Asia Times story on Pakistan-AQ Khan (Kerry mention)

[TayTay]

See how a real press covers a story. The excerpt in here is to Kerry, but read the story, it's from a real free press.

Guarding Pakistan's nuclear estate
By Kaushik Kapisthalam

http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/GD06Df04.html

SNIP

Interestingly, it was former presidential candidate Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts who was one of the first to talk about Pakistan's nuclear arsenal openly. In a January 2004 debate with other contenders from his Democratic Party, Kerry said that if he were elected president, he would get tough with Pakistan on nuclear safety, noting that past Pakistani leaders had lied to him and the US quite blatantly on the nuclear issue. Kerry added that failing to protect Pakistan's nuclear weapons from falling into the wrong hands was "one of the most glaring weaknesses in this administration's entire foreign policy". More curious, Kerry said the US should work with India to make a plan for taking out Pakistan's nukes in case of an emergency. Another Democratic senator, Barack Obama of Illinois, went a step further and said the US should launch surgical strikes on Pakistan in a nuclear leak eventuality.

After the re-election of Bush, it was Kerry who once again raised the issue. During the Senate hearing to confirm Bush's appointment of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state, Kerry had a fiery exchange with Rice, which needs to be quoted in full for readers to appreciate its significance.

Kerry: And what about any initiatives or discussions with President Musharraf and the Indians with respect to fail-safe procedures in the event - I mean, there have been two attempts on President Musharraf's life. If you were to have a successful coup in Pakistan, you could have, conceivably, nuclear weapons in the hand of a radical Islamic state automatically, overnight. And to the best of my knowledge, in all of the inquiries that I've made in the course of the last years, there is now no failsafe procedure in place to guarantee against that weaponry falling into the wrong hands.

Rice: Senator, we have noted this problem, and we are prepared to try to deal with it. I would prefer not in open session to talk about this particular issue.

Kerry:Okay. Well, I raise it again. I must say that in my private briefings as the nominee I found the answers highly unsatisfactory. And so, I press on you the notion that, without saying more, that we need to pay attention to that.

Rice: We're very aware of the problem, Senator, and we have had some discussions. But I really would prefer not to discuss that.
In essence, Kerry noted that as a presidential candidate, the US "secret plan" for Pakistan's nukes as conveyed to him was unsatisfactory. But Rice hinted that while the plan might not be perfect, the administration was working on it. There are some signs that this may already be happening.

These shaded quotes are from the public record of the Rice hearings.

[blm]

1. The American press won't touch this hot potato. It's part of BCCI and that

is all it takes to scare the press away.

Maybe I'm being too hard on them. Maybe they are just dumbasses who can't add two plus two and see that it comes out BFEE.

[megatherium]

2. I think our plan is to hope nothing bad happens, and to hope

no one is really paying attention in the meanwhile.

[LittleClarkie]

4. And if something does happen

blame it on Clinton.

[blm]

5. I think they don't CARE what goes bad because they are SURE noone's paying

attention. That is why they gained control over most of the broadcast media.

Terri Schiavo. Gays wanting to marry. Dems in chaos. Flag burning. Abortion. Michael Jackson.

[LittleClarkie]

3. So what what some folks took for "chat"

was really Kerry trying to highlight an administration weakness.

Or was this exchange indeed fiery? I didn't get to watch, so I can't know if this was a tense section or a "chatty chat" section as someone here called it.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I could never figure out how "chatty chat" differentiated from normal, average, everyday "chat."

[blm]

6. There were some here who pegged its importance as it went down.

I applaud their good sense.

[karynnj]

7. It was in the long grilling where just Kerry was answering

It was the "chatty chat" section where Kerry was soft spoken and pleasant. If you didn't listen to the words, it sounded friendly. I think their "fiery" may have come from reading a transcript, instead of seeing it on TV. Kerry really got her on record on many things that she didn't want to be on record about. (Especially this Pakistan stuff and the Seymour Hersh Iran allegations - where Kerry asked if 3 or 4 times if the article was accurate as it pertains to Iraq. He even had a smile the last time he asked it. )

[TayTay]

10. Well, Kerry has a lot of knowledge about Pakistan

going back to BCCI. That bank was founded in Pakistan. It laundered drug money from Afghanstan and it laundered money from AQ Kahn's nuclear sales. (And Usama Bin Laden used BCCI to move money around.)

This excerpt is from the BCCI commission report from Dec. 1992. I think Sen. Kerry knows a great deal about Pakistan and was wise to try and pin Condi down on it. Unfortunately, I still don't think that the Admin really cares as much as they should about this.

APPENDICES

Matters For Further Investigation

There have been a number of matters which the Subcommittee has received some information on, but has not been able to investigate adequately, due such factors as lack of resources, lack of time, documents being withheld by foreign governments, and limited evidentiary sources or witnesses. Some of the main areas which deserve further investigation include:

1. The extent of BCCI's involvement in Pakistan's nuclear program. As set forth in the chapter on BCCI in foreign countries, there is good reason to conclude that BCCI did finance Pakistan's nuclear program through the BCCI Foundation in Pakistan, as well as through BCCI-Canada in the Parvez case. However, details on BCCI's involvement remain unavailable. Further investigation is needed to understand the extent to which BCCI and Pakistan were able to evade U.S. and international nuclear non-proliferation regimes to acquire nuclear technologies.

http://www.american-buddha.com/bcci.affair.htm

[TayTay]

8. It was tense

The press covered that hearing as they seem to cover everything these days, as a two-dimensional fight between tepid Dems and a oh-so-clever Dr. Condiliar Rice. Sigh! There was a lot of other things going on. Sen. Boxer was superb at calling Rice on her lies. She nailed her on the what went on in the buildup to Iraq. I have nothing but praise for Sen. Boxer's conduct during that hearing. It was testy and sharp, but Rice was going for one of the most powerful jobs in the Admin. She should be asked to answer tough questions. (Which she dodged IMHO.)

Kerry and Boxer have different styles. I thought Kerry did a great job in his more quiet and presecutorial way. In the excerpt that the Asian press showed, he was telling Condi that he knew the Admin was keeping things from the public. She dodged this by claiming she still coudn't talk about it in open committee. But Kerry seemed to be putting her on notice, even within the confines of secrecy, that she was responsible for seeing to it that the nuclear threat that Pakistan poses is attended to. Kerry did a lot in his other questioning and he got Condi to admit to a lot, on the record and under oath. It's nice to see that someone was paying attention, even if that someone wasn't in the American media.

[paineinthearse]

9. it's from a real free press.

Isn't AT from Hong Kong?

[TayTay]

11. Yup. And it's free online

which is a relief because I can post the html link and people can read it for themselves. How did we in the US ever get to the state where foreign press reports are much better than our own. Sigh!