One of the apparant diplomatic reverses that the newspapers and mass media are not following up is that of the curious case of A.Q. Khan. The reputed father of the nuclear program for Pakistan, and thus of the Islamic nuclear bomb, at last report was merely under house arrest.
According to newspaper clippings, the original deal was that Pakistan would let the US hunt through its territory for Osama bin Laden (still not captured by the US) IN EXCHANGE FOR the U.S. letting A.Q. Khan being kept merely under house arrest. Press reports assert that A.Q. Khan was the alleged mastermind behind an international black market in nuclear weapons technology--and that some of it was destined for Libyia (since deactivated), North Korea, Iran and in some mentions Saudi Arabia. For a fuller treatment, see globalsecurity.org) (Continued)
The question to be raised here--by Helen Thomas or other enterprising reporter--is what is being done about this? Khan remains lightly covered in the press, mainly in connection with Iran, and press reports cite him as an authority.
However, in the book India's Nuclear Bomb, if you look up all the references to A.Q. Khan, there emerges some doubt as to how seriously he was taken by fellow scientists.
Khan, a metallurgist, was criticized by India's scientists as not having the right discipline to head up a nuclear program, and India preferred to use physicists as much as possible.
Khan also has a curious habit of showing up when saber-rattling becomes intense, and generally makes the situation worse. Take the time period 1985, when the US had an interest in utilizing the services of Pakistan while the Soviets were in Afghanistan. Tensions flared between India and Pakistan over border disputes, and Khan appeared by his statements to make a conventional conflict worse, until India Ravhi Gandhi and Pakistan's Zia both concluded NOT to conduct pre-emptive nuclear strikes over the siguation. (Sort of a parallel to the tensions of the Cuban blockade under JFK).
Similar aggravating experiences occurred in 1986, with Operation BrassTacks, and in 1991-92, as the border disputes intensified, and 1997.
If you look at his bio in globalsecurity.org, you'll notice the curious fact that the CIA convinced the Dutch nuclear engineering subcontractor to allow A.Q. Khan to go to Pakistan, with stolen plans, ostensibly because the agency wanted to see where the trail would lead.
Well, so far it seems that his trail has led to house arrest, and the reason he was let off so lightly, in part, was to keep good relations with Pakistan so the US could capture Osama bin Laden. No part of this deal seems a successful trade-off. This is the responsibility of Colin Powell, when he was Secretary of State, and now the problem has been inherited by Condoleeza Rice.
Something in the globalsecurity.org website should send chills up the normal person's spine. I.E., simulations of a small nuke into the US project the number of killed at 100,000 persons, and economic damage at $1 Trillion. That's a very expensive potential.