Author: Patrick E. Tyler and David
E. Sanger
Publication: The New York Times
Date: January 7, 2004
Pakistan was the source of the centrifuge
design technology that made it possible for Libya to make major strides
in the last two years in enriching uranium for use in nuclear weapons,
Bush administration officials in Washington and other Western experts said
Monday.
The officials emphasized that they
possessed no evidence that the Pakistani government of President Pervez
Musharraf - a crucial ally in the pursuit of Al Qaeda - knew about the
transfer of technology to Libya, which helped finance Pakistan's early
nuclear weapons program three decades ago. Many of the centrifuge parts
that Libya imported, and which Italy intercepted in October, were manufactured
in Malaysia, according to experts familiar with the continuing investigation.
The timing of the transfer of the
centrifuge design from Pakistan calls into question General Musharraf's
ability to make good on his vow to President Bush that he would rein in
Pakistani scientists selling their nuclear expertise around the globe.
The general made that pledge shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks
in the United States. Yet the main aid to Libya appears to have come since
those attacks, suggesting that Pakistani scientists may have continued
their trade even after the explicit warning.
"It has all the hallmarks of a Pakistani
system," a senior official in Washington said. "These guys are now three
for three as supplier to the biggest proliferation problems we have," the
official added, referring to previously disclosed Pakistani aid to the
nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran.
Libya agreed on Dec. 19 to dismantle
its nuclear program and open itself to full inspections, which have already
begun. But on Monday Mr. Bush issued a statement saying American economic
sanctions against Libya would continue until it takes "concrete steps"
to disarm.
The president pointed the way to
a lifting of sanctions, however. "As Libya takes tangible steps to address
those concerns," Mr. Bush said in a statement to Congress, "the United
States will in turn take reciprocal tangible steps to recognize Libya's
progress."
The United States and Britain have
declined to identify publicly the sources of uranium enrichment technology
shipped to Libya. They still will not discuss the origin of many of the
parts that Libya obtained from middlemen and dealers. Those shipments are
often hard to trace; the ship containing the Malaysian-made components
in October picked them up in Dubai, a major transshipment point for both
legitimate and banned technology.
One Western diplomat said Monday
that some Pakistani nuclear scientists operated as though they were running
"Nukes 'R' Us."
Still, a senior Bush administration
official said it would be wrong to say the Pakistani government was involved
in the shipment.
"This is intellectual property,"
the official said, "and the technology of uranium enrichment is out there
on the black market." He added that to say the government of General Musharraf
was involved would be like saying "an American drug smuggler arrested on
the border was working for the United States government."
While Washington has waxed eloquent
over the Libyan decision to disarm, some officials are concerned that Col.
Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader, could change his mind, especially
if the United States does not to act on an implicit pledge to lift the
economic sanctions.
To speed disarmament, the United
States, Britain and Libya have agreed to begin negotiations later this
week in London to work out detailed plans to verify and dismantle Libya's
nuclear, chemical and other weapons programs.
Senior Western officials said Monday
that over the weekend, the United States and Britain agreed on a common
approach after a visit to London by John R. Bolton, the under secretary
of state in charge of nonproliferation matters.
Separately on Monday, the British
foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said in the House of Commons that he had
invited the Libyan foreign minister, Abdelrahman Shalqam, to come to London
"soon" to discuss "the process of implementing the decision by Libya to
dismantle its weapons programs." After the mechanics of a disarmament plan
are worked out, Mr. Straw said, it will then be Libya's responsibility
to report separately to the international agencies that will undertake
the long-term monitoring of military laboratories in Libya to ensure that
it does not renege on its pledges to give up illicit programs.
"We have committed ourselves to
helping with the preparation" of Libya's submissions to the international
treaty agencies, Mr. Straw said, "and to helping dismantle the programs
Libya has agreed to destroy."
Mr. Straw's statement appeared to
be a carefully calibrated division of labor among the main players in Libya's
disarmament, and spoke of relevant international agencies playing a part,
at least after initial talks.
Earlier comments from senior Bush
administration officials had suggested that there was an effort by Washington
to sideline Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency,
which he heads, from playing a key role in setting out a plan for dismantling
Libya's nuclear program.
Monday's statements in London and
by a senior American official suggested that Mr. ElBaradei would initially
play a subordinate role as Britain and the United States move swiftly to
inventory the full scope of Libya's illicit weapons programs and then take
a prominent role in their dismantling.
In his statement to the Britsh commons
today, Mr. Straw alluded to the coming negotiations in London that will
be carried out by diplomats from the three countries along with Central
Intelligence Agency experts, British intelligence officers and Mr. Kussa,
a Western official said.
"Britain and the United States will
now be taking forward the practical issues of verification and of the dismantling
of these weapons in partnership with Libya" and the international agencies
that monitor the treaties banning the spread of nuclear and chemical weapons.
However, a senior Bush administration
official said by telephone from the United States that personnel from the
I.A.E.A. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will
not be present for the London talks.
Patrick E. Tyler reported from Tripoli,
Libya, for this article and David E. Sanger from Washington.