Asia Times Pakistan Story mentions JK

[TayTay]

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.

Somebody loves us and knows a true statesman when they see one!

[sandnsea]

1. And Lebanon-Syria

Also something about being able to interrogate that guy Khan, can't remember right now.

Lebanon-Syria

May & Oct 2003

“In May, I called on the President to impose financial sanctions on Syria and Lebanon to stop Saddam Hussein’s regime from using their financial system to support terrorism. However, the Bush Administration has not taken appropriate actions to stop these funds from being used by international terrorist organizations,” said Kerry. “Every American should be deeply concerned by reports that this money may now be used to pay for attacks on our troops in Iraq. The inaction by the Bush Administration to stop the flow of money from Syria and Lebanon continues to threaten the lives of every member of our Armed Forces now serving in Iraq. This is totally unacceptable.

“I again call on the President to impose financial sanctions on Syria and Lebanon to cut off the flow of funding to terrorist organizations in Iraq. As long as international terrorists have access to a financial network, they remain a lethal threat to the United States forces in Iraq and to our interests around the world.”

Bush finally but sanctions on Syria in 2004. Lebanon is supposedly cooperating.

http://kerry.senate.gov/v3/press/record.cfm?id=213855&&

[karynnj]

2. This article is so beyond what we see in our papers

India is an enemy and likely target of Pakistan, so it makes sense that they are concerned with Pakistan's nuclear program, but it's amazing that they seem to follow what our government is doing to this degree. I liked the characterization of the Rice/Kerry exchange as fiery. Here in the press and on DU, all they talked about was how hard Boxer questioned Rice, mentioning Kerry mostly for his "no" vote. It was interesting that they explicitly explained Kerry's unique position as the former nominee in terms of his knowing more.

Thanks for posting this!

[TayTay]

3. It goes back a long way

Remember, the BCCI bank was based in Pakistan. Kerry has been aware of issues with them for a long, long time. (And AQ Khan has been a player for a long time. Maybe a new thread sometime in the near future about BCCI and where the players in that scandal are today.)

Thhis is no Johnny Come Lately to the Indian press. (Okay, pun intended.) They didn't like Kerry much last year in India because they feared he would stop the profitable Outsourcing industry. Now they like him again because he is tough with Pakistan.

I agree that the foreign press covers the US Senate better than we do. Sigh! I am also glad you like me posting a bit of 'foreign' coverage. I get a lot of this stuff and I was wondering if there was any interest. I appreciate the feedback.

[blm]

4. Post this in GD so they can see how a real media covers important stories.

.

[TayTay]

5. Done and thanks!

I gave it a slightly different header.