they are continuing to leave, are they not? I haven't seen much on the subject recently), I can't imagine that there are many in-country who are capable of the ticklish maintenance required.

Posted by trailing wife 2004-11-29 1:12:47 PM|| 2004-11-29 1:12:47 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 In October 2003, I wrote about the Pakistan-Saudi nuclear nexus on my blog.

The Saudis have always been close to Pakistan's nuclear programme. In fact, the Pakistani military allowed the Saudi interior minister to visit Khan's nuclear digs at Kahuta, but Benazir Bhutto, then Pakistan's PM was refused access to the labs.

Nothing new folks. Pakistan is adept at playing both sides of the game; it supplies WMD technology to Iran, but gets into a nuclear-sharing arrangement with the Saudis; it gets conventional arms from the United States and nuclear/ballistic technology from China.

Posted by Nitin Pai 2004-11-29 8:14:11 PM|| [http://opinion.paifamily.com] 2004-11-29 8:14:11 PM|| Front Page Top

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