What’s that you ask? What does Barack Obama have to do with A.Q. Khan, the “father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb? Excellent question; I’m glad you asked. Give me a few moments and I’ll get around to answering it.
But first, let’s consider Pakistan. In the aftermath of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto the media has been full of stories in which dutifully concerned experts wring their hand and wrinkle their brows about the prospects of Pakistan descending into anarchy and its nuclear arsenal falling into the “wrong hands (code for al-Qaeda).
Such stories are inevitably accompanied by references to A.Q. Khan, the Pakistani metallurgist who quit his job in Europe, working for a uranium enrichment consortium, and brought back plans and blueprints that enabled Pakistan to master the uranium enrichment process and develop nuclear weapons.
While Khan was not actually the “father” of Pakistan’s bomb his help was critical and he subsequently became a wealthy and important man. That lead to his eventual downfall, because after setting up a global black market network to import the equipment and materials necessary for Pakistan’s enrichment program he eventually branched out into the export business, providing nuclear technology and equipment to other countries trying to develop nuclear weapons, such as North Korea and Libya. And some of his equipment was also purchased by Iran. So successful was he in this that his network became known as the one stop shopping center for nuclear wannabees; a “Nuclear Wal-Mart” as the IAEA referred to him.
