Will any of our allies and friends ever trust us in future?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Ram Narayanan <ramn_wins () adelphia net>
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 11:18:25 -0600
To: <dave () farber net>
Subject: Will any of our allies and friends ever trust us in future?

Dear Dave:
 
Why does the US administration indulge in blatant lies in order to protect a
turn coat dictator?
 
Will any of our allies ever trust us (America) in future?
 
Ram Narayanan
 
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50241-2005Mar19.html
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50241-2005Mar19.html>
 
WASHINGTON POST
 
U.S. Misled Allies About Nuclear Export
North Korea Sent Material To Pakistan, Not to Libya
By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 20, 2005; Page A01

In an effort to increase pressure on North Korea, the Bush administration
told its Asian allies in briefings earlier this year that Pyongyang had
exported nuclear material to Libya. That was a significant new charge, the
first allegation that North Korea was helping to create a new nuclear
weapons state. 

But that is not what U.S. intelligence reported, according to two officials
with detailed knowledge of the transaction. North Korea, according to the
intelligence, had supplied uranium hexafluoride -- which can be enriched to
weapons-grade uranium -- to Pakistan. It was Pakistan, a key U.S. ally with
its own nuclear arsenal, that sold the material to Libya. The U.S.
government had no evidence, the officials said, that North Korea knew of the
second transaction.

Pakistan's role as both the buyer and the seller was concealed to cover up
the part played by Washington's partner in the hunt for al Qaeda leaders,
according to the officials, who discussed the issue on the condition of
anonymity. In addition, a North Korea-Pakistan transfer would not have been
news to the U.S. allies, which have known of such transfers for years and
viewed them as a business matter between sovereign states.

The Bush administration's approach, intended to isolate North Korea, instead
left allies increasingly doubtful as they began to learn that the briefings
omitted essential details about the transaction, U.S. officials and foreign
diplomats said in interviews. North Korea responded to public reports last
month about the briefings by withdrawing from talks with its neighbors and
the United States. 

In an effort to repair the damage, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is
traveling through East Asia this weekend trying to get the six-nation talks
back on track. The impasse was expected to dominate talks today in Seoul and
then Beijing, which wields the greatest influence with North Korea.

The new details follow a string of controversies concerning the Bush
administration's use of intelligence on weapons of mass destruction. In the
run-up to the Iraq invasion in March 2003, the White House offered a public
case against Iraq that concealed dissent on nearly every element of
intelligence and included interpretations unsupported by the evidence.

A presidential commission studying U.S. intelligence is reviewing the case,
as well as judgments on Iran and North Korea. The Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence also is reviewing evidence on nuclear, chemical and biological
programs suspected in Iran and North Korea.

The United States briefed allies on North Korea in late January and early
February. Shortly afterward, administration officials, speaking to The
Washington Post on the condition of anonymity, said North Korea had sold
uranium hexafluoride to Libya. The officials said the briefing was arranged
to share the information with China, South Korea and Japan ahead of a new
round of hoped-for negotiations on North Korea's nuclear program.

But in recent days, two other U.S. officials said the briefings were hastily
arranged after China and South Korea indicated they were considering bolting
from six-party talks on North Korea. The talks have been seen as largely
ineffectual, but the Bush administration, which refuses to meet bilaterally
with Pyongyang, insists they are critical to curbing North Korea's nuclear
program.

The White House declined to offer an official to comment by name about the
new details concerning Pakistan. A prepared response attributed to a senior
administration official said that the U.S. government "has provided allies
with an accurate account of North Korea's nuclear proliferation activities."

Although the briefings did not mention Pakistan by name, the official said
they made it clear that the sale went through the illicit network operated
by Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Abdel Qadeer Khan. But the briefings
gave no indication that U.S. intelligence believes that the material had
been bought by Pakistan and transferred there from North Korea in a
container owned by the Pakistani government.

They also gave no indication that the uranium was then shipped via a
Pakistani company to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and on to Libya.
Those findings match assessments by the International Atomic Energy Agency,
which is investigating Libya separately. Libya gave up its nuclear weapons
program in December 2003.

Since Pakistan became a key U.S. ally in the hunt for al Qaeda leaders, the
administration has not held President Pervez Musharraf accountable for
actions taken by Khan while he was a member of Musharraf's cabinet and in
charge of nuclear cooperation for the government.

"The administration is giving Pakistan a free ride when they don't deserve
it and hurting U.S. interests at the same time," said Charles L. Pritchard,
who was the Bush administration's special envoy for the North Korea talks
until August 2003.

"As our allies get the full picture, it doesn't help our credibility with
them," he said. 

Pritchard, now a Brookings Institution fellow, and others had initially
raised questions about the Libya connection when it became public last
month. No one in the administration has been willing to discuss the uranium
sale publicly. 

In testimony to Congress last month, CIA Director Porter J. Goss spoke
extensively about North Korea's nuclear arsenal and capabilities. But he
gave no indication the intelligence community believed that North Korea had
supplied nuclear materials to Libya, that it was capable of producing
uranium hexafluoride or that it was a member of the nuclear black market.

Two years ago, U.S. officials told allies that North Korea was trying to
assemble an enrichment facility that would turn uranium hexafluoride into
bomb-grade material.

But China and South Korea, in particular, have been skeptical of those
assertions and are becoming increasingly wary of pressuring North Korea.

The National Security Council briefings in late January and early February,
by senior NSC officials Michael J. Green and William Tobey, were intended to
do just that by keeping the spotlight solely on North Korea.

Pakistan was mentioned only once in the briefing paper, and in a context
that emphasized Pyongyang's guilt. "Pakistani press reports have said the
uranium came from North Korea," according to the briefing paper, which was
read to The Post.

After initial press reports about the briefing appeared last month,
Pyongyang announced that it possessed nuclear weapons and would not return
to the six-party talks.

Pritchard said North Korea's reaction was "absolutely linked" to the
Green-Tobey trip. 

The United States tried to persuade North Korea to return to the talks, but
without success. The North Korean leadership responded with a list of
conditions, including a demand that Rice apologize for calling it an
"outpost of tyranny."

During the first stop on her Asian tour, Rice used noticeably softer
language on North Korea, telling a Tokyo audience that the U.S. offer was
open to negotiation, and that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il should grab
the opportunity. 

Staff writer Glenn Kessler contributed to this report from Seoul.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

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