Wadaich
Prime Minister (20k+ posts)
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news...-bomb-escaped-mossad-assassination-1.10282556
Abdul Qadeer (A.Q.) Khan who has just died at the age of 85 from COVID-19, is considered a national hero in Pakistan, his homeland. There, and worldwide, he has been dubbed the "Father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons." But he could equally be called as the Godfather of Iran’s nuclear program. Born in India in 1936, Khan moved with his family in the wake of partition to Pakistan in 1952. In 1972, at the age of 36, he was sent to specialize in a Dutch laboratory and workshop, which was part of the European URENCO consortium, building centrifuges to enrich uranium.
Khan stole their documents and plans but then, in 1975, he was exposed by Dutch intelligence and fled to Pakistan. There, he persuaded the reluctant prime minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, to start a nuclear program to match India’s nuclear weapons.
By pure coincidence, the same year, Arnon Milchan, future Hollywood tycoon and then an Israeli spy, was also involved in a similar theft. Milchan and Israel’s 'Scientific Liaison Bureau' intelligence unit bought URENCO’s drawings of centrifuges from a German engineer and built similar centrifuges in Dimona for Israel’s nuclear weapons.
Abdul Qadeer Khan (fifth from left) with other officials outside the iron-steel tunnel inside the Räs Koh Hills in 1998 just before Pakistan carried out its first public nuclear weapons test
After helping his home country build a significant nuclear arsenal, Khan retired and opened an unusual private business. He set up shop in Dubai and from there ran a convoluted and secretive global network of helpers, engineers, contractors, and financiers, offering other states his nuclear knowhow, tradecraft, technology, and equipment. The network rented workshops, factories, offices, and computer centers in several countries including Malaysia, North Korea, and Switzerland, to name a few.
Clothed with the aura of the nuclear genius who facilitated the first "Muslim bomb," A.Q. Khan traveled extensively during the late 80’s and early 90’s throughout the Middle East, offering his services. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and even Syria rejected his mercenary approach of bombs for bucks. Iran and Libya did accept, but altered the terms and scope of the offer.
Israel's intelligence service, led at the time by Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit, took note of Khan’s traveling in the region. But, as Shavit told me a decade and a half ago, Mossad and Aman (military intelligence) did not understand what Khan was up to.
A.Q. Khan will go down in history as the scientist who took Pakistan nuclear, the shady businessman who became the biggest ever private nuclear proliferator, and as that rare bird – a survivor in the lethal world of nuclear geopolitics and counter-intelligence.
He is among the few nuclear scientists who helped Israel’s enemies acquire game-changing strategic military capacities who was not assassinated by the Mossad, and died in his bed of natural causes.
Shavit added that had he and his colleagues correctly interpreted Khan’s intentions, he would have considered sending a Mossad team to kill Khan and thus "change the course of history," at least in the context of Israel-Iran relations.
Abdul Qadeer (A.Q.) Khan who has just died at the age of 85 from COVID-19, is considered a national hero in Pakistan, his homeland. There, and worldwide, he has been dubbed the "Father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons." But he could equally be called as the Godfather of Iran’s nuclear program. Born in India in 1936, Khan moved with his family in the wake of partition to Pakistan in 1952. In 1972, at the age of 36, he was sent to specialize in a Dutch laboratory and workshop, which was part of the European URENCO consortium, building centrifuges to enrich uranium.
Khan stole their documents and plans but then, in 1975, he was exposed by Dutch intelligence and fled to Pakistan. There, he persuaded the reluctant prime minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, to start a nuclear program to match India’s nuclear weapons.
By pure coincidence, the same year, Arnon Milchan, future Hollywood tycoon and then an Israeli spy, was also involved in a similar theft. Milchan and Israel’s 'Scientific Liaison Bureau' intelligence unit bought URENCO’s drawings of centrifuges from a German engineer and built similar centrifuges in Dimona for Israel’s nuclear weapons.
Abdul Qadeer Khan (fifth from left) with other officials outside the iron-steel tunnel inside the Räs Koh Hills in 1998 just before Pakistan carried out its first public nuclear weapons test
After helping his home country build a significant nuclear arsenal, Khan retired and opened an unusual private business. He set up shop in Dubai and from there ran a convoluted and secretive global network of helpers, engineers, contractors, and financiers, offering other states his nuclear knowhow, tradecraft, technology, and equipment. The network rented workshops, factories, offices, and computer centers in several countries including Malaysia, North Korea, and Switzerland, to name a few.
Clothed with the aura of the nuclear genius who facilitated the first "Muslim bomb," A.Q. Khan traveled extensively during the late 80’s and early 90’s throughout the Middle East, offering his services. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and even Syria rejected his mercenary approach of bombs for bucks. Iran and Libya did accept, but altered the terms and scope of the offer.
Israel's intelligence service, led at the time by Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit, took note of Khan’s traveling in the region. But, as Shavit told me a decade and a half ago, Mossad and Aman (military intelligence) did not understand what Khan was up to.
A.Q. Khan will go down in history as the scientist who took Pakistan nuclear, the shady businessman who became the biggest ever private nuclear proliferator, and as that rare bird – a survivor in the lethal world of nuclear geopolitics and counter-intelligence.
He is among the few nuclear scientists who helped Israel’s enemies acquire game-changing strategic military capacities who was not assassinated by the Mossad, and died in his bed of natural causes.
Shavit added that had he and his colleagues correctly interpreted Khan’s intentions, he would have considered sending a Mossad team to kill Khan and thus "change the course of history," at least in the context of Israel-Iran relations.
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