The letters, “A.Q.” in A.Q. Khan?

George Bush Jr continues to be enchanted with the thug Musharaff to a fault while the whole world continues to sound alarm sirens. The effects of Blind Love! To beat down the clamour, Musharaff stages dramas once in a while, like this one:

A Q Khan sold N-secrets to Iran: ISI

The truth is confirmed by no less an “insider” agency than the ISI. So what are they going to about it? Some of the news reports on the issue are worthy pieces for contemplation.

The CIA wants him, but is too frustrated with Pakistani non-cooperation in this regard. Its frustration increases by greater and greater degrees because its top heads need to spout nonsense like the following:

“But international politics is a matter in which one has to make compromises. And President Musharraf found it, I am sure, necessary to deal with the matter the way he did in order to maintain his own position in Pakistan and in order to take other steps that are in Pakistan’s and our mutual interest. I share the frustration very much,” he (James Woolsey) said.

And in the next breath, he also has to say this:

“So what you are really worried about, even if there’s no other country that’s doing what Pakistan was doing back years ago, is that there are individuals in, you know, Iran or Korea, other places, that are figuring out even as we speak ways to sell models of this kind of gas centrifuge,” he said.

I’m sure the CIA would love nothing more than placing A.Q. Khan on a medieval torture rack and have their delicious ways of extracting a confession. But Besotted Bush is coming in the way, damn!

Meanwhile, the unbiased and free press in Pakistan is damning the US and other international media for spreading lies, and reporting based on speculation.

For the umpteenth time the US media, this time the weekly Time magazine, has levelled baseless charges against Islamabad…

However, somebody should suggest that the Pakistani press be more careful especially because they’ll be found guilty of the same crime: lying. The following words appear in the above-quoted article:

This is a baseless report as Pakistan has cleaned up the mess of the international black market…

So, does this mean that Pakistan was responsible for the mess? Or did it merely “clean up the mess?” In which case, it must’ve known of all the murky details of the black market, eh? Never mind. The benevolent general, after granting A.Q. Khan a Presidential pardon is standing by him, rock solid. Perhaps we can now understand the CIA’s double-frustration.

However, more and more countries reveal (doesn’t matter how) that they’ve been benefitted by A.Q. Khan’s generosity. It was, initially, Iran, Libya, and N. Korea (not necessarily in that order). Add two more–suspects at this stage–to this list: Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Will the future see this list swell in numbers?

A.Q. Khan is certainly a man with a mission. One that is perfectly in sync with the initials of his name: A.Q.=Al Qaeeda.