U.S. aiding Pakistan in guarding nuclear arms - sort of…
If you believe...
“All together now…Do the Hokey Pokey!”
Over the past six years, the Bush administration has spent almost $100 million on a highly classified program to help General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, secure his country’s nuclear weapons, according to current and former senior administration officials.
The aid, buried in secret portions of the federal budget, paid for the training of Pakistani personnel in the United States and the construction of a nuclear security training center in Pakistan, a facility that U.S. officials say is nowhere near completion, even though it was supposed to be in operation this year.
While U.S. officials say that they believe the arsenal is safe at the moment, and that they take at face value Pakistani assurances that security is vastly improved, in many cases the Pakistani government has been reluctant to show U.S. officials how or where the gear is actually used.
The New York Times has known details of the secret program for more than three years, based on interviews with a variety of U.S. officials and nuclear experts, some of whom were concerned that Pakistan’s arsenal remained vulnerable. The newspaper agreed to delay publication of the article after considering a request from the Bush administration, which argued that premature disclosure could hurt the effort to secure the weapons.
Ah - more news not fit to print. Because George W. Bush says so.
I’ll bet everyone else in Asia is reassured by American “oversight” of a petty dictator who sort of supports White House politics.
Posted: Mon - November 19, 2007 at 05:55 AM