During the first presidential debate, Bush glowed as he proudly told the audience that the AQ Khan network had been "brought to justice". AQ Khan was, in fact, pardoned and now
Pakistan is refusing to let the IAEA interview Khan. This is yet another example of what Bush considers as "justice".
ElBaradei said Qadeer Khan's network had "more than 30 companies and 30 countries all over the globe involved in this fantastic sophisticated illicit trafficking." But, he said, "as far as I know Khan has not talked to any non-Pakistani until now."
Pakistan has supplied results from sampling it has conducted itself, but has not allowed the IAEA inspectors into the country to do their own sampling, ElBaradei had said in a report earlier this month. He added the IAEA needed results from its own testing to be able to draw definitive conclusions.
On Thursday, the Chicago tribune in an editorial accused Bush of letting Pakistan "off the hook" by not pressuring Mussharaf.
"Bush didn't even try to persuade Musharraf to allow the US or International Atomic Energy Agency officials a crack at interviewing Abdul Qadeer Khan, the former head of Pakistan's nuclear program and one of the world's most brazen nuclear profiteers," the Daily Times quotes the editorial as saying.
Describing it as a "colossal mistake that could have devastating repercussions," the Chicago Tribune says that "how much trust can the US and the rest of the world have in a regime that so quickly pardons a nuclear outlaw? How much trust can there be for a regime that denies any of its officials - even in its most powerful institution, the army - knew anything about Khan's dealings?"
"The world may never know exactly who bought from Khan's network. And that is intolerable," it adds.
Pakistan is a not a signator to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NNPT) and is using that fact to bolster its' claim that it doesn't have a legal responsibility to allow the IAEA to question Khan.
Once again, we see how Bush simplifies the facts in order to spin them as a victory when, in fact, information gleaned from AQ Khan could have far reaching effects in the hunt for information about what Bush and Kerry agreed was the most important priority for the United States: nuclear non-proliferation. In the meantime, keep your eye on the situation with Iran. The Bush administration is pushing up hard against that country, setting the stage for war, as it quietly gives Pakistan a pass.
Are we safer with Bush in charge? There is no doubt that we are not.