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Why is the U.S. Hampering a Swiss Investigation into A.Q.
Khan's International Nuclear Arms Smuggling Ring?
Fmr. Chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix Calls for Permanent
Worldwide Ban on WMDs
How One of New York City's Biggest Landlords is Systematically
Driving Out Thousands of Low-Income Residents
Why is the U.S. Hampering a Swiss Investigation into
A.Q. Khan's International Nuclear Arms Smuggling Ring?
The Bush administration is ignoring requests from Swiss
officials to hand over information that would help prosecute
alleged members of Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan's underground
nuclear network. We speak with the spokesperson for the Swiss
Attorney General, Hansjurg Mark Wiedmer, former U.S. weapons
inspector in Iraq, David Albright and Pakistani physicist,
Zia Mian of Princeton University. [includes rush
transcript]
The Bush administration is being accused of refusing to help
out Switzerland's federal prosecutor try three men at the
center of the world's most notorious nuclear arms smuggling
ring.
The case involves a Swiss man and his two sons who are allegedly
connected to the Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, better
known as AQ Khan.
Khan, who is currently under house arrest in Pakistan, helped
build Pakistan's nuclear weapons program and then secretly
shared the technology with other countries including Iran,
North Korea and Libya.
Two years ago President Bush praised the international community
for working together to disrupt Khan's network.
- President Bush, February 11th, 2004
"Governments around the world worked closely with us
to unravel the Khan network, and to put an end to his criminal
enterprise. A. Q. Khan has confessed his crimes, and his
top associates are out of business." [Full
Transcript]
But behind the scenes, it is a different story.
Over the past year Swiss officials have requested at least
four times that the Bush administration share documents and
evidence related to Khan's nuclear black market. But the United
States has never responded.
Swiss officials maintain it needs U.S. assistance in order
to convict three Swiss men accused of helping AQ Khan set
up a secret Malaysian factory to make components for gas centrifuges.
Last week U.S. weapons expert David Albright testified before
Congress and said, "I find this lack of cooperation frankly
embarrassing to the United States and to those of us who believe
that the United States should take the lead in bringing members
of the Khan network to justice for arming our enemies with
nuclear weapons."
Albright has floated one theory as to why the Bush administration
won't help the Swiss investigators. He says the three Swiss
men accused of bring part of AQ Khan's underground network
may have been working for the CIA and being paid by the U.S.
government.
The CIA has refused to comment on the allegation but former
CIA Director George Tenet acknowledged the Agency had penetrated
Khan's network during a speech at Georgetown University in
February 2004.
- George Tenet, speaking February 5th, 2004
"Now, as you know from the news coming out of Pakistan,
Khan and his network have been dealt a crushing blow, with
several of his senior officers in custody. Malaysian authorities
have shut down one of the network's largest plants. His
network is now answering to the world for years of nuclear
profiteering. What did intelligence have to do with this?
First, we discovered the extent of Khan's hidden network.
We tagged the proliferators. We detected the network stretching
from Pakistan to Europe to the Middle East to Asia offering
its wares to countries like North Korea and Iran. Working
with our British colleagues we pieced together the picture
of the network, revealing its subsidiaries, scientists,
front companies, agents, finances, and manufacturing plants
on three continents. Our spies penetrated the network through
a series of daring operations over several years. Through
this unrelenting effort we confirmed the network was delivering
such things as illicit uranium enrichment centrifuges. And
as you heard me say on the Libya case, we stopped deliveries
of prohibited material. I welcome the President's Commission
looking into proliferation. We have a record and a story
to tell and we want to tell it to those willing to listen."
[Full
transcript]
For more we are joined three guests:
- Hansjurg Mark Wiedmer, spokesperson for the Swiss Attorney
General. He joins us on the line from Bern, Switzerland
- Zia Mian, scholar and activist on South Asian and disarmament
issues at the Centre for Science and Global Security at
Princeton University.
Fmr. Chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix Calls for
Permanent Worldwide Ban on WMDs
Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix called for
a permanent worldwide ban on nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons on Thursday. The recommendation is the central finding
of a major report issued Thursday by the independent Weapons
of Mass Destruction commission, which was headed by Blix.
[includes rush
transcript]
The Commission concluded that "there has been a serious,
and dangerous, loss of momentum and direction in disarmament
and nonproliferation efforts."
Blix also cautioned the United States against attacking Iran
and North Korea. And he estimated Israel has a total of 200
nuclear weapons even though the country has never acknowledged
it even has a nuclear weapons program.
At a press conference at the United Nations, Blix said it
is too dangerous for any country to have nuclear weapons.
- Hans Blix: "The American Rifle Association says
that weapons are not dangerous in themselves, only the people
who hold the weapons. And I can see a sort of echo on that
in the view also of the nuclear weapons, that the nuclear
weapons are not dangerous, per se, only dependent on who
has them. Now the commission does not accept that argument.
We say that, yes, governments, individuals can be more or
less reckless in this world, but the weapons, per se, are
dangerous anywhere, anytime. If you look at the U.S., there
are lots of weapons on hair trigger alert, and the same
applies to Russia. They are dangerous anywhere where they
are. And if you say that, well, let's simply look at the
actors who has them, well, sadly actors change also, governments
change in different countries. You may be satisfied and
say that these are very responsible people, they won't do
anything, but the next day that government may be overthrown,
they may have another one. So the view of the commission
now, they say that these weapons are dangerous in anybody's
hands. That doesn't exclude that some can be more reckless
than others."
Blix also called on Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program.
But he acknowledged that it is understandable why Iran would
feel threatened by the United States. He recalled the U.S.-led
coup that overthrew the democratically elected government
of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953.
- Hans Blix:"We think Iran is described as a threat,
in their enrichment of uranium, is described as a threat
to the whole world, and the commission is also of the view
that it would be desirable that Iran refrain from going
on with enrichment of uranium. But one must also try, if
you want a solution for this, to look at the issue from
the side of the Iranians. They see 130,000 American soldiers
in Iraq and they see American bases in Pakistan and in Afghanistan
and more American military activities to the north of them.
They remember that Mossadegh, who was elected premier, was
ousted with subversive methods from the outside. So it is
not inconceivable that some groups in Iran may feel that
their security is being threatened from the outside."
Blix also criticized the Bush administration for ignoring
the findings of UN weapons inspectors ahead of the Iraq war.
- Hans Blix: "The conclusion I draw is that for the
future, it is desirable to rely upon international inspection,
professional international inspection, and also to make
use of national intelligence. I'm not against it, but national
intelligence must not remote control international verification.
They must give them tips, because they have means which
the international inspection does not have. They have the
means of listening, they have the satellites, they have
the spies, etc. International inspection does not operate
with that, but international inspection has the possibility
of going into the sites, into the buildings, and to demand,
“We want to see this, we want that.” These are
things that these governments cannot use. So a combination
of this is desirable for the future. That's one principle
lesson I draw from the case of Iraq. "
To discuss Blix's remarks and the report from the Independent
Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission we are joined in the
studio by John Burroughs, executive director of the Lawyers"
Committee on Nuclear Policy.
How One of New York City's Biggest Landlords is Systematically
Driving Out Thousands of Low-Income Residents
One of the biggest owners of rent-stabilized apartments
in New York - the Pinnacle Group - is carrying out an aggressive
campaign to chase out many of its low-income and elderly tenants
living in Harlem, the South Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. Democracy
Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez has been reporting on the issue
for the Daily News for the past month. [includes rush
transcript]
We turn now to look at the issue of gentrification and how
it is playing out in certain areas of New York City. One of
the biggest owners of rent-stabilized apartments in New York,
the Pinnacle Group- is carrying out an aggressive campaign
to chase out many of its low-income and elderly tenants living
in Harlem, the South Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. Juan Gonzalez
has been reporting on this for the Daily News for the past
month.
We are joined in our studio by attorney Kim Powell, she is
the head of Buyers and Renters United to Save Harlem, or BRUSH.
We asked a representative from the Pinnacle Group to be on
the program but they declined our invitation.
- Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now! co-host and New York Daily
News columnist.
- Read Juan's articles
in the Daily News.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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