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Pakistan proliferation unpunished so US troops could hunt bin Laden: report
WASHINGTON (AFP) Feb 29, 2004
The United States withheld criticism of Pakistan despite leaks of nuclear secrets to Libya and other countries, so long as US troops could launch a search for Osama bin Laden in the Islamic state, said a report released Sunday.

"It's a quid pro quo," a former senior intelligence official told New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh.

"We're going to get our troops inside Pakistan in return for not forcing (Pakistani leader Pervez) Musharraf to deal with (Pakistan's nuclear research director Abdul Qadeer) Khan," who admitted sharing nuclear secrets with US foes Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Musharraf pardoned Khan, who admitted "full responsibility" for the leaks and denied military involvement in his proliferation.

"One thing we know is that this was not a rogue operation," a Bush administration official told The New Yorker.

"Suppose (atom bomb inventor) Edward Teller had suddenly decided to spread nuclear technology and equipment around the world. Do you really think he could do that without the government knowing? How do you get missiles from North Korea to Pakistan? Do you think (Khan) shipped all the centrifuges by Federal Express?"

Hersh's article appeared in the issue of the New York weekly hitting newsstands Monday.

Washington said it had not pressured Islamabad for fear of politically weakening Musharraf, a much-needed ally in President George W. Bush's war on terror.

However, the amount of nuclear know-how Khan made available to hostile nations put the United States in jeopardy, experts told The New Yorker.

"We haven't been this vulnerable since the British burned Washington in 1814," former UN weapons inspector Robert Gallucci told The New Yorker.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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