-Caveat Lector- -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [southnews] US stands by to steal Pakistan's nukes Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 23:41:09 -0600 (CST) From: Dave Muller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: South Movement To: undisclosed-recipients:;
---------- U.S. Special Unit 'Stands by to Steal Atomic Warheads' http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/29 /war129.xml&sSheet=/news/2001/10/29/ixhome.html By BEN FENTON THE TELEGRAPH - London, UK - Monday, 29 October 2001 AN elite American military unit is preparing for possible incursion into Pakistan in order to steal its nuclear weapons arsenal, it is reported today. The special forces unit is training with Israel's most trusted anti-terrorist unit, and would be called into action in the event that Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf lost power in Pakistan, the New Yorker magazine said. The CIA believes that Pakistani army officers sympathetic to the Taliban could pose a threat to Gen. Musharraf, and that some of the country's estimated 24 nuclear warheads could be stolen by renegades within Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI. Seymour Hersch, a journalist whose reporting on the post-September 11 crisis has been broadly accurate so far, said that members of Israel's Unit 262, or Sayeret Matkal, came to America soon after the attacks and have been training with Pentagon special forces. Mr. Hersch quoted a "senior military officer" as confirming that intense planning was going on for the "exfiltration" - theft - of warheads. But there are doubts about whether the CIA - or any other intelligence agency - knows the exact location of Pakistan's warheads, which were first tested, to the surprise of American intelligence agencies, in [May] 1998. The fear that Gen. Musharraf could lose control of the country and some or all of the warheads is based on the close links between the ISI and the Taliban. Last week, the Pakistani President dismissed such concerns. "We have an excellent command-and-control system which we have evolved, and there is no question of their falling into the hands of any fundamentalists," Gen. Musharraf said. Pakistan is thought to have a number of intermediate-range missiles to carry its warheads as well as using F-16 fighter-bombers. There are a number of possible targets for the use of these weapons by renegades sympathetic to the Islamic extremists in Afghanistan. These include India, itself a nuclear power, or the four American aircraft carriers and British vessels currently cruising off Pakistan's coastline as bases for air and commando attacks on the Taliban and al-Qaeda. ---------- US mulls neutralising Pak nuclear facilities The Times of India 27 October 2001 WASHINGTON: President George W Bush is consulting senior leaders on plans to neutralise Pakistan's nuclear capabilities if the Pervez Musharraf regime collapses, a senior US lawmaker has indicated. Joe Biden, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, strongly hinted this at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Biden was asked about an article in The New York Times on the need to render Pakistani nuclear weapons ineffective if the Musharraf regime falls. The Democrat senator replied: "Those discussions are underway with the Democratic and Republican members of Congress and the president on setting those priorities." There have been strong protests from fundamentalist groups in Pakistan against Musharraf's decision to back the US war against Afghanistan. This has given rise to questions about a threat to the military regime and the possibility of Pakistan's nuclear facilities falling into the hands of religious groups. Biden said: "The question is, the president (Bush) has an internal dilemma he has to overcome first. He (Bush) is focusing on first things first, but then he has to deal with ...and I'm going to get in trouble for saying this... but he has to deal with what has not gone away. There is, for lack of a better phrase, still a Rumsfeld-Powell split on how they look at the world, and how they look at these very issues that you've stated here." Biden indicated a split between Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell with the suggestion that Rumsfeld, a known hawk, supported such a plan in Pakistan while Powell opposed it. Biden, who said he had been in close consultations with Bush, also set out his views on US relations with India and Pakistan. "I think there has to be a clear understanding, both in Delhi and Islamabad, that we are interested, we are looking and we are watching. Secondly, I think a message should be delivered very strongly to the Indians - do not attempt to take advantage of the circumstances at this moment, it's against your interests across the board." But finally, he said, "we have to make clear to the Pakistanis that, notwithstanding the fact we need you very much right now, you are in a position where if you are going to continue to foment the terror that does exist in Kashmir, then you are operating against your own near-term interests, because that very viper can turn on you." Pakistan on Friday dismissed as absurd British media reports that Osama bin Laden had obtained nuclear material from Islamabad. The Times newspaper and Channel Four television quoted Western intelligence sources as saying the Saudi-born dissident had obtained the material illegally from Pakistan, a nuclear capable country. A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday that the allegation was absurd. "Our nuclear materials are in very safe hands, these are absurd allegations," spokesman Riaz Mohammad Khan said. The Times and Channel Four said that bin Laden and his al Qaeda network of Islamic extremists, which operates out of neighbouring Afghanistan, did not have the technology to make a nuclear bomb. Kashmir will become central to resolving tensions between India and Pakistan, he said. "The truth of the matter is, the whole world is looking at their problem now in Kashmir, not just us, the spotlight is on and the consequences for how they will be treated relative to all other nations in the world is very much up in the air right now, and they should be made constantly aware of how tenuous the circumstance is for both of them. In this case, particularly India, in my view, particularly India." Replying to a question on relations with India after the US had been seen to be moving close to the country before September 11, Biden said: "I think that was then, and it's almost still that way now. And let me explain what I mean by that. "I may be mistaken, and I may be a bit cynical, but I think the initial `tilt' toward India was related to Beijing more than it was to Pakistan or anything else. And I think that the relationship with Beijing was going south very rapidly." Biden said "there is a desire in the administration to actually, genuinely (have) better relations with India. I think it is an absolute essential element of American foreign policy that that be done. And part of that is simply engaging ... engaging them and treating them like what they are. They will not (in) too long be the largest, most populous nation in the world. They are a democracy, as flawed as you may think it is. They are someone with whom we should and must have a much, much, much better relationship and understanding." The whole world has changed for India in recent years, Biden said. "It has changed not only when the wall came down, and when their protector evaporated, it changed now as the relationship with China begins to mature, and they're going to have some great difficulty internally figuring out how to deal with that. "But we should be engaged at the highest level on a daily basis, literally with India. So I don't think the administration is jettisoning India, but I think they're beginning to look at India in a different way, not as cynically as just a card to have been played against Beijing." ( IANS ) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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