Patriot Post Vol. 08 No. 25 | 20 June 2008
NATIONAL SECURITY
Warfront with Jihadistan: Khan affair
In January 2004, Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan confessed to being the ringleader of a clandestine nuclear proliferation network that provided sensitive uranium enrichment technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Khan’s admission was the result of a decade of surveillance by American and British intelligence, though these agencies stopped short of claiming that Khan’s network provided actual designs for nuclear weapons to rogue states. After the dissolution of the Khan network, the Central Intelligence Agency and Secret Intelligence Service continued to investigate leads while the Pakistani government placed Khan under house arrest and declared “the A. Q. Khan affair to be over.”
Not quite. The story of the Khan network took a sinister turn this week when David Albright, a prominent expert on nuclear weapons, published a report saying that designs for an advanced, compact nuclear warhead were found on computers owned by Swiss businessmen who were members of Khan’s smuggling ring. “To many of these countries, it’s all about size and weight,” Albright said in an interview. “They need to be able to fit the device on the missiles they have.” The warhead depicted in the blueprints is of Pakistani origin and is small enough that it could easily be mounted on a medium-range ballistic missile.
U.S. intelligence officials, along with the UN’s nuclear “watchdog,” the IAEA, oversaw the destruction of more than a terabyte of seized data, including the blueprints in question. However, none of the Western intelligence services have any idea how many times the digital blueprints were copied and distributed. If Iran or North Korea received copies of the design, there is no question that their nuclear weapons programs have made a giant leap in a very short period of time. Just a month ago, nuclear proliferation experts were taking comfort in the fact that Iran would not be able to design a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on its Shahab III ballistic missile anytime in the near future. That assumption has been obliterated by the latest revelations about the Khan network.
Of course, the CIA will not comment on the report, citing ongoing national security issues, but former CIA director George Tenet acknowledged in 2007 that the agency had sources in the Khan network for at least a decade. For more on how the CIA short-circuited Khan’s connections, read our 2004 analysis, “On the trail of nuclear terror.”
This week’s ‘Alpha Jackass’ award
“Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security.” —Richard Danzig, Barack Obama’s choice for National Security Adviser, should Obama be elected president
Military Readiness: More charges dropped
Seven down, one to go. The case of the “Iraq My Lai Massacre,” in which U.S. Marines were accused of illegally gunning down Iraqi civilians in Haditha, continued unraveling this week. For the seventh time, charges against one of the eight Marines accused in the incident were dismissed, leaving just one case left. Military judge Colonel Steven Folsom dismissed charges without prejudice against Lt. Colonel Jeffrey Chessani after finding that a general who was overseeing the Haditha investigation was improperly influenced by one of his investigators. “Unlawful command influence is the mortal enemy of military justice. In order to restore the public confidence, we need to take it back. We need to turn the clock back,” Colonel Folsom said in a not-too-subtle rebuke of the Haditha investigation. Colonel Folsom also barred the Marine Forces Central Command from future involvement in the case, another indication of his obvious displeasure with how the case was handled. This leaves only Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich to face charges of voluntary manslaughter. Given the prosecution’s 0-for-seven record thus far, chances are probably good that these charges will be dismissed as well.
Here we would point out once again that Rep. “Fightin”’ John Murtha (D-Haditha), who said at the time that our Marines “killed innocent civilians in cold blood,” has had no comment on the dismissals. And the Leftmedia, which wanted another My Lai so badly that they rushed to condemn our Marines before the facts were known, have been shamelessly silent about how the case has turned out. Apparently, being treasonous means never having to say you’re sorry.
Profiles of valor: USA Major Ford
Major Sheffield Ford III was leading a U.S. Army Special Forces unit in Afghanistan in June 2006 when Taliban fighters overwhelmed their position. The 16 Americans and 46 Afghan Army soldiers under Ford’s command, working to re-establish order in a village, were surrounded by Taliban. As darkness fell, the attack began. The terrorist fighters directed machine-gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades at the American and Afghan allies from three directions. During the night, however, the Taliban fighters withdrew, so the next day, Ford ordered a team into the suspected hideout. More than 200 jihadis quickly poured out, splitting the allies in two. Despite the odds, Ford organized a rescue mission for two wounded Americans and the accompanying troops that were split from the main group. Combat was at times so close that the Taliban were beckoning the Afghan fighters to lay down their arms, saying, “We can forgive you; just put your weapons down and walk away. We want the Americans alive.” Ford rallied the men, however, and they answered his call by continuing the fight. Ford was able to lead an evacuation, including the wounded, under cover from Apache helicopters. His unit had more than 120 confirmed kills, while losing only two Americans and three Afghan soldiers. For his accomplishments, Major Ford received the Silver Star.