Pakistan’s former chief of staff: Iran probably has the bomb
posted at 3:22 pm on May 12, 2006 by Allahpundit
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He would know. He says he met with them about it … fifteen years ago.
The lede is buried ten paragraphs in:
Although analysts are divided on how soon Iran might have nuclear weapons, Beg said he is sure Iran has had enough time to develop them. But he insists the Pakistani government didn’t help, even though he says former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto once told him the Iranians offered more than $4 billion for the technology.
Beg was chief of staff when Pakistan was working on the bomb. As such, he’d have been the man to see. And see him Iran allegedly did:
In the AP interview, Beg detailed nearly 20 years of Iranian approaches to obtain conventional arms and then technology for nuclear weapons. He described an Iranian visit in 1990, when he was army chief of staff.
“They didn’t want the technology. They asked: ‘Can we have a bomb?’ My answer was: By all means you can have it but you must make it yourself. Nobody gave it to us.”…
Another angle on these early contacts comes from Tanvir Ahmed, Pakistan’s ambassador to Iran from 1987-1989. He said he had a rare meeting with Iran’s nuclear inner circle in January 1988.
“It was the only time I was allowed in the inner sanctum of the nuclear discussions. I was asked to a lunch. … they wanted to know whether Pakistan would help them on the nuclear side. They never said they wanted nuclear weapons. They said they wanted to master the nuclear cycle,” Ahmed recalled.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuke program, has admitted to providing weapons technology to Iran — reportedly at the behest of … Mirza Aslam Beg.
Can we trust Beg? According to the AP, their interview with him was conducted several weeks ago. Among other things, he claimed that the Iranians had been to see him recently and asked what they should do to deter an American attack. He suggested announcing that Iran would respond to any attack with a counterattack on Israel.
Here’s what Iran ended up doing.
Uh oh.
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I’ve often suspected the Iranians already have a bomb. Why would they spew the sort of garbage that’s become their hallmark recently BEFORE they built a bomb?
jaleach on May 12, 2006 at 3:54 PM
Exactly, I too believe they have the bomb.
They planned all this crapola for months, then put on a show for weeks, just to antagonize. They would never boast so arrogantly without something more than a underwater missile to back it up. Something just hasn’t seemed right. I hope to hell I’m wrong, but this isnt looking good.
shooter on May 12, 2006 at 4:06 PM
Unless the Iranians purchased a (some?) Nuclear bomb(s) from Russia, China, Pakistan or North Korea (which certainly is within the realm of possibility), I don’t think that they quite have a functional one of their own construction YET.
But it is a matter of just a few months if not mere weeks before they will be able to build their own….
LegendHasIt on May 12, 2006 at 4:50 PM
What we need is a better target list publicized, a list of targets inside Iran that is! That way we can send assurances to friends and relatives located in those target areas that we will love them always, even after they’re gone!
Now, however, a list of Iran’s targets within the USA is highly classified and not subject to scrutiny by infidels such as us! We can guess and practice bending over while gazing into a mirror located behind us. Same goes for Israelis too! Sorry, but that’s how it goes for us sappy infidels! My guess is that the odds of any one of us Yankees biting the nuclear dust is pretty small. However, the same cannot be said about the average Israeli except that exchange rate will be about 25- or more Iranians to one Israeli; small consolation if at all!
Makes me wonder if El Presidente Dictator for the Rest of his Life Ahmadinejad (PBUH) really understands or cares what’s at stake or about the risk he taking for his country! Iranians (PBUT) used to be a proud peoples but now there’s a question of what they except as sheep!
DougW on May 12, 2006 at 4:50 PM
But of course, even if Iran has nukes, we must continue to pursue diplomatic means only to deal with this so we don’t upset the rest of the Arab countries, Russia, China, France, etc. You know, diplomacy – the art of postponing the inevitable until millions, instead of thousands, must die.
Compassionate Crank on May 12, 2006 at 4:51 PM
Use It or Lose It
If not already soon. Probably nothing hugely powerful, maybe enough to kill tens of thousands. They don’t have a failsafe delivery system for anything major, a suicide bomber is probably most likely. I don’t think all of the mullahs are suicidal enough to send anything to Tel Aviv or New York, not to mention the difficulty. Based on Arab political history my guess is they will use it on their neighbors first. Maybe to warn us & raise the price of oil by using it on the Saudis, Iraqis, or Afgans. For sure thats what they’ll do if we attack them in any way, spend their last twenty minutes shooting off whatever they have at whoever they can reach before US Air forces destroys it. They could even be lucky enough to hit one of our ships in the area. It’s a good thing we’ve got bases in Afganistan and Iraq, plenty of Bunker Busters in Israel, and W’s finger on the trigger. Twenty minutes is all they would get, and once that threshold’s crossed it’s over for Iran.
Reality Check on May 12, 2006 at 5:30 PM
Probably? That’s good enough, send in the B-2’s!
Do it now or future generations will ask “Why did we allow Iran to nuke Israel? Why didn’t we just blow the muslim bastids to their satanic paradise with OUR nukes? What were they thinkin’ back then?”
If Bush doesn’t do it by next year then I guess it’ll be Condi’s responsibility in ‘09.
Tony737 on May 13, 2006 at 8:51 AM
I’m no expert, but any Nukes N. Korea, Pakistan or Iran have are probably pretty darn big, like “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” were in WWII. So, they’d need a large jet or ship to deploy it. Does anyone know better?
gmoonster on May 13, 2006 at 4:28 PM
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