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Date Posted: 12:16:34 12/03/01 Mon
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/breaking/1031attacks-nuclear-ON.html
U.S. fears nuclear experts helped bin Laden
USA TODAY
Oct. 31, 2001 08:20:00
WASHINGTON - Pakistan's recent detention of two prominent Pakistani nuclear scientists with ties to Afghanistan's Taliban regime has set off alarms within the Bush administration and among nuclear experts.
Their worry: The possibility that the scientists, one of them a pioneer in Pakistan's nuclear energy program, might have helped Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terrorist network develop nuclear weapons.
"It's very intriguing and obviously raises the question of: Did they provide anything?" says David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security and a leading authority on Pakistan's nuclear program. "We think this case should be investigated much more thoroughly than I think the Pakistanis would like to."
U.S. officials say there is no definitive intelligence on whether bin Laden has any nuclear capability. But, in a 1999 interview with ABC, bin Laden said he considered his quest for such weapons his "religious duty."
U.S. officials say he has made numerous attempts over the years to purchase nuclear material:
- The London Sunday Times reported in October that British officials are investigating claims that al-Qaida representatives tried to buy spent nuclear fuel rods from a Bulgarian nuclear plant.
- Jamal Ahmed al-Fadl, a prosecution witness who testified against bin Laden last year in a case concerning the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, said he tried to help al-Qaida obtain enriched uranium from Sudan in 1993-94.
- U.S. officials remain concerned about the sale or theft of so-called suitcase-size nuclear devices designed by the former Soviet Union.
Because of this history, U.S. officials are closely monitoring the Pakistani case, which began when authorities picked up Sultan Bashiru-Din Mahmood and Abdul Majid last week for questioning about their ties to Afghanistan. Pakistani officials said their interest in the two men had nothing to do with concerns about them passing nuclear secrets.
A Pakistani diplomat in Washington said Mahmood is being questioned about his work with a relief group that has operated in Afghanistan with the backing of Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.
"There are certain questions that we need to ask him," Major Gen. Rashid Qureshi, a spokesman for President Pervez Musharraf, said in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Mahmood was released last weekend but taken back into custody Monday. His family said Wednesday that he has been hospitalized after suffering chest pains.
Majid is a junior colleague of Mahmood and is seen as a lesser security risk, U.S. officials say.
Pakistani authorities said neither man was involved in Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, but instead with nuclear reactors. Pakistan is believed to have enough fissionable material for 30 to 50 nuclear bombs or warheads and 10 or more reactors or other nuclear facilities, according to U.S. estimates.
U.S. officials say privately that they believe Mahmood has played a more prominent role in nuclear weapons design than Pakistan has indicated.
Mahmood, according to U.S. experts, took early retirement from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission in 1998 and has since devoted his time to welfare work, particularly within Afghanistan.
Administration officials continue to receive assurances from Musharraf that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal and the scientists who oversee it are uncompromised.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday he is confident that Musharraf "understands the importance of ensuring that all elements of his nuclear program are safe and secure."
Still, the murky nature of the detentions has unsettled many experts. Press reports in Pakistan, citing Pakistani intelligence sources, say Mahmood also has been questioned by U.S. intelligence officials. A CIA spokesman would not confirm or deny the reports.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, says it's hard to draw a clear link between al-Qaida and Pakistan's nuclear program. "But what it does indicate is a continuing concern at the official level in Pakistan about the safety and security of that arsenal," he says.
Experts say bin Laden would face huge technological obstacles in building a nuclear bomb, but a small-scale device would be within al-Qaida's reach if it could buy or create nuclear material.
Analysts say bin Laden also might be able to build a "dirty bomb" that wouldn't cause a nuclear explosion but could spread enough radioactivity to kill thousands in an urban environment.
Copyright 2001, azcentral.com. All rights reserved.
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