Pakistan Frees Nuclear Dealer in Snub to U.S.
I wonder where he will go next? Iran, perhaps? Syria? There must be many nations willing to pay for his expertise.
Obama needs to reverse at least one more Bush Administration position.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani court freed one of the most successful nuclear proliferators in history, Abdul Qadeer Khan, from house arrest on Friday, lifting the restrictions imposed on him since 2004 when he publicly confessed to running an illicit nuclear network.
The ruling to set him free seemed as much a political decision as a legal one, intended to shore up support for the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, which has been derided in the Pakistani press as being too close to the United States.
President Obama’s spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said the United States wanted assurances from Pakistan that the onetime metallurgist would never be able to sell nuclear expertise or equipment again.
But neither the State Department nor the White House would say whether Mr. Obama was prepared to reverse the Bush administration’s position and demand that Pakistan allow international nuclear inspectors and the Central Intelligence Agency to interview Mr. Khan about his activities over the past 20 years.
I wonder where he will go next? Iran, perhaps? Syria? There must be many nations willing to pay for his expertise.
Obama needs to reverse at least one more Bush Administration position.