It has been more then a month since the US journalist Seymour Hersh’s story was published in the New Yorker. However, the most alarming aspects to it, relevant to Pakistani nuclear capability have not been fully understood so far. The internal composition of the US covert elite forces, trained to seize Pakistani nuclear weapons in real emergency missed the public eye in his much talked about article and betrays its real mandate. The squad includes terrorism, non-proliferation experts from the FBI, Department of Energy and Pentagon.
The inclusion of Department of Energy in this covert elite squad reflects the ulterior US motives as the US department is directly responsible for maintaining America’s own nuclear weapons. Why would the US need its DoE experts in US Special Forces unless their role includes specifically dealing with nuclear weapons, which obviously are not present in either Afghanistan or Iraq, the two current war theatres of US force employment? Their single most important mandate is obviously to seize Pakistani nukes under a perceived threat either posed by the militants or in case of a military coup. Quoting a senior US Defence Department intelligence expert, Mr. Hersh wrote that a similar team, from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, was put on red alert to take care of Pakistani nuclear components. The mission was aborted and team recalled since the intelligence was false. Hersh has also raised the risks of mutiny by the extremists inside the Pakistani military. His lengthy report is full of self defeating contradictions and a good fiction reading. He blows hot and cold in the same breath—Pakistan would never allow access of its nuclear arsenals to US and it is indeed deceiving the latter about the real location of its nuclear arsenals and then he claims that American officials were once made to see Pakistan’s nuclear weapons stockpiles. Such incoherent cock and bull story is not expected from a seasoned journalist of Hersh’s stature and points towards where he got the prepared script from. Pakistanis take a lot of pride in their nukes and were ready to eat grass, as Bhutto said, in developing the deterrent against India. Were it not nukes; India would have attacked Pakistan on many occasions. It is unthinkable that any emotionally charged extremist Pakistani will seize control of the nukes—but such insane people, if any, will do just the opposite. It appears that CIA sponsored American think tanks and some sold outs want to terrify the world from Pakistani nukes in a well orchestrated psychological warfare against it and includes both people in and out of Pakistan. It is important to understand Pakistani psyche; they may appear disunited on many issues but once it comes to cricket and nukes you find them standing shoulder to shoulder. This malicious media campaign dates back to 1998 nuclear blasts of Pakistan. Such is the Pakistani public distrust with Americans that many believe U.S State Department’s clarifications to merely be hogwash and the latter is actually running an imperialist crusade backstage. Admiral Mullen, the US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, categorically negated that he and Pak Army COAS have any understanding regarding the availability of American forces in case of mutiny or a terrorist threat to a nuclear facility. He also denied the presence and involvement of any military units, Special Forces or otherwise, on such an assignment. Will the Pakistanis trust Seymour Hersh or the US government? Instead they think that besides U.S and Western media and their think tanks their governments are also working overtime to create a scare about the safety of Pakistan’s nukes. This wave of media hostility took centre stage in January once Obama took office. First it was Bruce Riedel’s claim that Pakistan was proliferating and expanding its nuclear program by purchasing new power plants from China. Perhaps he forgot to trace back the history of U.S nuclear weapons proliferation, where most of the nuclear scientists at the Manhattan Project, were European expatriates, who stole nuclear secrets from Germany, Italy, Austria and the Scandinavian countries. The West follows a three pronged rhetoric: Pakistan’s nuclear program should be under civilian control; it is likely to be overtaken by extremists Islamic militants and within military, it may be taken over by officers and men with fundamentalist views. Is it aimed at creating a wedge between the both? The fact remains that there is no difference of opinion between the two on the issues related to their nukes. And again a quick view of command and control structure will dispel such impression. While there is no evidence of presence of rogue elements in Pakistani military, and even if we assume there are some, they are not as disillusioned as the US army major who killed more than a dozen of his colleagues at the Fort Hood recently. By this standard American nuclear arsenal is equally unsafe and it will be a good idea that it takes some lessons from Pakistan in how to defend these. The wishful ideas like securing Pakistani arsenal’s trigger mechanisms and whisking them away in a slow transport aircraft make the Hersh article looks like a comic reading. By institutionalizing its nuclear command and control structure, Pakistan has reduced the chances of pilferage or unwanted incursions aimed at its nukes. Over the period, the export control regulations have been further augmented by incorporating the modern safety and security apparatus, thus ensuring absolute security of the facilities at the indigenous level. If compared to India, Russia and Britain; Pakistan has proven to be the most responsible nuclear weapon state in the comity of nations. Everyone knows that American nuclear armed missiles were carried on fighter aircrafts without any political or high-command approval, Indian nuclear scientists disappeared with nuclear material and later found dead, and the chemical and nuclear materials of both were mishandled thus claiming thousands of innocent lives. Seeing the sensitive nature of the matter; it is expected that our allies must desist from passing irresponsible comments on the Pakistani nukes. The current phase of the psychological warfare against the Pakistani nukes must cease. Such reports indeed promote Indian view point, which considers a nuclear Pakistan as the biggest barrier in its super power ambitions.
The inclusion of Department of Energy in this covert elite squad reflects the ulterior US motives as the US department is directly responsible for maintaining America’s own nuclear weapons. Why would the US need its DoE experts in US Special Forces unless their role includes specifically dealing with nuclear weapons, which obviously are not present in either Afghanistan or Iraq, the two current war theatres of US force employment? Their single most important mandate is obviously to seize Pakistani nukes under a perceived threat either posed by the militants or in case of a military coup. Quoting a senior US Defence Department intelligence expert, Mr. Hersh wrote that a similar team, from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, was put on red alert to take care of Pakistani nuclear components. The mission was aborted and team recalled since the intelligence was false. Hersh has also raised the risks of mutiny by the extremists inside the Pakistani military. His lengthy report is full of self defeating contradictions and a good fiction reading. He blows hot and cold in the same breath—Pakistan would never allow access of its nuclear arsenals to US and it is indeed deceiving the latter about the real location of its nuclear arsenals and then he claims that American officials were once made to see Pakistan’s nuclear weapons stockpiles. Such incoherent cock and bull story is not expected from a seasoned journalist of Hersh’s stature and points towards where he got the prepared script from. Pakistanis take a lot of pride in their nukes and were ready to eat grass, as Bhutto said, in developing the deterrent against India. Were it not nukes; India would have attacked Pakistan on many occasions. It is unthinkable that any emotionally charged extremist Pakistani will seize control of the nukes—but such insane people, if any, will do just the opposite. It appears that CIA sponsored American think tanks and some sold outs want to terrify the world from Pakistani nukes in a well orchestrated psychological warfare against it and includes both people in and out of Pakistan. It is important to understand Pakistani psyche; they may appear disunited on many issues but once it comes to cricket and nukes you find them standing shoulder to shoulder. This malicious media campaign dates back to 1998 nuclear blasts of Pakistan. Such is the Pakistani public distrust with Americans that many believe U.S State Department’s clarifications to merely be hogwash and the latter is actually running an imperialist crusade backstage. Admiral Mullen, the US Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, categorically negated that he and Pak Army COAS have any understanding regarding the availability of American forces in case of mutiny or a terrorist threat to a nuclear facility. He also denied the presence and involvement of any military units, Special Forces or otherwise, on such an assignment. Will the Pakistanis trust Seymour Hersh or the US government? Instead they think that besides U.S and Western media and their think tanks their governments are also working overtime to create a scare about the safety of Pakistan’s nukes. This wave of media hostility took centre stage in January once Obama took office. First it was Bruce Riedel’s claim that Pakistan was proliferating and expanding its nuclear program by purchasing new power plants from China. Perhaps he forgot to trace back the history of U.S nuclear weapons proliferation, where most of the nuclear scientists at the Manhattan Project, were European expatriates, who stole nuclear secrets from Germany, Italy, Austria and the Scandinavian countries. The West follows a three pronged rhetoric: Pakistan’s nuclear program should be under civilian control; it is likely to be overtaken by extremists Islamic militants and within military, it may be taken over by officers and men with fundamentalist views. Is it aimed at creating a wedge between the both? The fact remains that there is no difference of opinion between the two on the issues related to their nukes. And again a quick view of command and control structure will dispel such impression. While there is no evidence of presence of rogue elements in Pakistani military, and even if we assume there are some, they are not as disillusioned as the US army major who killed more than a dozen of his colleagues at the Fort Hood recently. By this standard American nuclear arsenal is equally unsafe and it will be a good idea that it takes some lessons from Pakistan in how to defend these. The wishful ideas like securing Pakistani arsenal’s trigger mechanisms and whisking them away in a slow transport aircraft make the Hersh article looks like a comic reading. By institutionalizing its nuclear command and control structure, Pakistan has reduced the chances of pilferage or unwanted incursions aimed at its nukes. Over the period, the export control regulations have been further augmented by incorporating the modern safety and security apparatus, thus ensuring absolute security of the facilities at the indigenous level. If compared to India, Russia and Britain; Pakistan has proven to be the most responsible nuclear weapon state in the comity of nations. Everyone knows that American nuclear armed missiles were carried on fighter aircrafts without any political or high-command approval, Indian nuclear scientists disappeared with nuclear material and later found dead, and the chemical and nuclear materials of both were mishandled thus claiming thousands of innocent lives. Seeing the sensitive nature of the matter; it is expected that our allies must desist from passing irresponsible comments on the Pakistani nukes. The current phase of the psychological warfare against the Pakistani nukes must cease. Such reports indeed promote Indian view point, which considers a nuclear Pakistan as the biggest barrier in its super power ambitions.
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