The Guardian, Saturday 13 October 2007 The man who knew too much He was the CIA's expert on Pakistan's nuclear secrets, but Rich Barlow was thrown out and disgraced when he blew the whistle on a US cover-up. Now he's to have his day in court. Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark report
Operation Strike of the Sword or Operation Khanjar is an ongoing US-led offensive in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. About Wikipedia 10.7.: 4,000 Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade as well as 650 Afghan troops are involved, suppo
"The contradictions and confusions in U.S. policy in South Asia were on full display during Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's recent visit to India. U.S. support for India, which centers on making money, selling weapons, and turning a blind eye to the c
"Even presidential candidates now talk of keeping "all options on the table," as if a willingness to make nuclear threats is proof of being fit for office. It's hard to imagine a greater incentive for insecure states to seek nuclear weapons." (Bulletin of
Economist, Jan 3rd 2008: "Pakistan's role in developing and disseminating nuclear-weapons technology around the world has long been known to America, a new book contends." “The Nuclear Jihadist” exposes in detail how Mr Khan, an affable, mediocre metallurgist inspired by the dream of an Islamic bomb, stole nuclear technology from the Dutch laboratory in which he was working in the mid-1970s, moved back to Pakistan to build a giant enrichment complex to make the bomb at Kahuta in Punjab province, and then created a nuclear Wal-Mart to sell the parts to others. The authors describe his work as the linchpin of the “second nuclear age”. "The story of Richard Barlow, a CIA agent who once worked in its directorate of intelligence on proliferation, sums up the American attitude." Douglas Frantz, an investigative journalist and former managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, and his wife, Catherine Collins, also a journalist, know how to weave complicated material into a persuasive narrative.
Colin Hallinan on their Diverging Objectives. "Pakistan and the United States may have profoundly different views of one another, but on at least one issue they agree: slightly over 90 percent of Pakistanis would like U.S. troops to go home, and 62 percent of Americans want an immediate cut in U.S. forces. Common ground in this case seems to be based on a strong dose of common sense."
. In an August 2008 cable, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is quoted as saying, "I don't care if they do it as long as they get the right people. We'll protest in the National Assembly and then ignore it." More damaging still, the cables revea
Dawn.com 4 July '09. "Perhaps the story of the Siachen Glacier, the highest battlefield in the world, is the most appropriate metaphor for the insanity of our times... "