It used to be that journalists used to write and truth and stand behind their stories. Today the “so called opinion writers” simply regurgitate false stories, quoting nebulas sources and shady characters. The story published in the independent is full of holes. Mr. Waraich may have an exe to ground, but the least he could have done was quote Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto correctly. Mr. Waraich didn’t even get the most simplest of his tasks right. Mr. Waraich’s entire story is based upon the Seymour Hersh, whom he calls “a respectable journalist”.

Mr. Hersch writes for a magazine that oscillates between the National Inquirer and the written version of the elitist NPR. What can one expect from a magazine that bills itself “the best magazine in the world—perhaps that greatest that ever was”.

Mr. Hersh is “respectable” in fits and starts. His claim to fame was the sensational expose of the Mail Lai massacre of innocent villagers in Vietnam. Since then his pieces are replications of same of similar articles. For example Mr. Hersh’s current article on Pakistani nukes closely resembles the article he wrote while President Pervez Musharraf was in office. That article caused much consternation between Islamabad and Washington with president Musharraf confronting the American president with a copy of the New Yorker. Mr. Bush vehemently denied that any “Delta Force” was poised to take over Pakistani. That story by Mr. Hersh turned out to a lot of bluster. Mr. Hersh’s articles on Tehran’s Nuclear program and the impending US attack on Iran also were of the sensational variety. Mr. Hersh tells a good yarn. For the past three or four years Mr. Hersh has repeatedly published stories about how the US and or Isreal was about to attack Iran. Mr. Hersh’s articles seemed to be well researched and identified the warship movements (real or imaginary), the trips of US officials to various capitals (incidental or deliberate), the placement of US and Israeli war planes (cross-referenced or creative license, and the so called Saudi complicity in the Israeli attack. Well it has been eight years since we have reading Mr. Hersh on the attack on Iran—the Bush presidency came and went and the Obama presidency is will into its first term. However the attacks have not really materialized—except for the subversive activities that have been conducted by Mossad, the CIA and MI6 in Khuzistan (Arabistan) and Sistan.

Mr. Hersh after commenting on the story on the Abu Ghraib prisons made the wild accusation that he had proof of women’s rape centers in Iraq, and once the pictures of the raped women were exposed, the entire Middle East would explode. The pictures or proof of the “women’s Abu Ghraib” never actually materialized.

So on balance one doesn’t know what to believe. 

Both the US and the Pakistani governments have denied the stories.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 11 (UPI) — The United States has no intention of taking control of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal as Islamabad deals with a growing insurgent threat, Washington said.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh writing in The New Yorker implies Washington and Islamabad have made arrangements that "would allow specially trained American units to provide added security for the Pakistani arsenal in case of a crisis."

Gen. Tariq Majid, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff for the Pakistani military, bluntly rejected the allegations, noting Pakistan had the resources to protect its nuclear material, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reports.

"Our security apparatus has the capacity and is fully geared to meet all conceivable challenges, therefore we do not need to negotiate with any other country to physically augment our security forces, which in any case, we believe, are more capable than their forces," he stressed.

His comments were echoed by Ian Kelly, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, who told reporters that while Washington does offer assistance in terms of security and other initiatives, there are no plans to seize Pakistani nuclear materials.

"We have confidence in the ability of the Pakistani government to provide adequate security for their nuclear programs and materials," he said. "And we have a number of security assistance initiatives that are focused on strengthening counterinsurgency capacities to foster stability."

Mr. Warachi’s article in Reuters should of course be re-classified as opinion and taken out of the news story arena.

REUTERS

Pakistan’s nuclear-capable air-launched Ra’ad cruise missile is paraded in Islamabad during National Day in 2008

Pakistan’s military has angrily insisted that its nuclear weapons arsenal is safely protected and denounced claims that it is secretly negotiating with the United States to allow teams of American specialists to provide added security in the event of a crisis.

In a rare public statement, General Tariq Majid, chairman of Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, said claims that it was discussing "understandings" with the US that could even see the specialists spirit sophisticated nuclear triggers out of the country to prevent them falling into the wrong hands were "absurd and plain mischievous". "There is absolutely no question of sharing or allowing any foreign individual, entity or state, any access to sensitive information about our nuclear assets," he added.

His comments came after the publication of an article in The New Yorker by the respected investigative reporter Seymour Hersh which claimed that deepening concern within the Obama administration about the situation inside Pakistan had persuaded Washington that more needed to be done to protect the stockpile of a country that it considers an important regional ally.

The article also claimed that the threat could come from Islamist elements within the military or intelligence establishment as well as militants. It quotes a former US intelligence official as saying: "The Pakistanis gave us a virtual look at the number of warheads, some of their locations, and their command-and-control system … We got their security plans, so we could augment them in case of a breach of security."

Mr. Warachi took the Hersh article and applied what would be called “mirch masala” (spices) using creative license and pronto he had an article for the Independent—another paycheck earned.

What Mr. Warachi forgot to mention is the fact that most of the Omar quotes are actually false. Pakistani nuke facilities have not been attacked thrice. There is no truth to this charge. One attack on the employees of PINSTECH riding in (Saddar Rawalpindi not withstanding).

This is not the first time that concerns have been raised about the security of Pakistan’s arsenal, estimated to contain between 80 and 100 warheads, as the country continues to be rocked with militant violence. Earlier this year it was claimed that facilities connected with the nuclear programme had been attacked on three occasions in the past two years, leading Pakistan to insist that there was no danger to its weapons.

Professor Shaun Gregory, director of the Pakistan Security Research Unit at the University of Bradford, whose report earlier this year was dismissed by Islamabad, said there were two main threats: from militants carrying out increasingly sophisticated attacks and seemingly armed with inside information, and from the "collusion" of those inside the military with militant Islamist sympathies. "If you look at the military there is no doubt that it is shot through with Islamist sympathisers and has increasingly moved away from the West as it has been asked to turn its guns on its own people," he added.

Pakistan has long bristled at suggestions that its nuclear arsenal, guarded by a half-million-strong army and a three-layer National Command Authority security system, could slip into the hands of Taliban militants. Government officials point to statements from senior American and British counterparts as proof that the Islamic world’s only nuclear deterrent is not imperilled.

Beating a  dead horse is a favorite past time of negligent writers who want to sensationalize old dead stories. The bogey of the Pakistani nukes always fills dead space on a slow news day. Mr. Waraich can keep brining up the meeting minutes of the “Flat earth Society”—that won’t make the issue pertinent to the planet. If Mr. Warachi had any semblance of journalistic ethics he would have checked out the false stories he quoted in a cavalier manner. Mr. Waraich also did not have the courtesy of contacting the Pakistani Defense Department of the Ministry of Foreign affairs and get their side of the story. Of course he has an agenda—he is a tool for the dissemination of bad propaganda against Pakistan. The same newspapers pushed the “proof” of WMDs in Iraq. Today these very same pages “find” new scoops on Pakistani or Iranian nukes.

But the question is a nagging one, and returned last month after militants subjected the Pakistani army hq in Rawalpindi to a 22-hour siege. While the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said that the attack was evidence that militants "are increasingly threatening the authority of the state," she insisted: "We have confidence in the Pakistani government and military’s control over its nuclear weapons." Mrs Clinton’s "confidence" may owe something to the fact that since the attacks of September 2001 the US has done much to help Pakistan secure its arsenal. Two years ago it was reported that Washington had spent $100m to boost security and improve the vetting of those working with nuclear weapons. Such efforts may have been hampered by legal restraints in aiding a country that has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but there was also concern about sharing too much sensitive technology – including the so-called "permissive action links" or Pals, a system used to prevent a device from detonating without proper codes.

The New Yorker report, which has also been denied by Anne Patterson, the US ambassador in Islamabad, claimed that this summer a highly classified military and civil emergency response team was put on alert after getting a report that a Pakistan nuclear component had gone missing. The team, Hersh claimed, was scrambled from Andrews Air Force Base, outside Washington, and apparently dispatched to Pakistan. By the time it was revealed that the report was false the team had already reached Dubai.

A Pentagon spokesman in Washington confirmed that the US was providing some training and equipment to Pakistan to improve its nuclear security but denied any intention to seize its nuclear arsenal. And analysts said it was all but inconceivable that Islamabad would acquiesce. One Western expert on Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, who asked not to be identified, said: "The Pakistanis would not share this nuclear information with the US. And to believe you can send in a couple of helicopters full of snake-eaters [special forces troops] and get the weapons simply does not work."

Mr. Warachi the effulgent Google jockey has once again proved the axim “a little knowledge is a dangerous thing”. This particular article is of the couch potato variety has little to offer except regurgitation of old hackneyed rhetoric that is dated and incorrect.

The Islamic bomb: Pakistan’s pride

* Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was determined to deny rival India a nuclear monopoly. In 1965, the future prime minister said: "If India builds the bomb, we will eat grass or leaves, even go hungry." In 1972 he gave the go-ahead to a nuclear programme. Today, Pakistan is estimated to have 80 to 100 weapons.

* Bhutto was toppled in 1977, but the dictator who hanged him followed the same nuclear compulsions. During General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s rule, Dr A Q Khan, the "father" of Pakistan’s bomb, boasted to a senior Indian journalist that Pakistan was "a screwdriver’s turn away from developing an Islamic bomb".

* Strenuous US efforts to halt the programme failed in the 1990s. When in 1998 India staged tests, Pakistan responded in kind. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s popularity briefly soared, but severe sanctions ensued.

* In 2004, Dr Khan tearfully confessed that he had sold nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. He was dismissed but later pardoned; the US was barred from interrogating him. Today he is no longer under house arrest, but his movements remain restricted. UK Independent. US ‘wants to guard Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal’. Omar Waraich

US wants to guard Pakistan’s Nucleaer weapons. Concern that weapons could fall into enemy hands prompted drastic plan, claims ‘New Yorker’ report By Andrew Buncombe and Omar Waraich in Islamabad Wednesday, 11 November 2009

Mr. Waraich banks on unconfirmed reports and innuendo. A similar article on the Israeli Nuclear plant got the journalist life imprisonment from which there is no escape. If Mr. Waraich had sensationalized the US or UK nukes in the same manner, he would have either been sent to Gitmo or been a victim of the Patriots Act—never to be heard from again.

His attack on a vulnerable country has huge implications for all people of Pakistani origin. Mr. Warach does not realize that it is exactly this sort of nonsense that creates Anti-Pakistanism and Pakistanphobia which impacts people’s earning power, employment and affect the lives of millions.

The Huffington Post is a left leaning blog. It was started by Ariana Huffington. It has a strong anti-establishment, pro-Democratic and anti-Republican bias. Actually it caters to the leftist core of the Liberals. So far so good. For reasons known only to Zeus and Apollo, “The Huff” is also very anti-Pakistani. Its always been that way. There are several reasons for it. Arian Huffington is of Greek origins, so she may hate all Muslims. There are many Jewish democrats who write for the Huff. Now these Pakistanphobes have found a little brown boy to do their bidding.

When Brown-trash begin to speak English they immediately dive into “gora worship”. These wannabe WOGs “Western Oriental Gentlemen” are so enamored by Washington and London that they sell their country and their souls for a hay-penny (half-penny). It is incredible that an army that has lost 5000 of its soldiers with ten of thousands injured would be called a “half hearted” participant in a war that kills Pakistani children everyday. It is all the more astonishing that a Pakistani sitting in Islamabad would publish weekly diatribes against the very people who are definding this guy. Only an ignoramus who has been totally brainwashed would say the things Mr. Saad Khan says—or someone who is doing it for profit.

Pakistan has lost 5000 sons and daughters in the line of duty. More than a thousand civilian lives have been wasted because of America’s war in Afghanistan. Thousands have been injured. See this report from Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSCOL515980). “Half hearted effort”—my ***. There was no terror in FATA, Swat and Pindi before 2004 when the drones began. Mr. Saad Khan needs to get a life.

“Ingrate Inc.” (a conglomerate of Neolibs, Neocons, Indophiles, Pakistanphobes and their 5th column acolytes) do not recognize the sacrifices of the Pakistan people. They will continue the “do more mantra”. Mr. Saad Khan simply parrots his masters voice in his columns in the Huffington Post. Anti-Pakistanism is profitable business. Being Islamphobic is even more profitable. He has found a small corner of fame and is milking it for all its worth.

Of course Mr. Khan would have his readers believe that those who walk the minefields of Swat and FATA and those who brave the rain of bullets in Tank and Waziristan are somehow making half hearted attempts.

There is a war raging in Peshawar, Islamabad, Quetta, Lahore and Karachi. The innocent civilians are dyeing. All Mr. Khan has to say is to delve in treacherous rhetoric against Pakistan.

Mr. Saad Khan’s “column” is a literal transcription of the daily talking points from the US State Department and 10 Downing Street. If one wants to read the talking points, read them from the original. The Neocon and Neolib copies are not as good as good and not as spicy.

If Mr. Saad Khan had any decency

The Pakistani military has launched a major offensive against the Taliban in the South Waziristan region. The area is home of the Pakistani Taliban; a terrorist outfit that conducts sabotage activities in Pakistan but remains aloof from the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. North Waziristan, on the other hand, is the hub of the Afghan Taliban and they maintain cordial relations with Pakistani intelligence agencies and even get some tactile support. Although the Pakistani military is claiming victory and has faced minimal resistance but there are no independent resources to verify these reports. The area has been walled off for journalists and they have to rely on government handouts.

30,000 soldiers in the heart of the TTP territory is by itself a victory, but “skeptical Suzy” (actually skeptical Saad) of course would rather believe it, if it came from the lips of Mullen and McChrystal. After all the old colonial masters used to speak English—the gospel of truth (WMDs in Iraq notwithstanding)

Additionally, there is a major crisis of people that have been displaced from the war-torn region. Secretary Clinton announced aid for the internally-displaced persons (IDP) and the Pakistani government has also announced a meager aid to these people. American military is also secretly complimenting the offensive by providing modern weapons and gadgetry to the Pakistani army. This is in addition to $7.5 billions given under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman legislation.

Give a little and talk a lot about it. Expect the other to die for it. The meager “gadgetry” given to the Pakistan army is a joke. Pakistan needs 100 choppers, 100,000 machine guns, 100 drones, 150,000 bullet proof vests, 15,000 MARVs, 300,000 night vision glasses (for the Frontier Corp and the Frontier Constabulary)—all it got was a few USSR vintage obsolete choppers that do a half-assed job of surviving in the air. The so called “aid” (should be called stimulus package for US consultants under the nomenclature “aid to Pakistan”) is another joke. Half of it stays in the hands of US consultants, one fourth is spent on logistics—the $100 million or so that finally makes it to Islamabad is handed over to the Ambassador’s favorite NGO. While the US wasted $605 billion in Iraq, and $143 billion in Afghanistan, Pakistan the front line state gets $650,000 (actually only one fourth of that makes it to Pakistan)

Mr. Khan is simply quoting the US line—hook line and sinker. If Mr.Saad had been writing similar articles about the US army in Afghanistan, he would have already been sent on a grand vacation on the island paradise of Gitmo, and locked up in a monkey cage. Mr. Khan lives in Islamabad where the authorities may not have read his articles. Mr. Khan’s nonsense has to be challenged intellectually. What he says does not have merit.

What compels youth in Islamabad to succumb to pressure to write Pakistanphobic articles. Bad upbringing—poor academic performance, a few pegs of Red Label, a possible smile from a “goree”, magnetism of the almighty Dollar–and of course the lure of a possible Green Card. A few pennies can buy a dozen Saad Khans. the names of Mir Jaffer and Mir Sadiq will live in infamy. The name of Saad Khan will of course wither away in a few weeks. The harm he has caused will of course stay. All the Huff needs is a Muslim sounding name to write under—and Saad Kahn foots the bill. Patriotism is a rare quantity—and being Islamphobic is profitable. It was profitable for Hussain Haqqani, it was profitable for Pervez Hoodbhoy, and Ahmed Rashid–so it must be profitable for the young punks of Islamabad who hang out on Jinnah bucking for a drag on their favorite pot or a sip of their favorite whiskey (tharra—never Red label).

The bigoted readers need to confirm their Islamphobia—the ignorant ones don’t know any better—they all read the Huff—because it mostly reports on the Liberal left.

There are more than 80 TV channels in Pakistan. Most of them are news channels, the news channels outnumber the entertainment channels. Eight major outlets of the Pakistani media has self-imposed a code of conduct—without government interference. This deals with showing dead bodes and reducing the number of “breaking news stories”. Mr. Saad mischievously calls it censorship. Only imbedded reporters were allowed in Iraq and Afghanistan—there was no free press. Why is Pakistan criticized for conducting the war in a professional manner without the intrusion of the likes of Mr. Saad Khan.

Despite an all-out effort by the US government, the Pakistani military is still reluctant on taking the Taliban challenge head-on. There have been reports in independent media — Pakistani media face a lot of restrictions to reveal secrets and have just self-imposed a tougher censorship policy — that the Pakistani military tipped off the Taliban before the offensive. According to a report in BBC Urdu, Pakistani intelligence agencies might have struck a deal with the Taliban in this regard.

It appears that the Pakistani military entered a deal with the Taliban where they agreed to avoid any "lose-lose" position. Pakistani military recaptured the territories while the Taliban retained their cadre, ammunition and organizational structure.

If the Pakistan Army took steps to avoid bloodshed, isn’t that good? Why the Yanks are doing the same in Falujah and Helmand? Didn’t they go to Mazaar Sharif with millions of Dollars in suitcases to win over the Northern Alliance? What is wrong with Pakistan talking to its own citizens? If peace deals fail, one should try again—after using the minimum amount of force.

Mr. Saad, Pakistanis bleed the same red blood as the blondes do. Pakistani blood is not for sale. Pakistan will only do what is in its own interest (Zardari notwithstanding).

Are the jawans of the Pakistan Army indentured servants of other flags. Did the generals not swear allegiance tot he Pakistani flag and the Pakistani flag alone? If the US and Afghanistan government can hold talks with the Taliban, why is such a big deal that Pakistan makes deals with its own citizens? Why are Pakistani peace deals considered capitulation to terror and Afghan, British and US peace deals considered overtures to win the hearts and minds of the people. Can Mr. Saad Khan not see the double standards here? Is is deaf and blind to the interests of Pakistan? Has he been so brainwashed that he now thinks of other interests as supreme and Pakistani interests subservient to other flags.

Did the Pakistani jawans sell their bodies for a few Dollars. Should the orders emanate from Islamabad or other world capitals. Shouldn’t the army take note of its own interests and the interests of Pakistan. Are the goals of the US and the Pakistani goals congruent. Should they be? If so, then why did the US install an anti-Pakistan government in Kabul and why does India have free reign in Afghanistan to plot, train, sponsor and arm mercenaries who are then sent to Pakistan.

In any case, South Waziristan offensive was announced in May but it actually started after a delay of five months. It was enough time for the Taliban to finalize their combat strategies i.e. tacitcal retreat. The Pakistani military has benefited from this deal but not the common Pakistanis. Terrorist attacks have become a daily affair and hardly a day passes when dozens of people do not lose their lives.

The “American Charge of the Light Brigade” in Afghanistan had obvious results—total defeat and annihilation of ISAF forces—more than 80% of Afghanistan is in the hands of the Taliban. If Mr. Khan had any clue about military tactics, he would have known that armies do not move on a dime. The logistics had to be arranged, and the targets chosen very carefully. Its not a US drone that sees a man with a turban a beard and a stick and begins dropping bombs. The Pakistan Army actually does ground work, and monitors the area planting spies, scouting the terrain, working with the locals—it then goes in.

Mr. Khan’s weekly diatribe against Pakistan is pretty disgusting. The stale putrid smell of treacherous treason stinks up the entire space—as bad as a skunk who spoils the ride of thousands of drivers. Raising the  Haqqanis bogey and trying to malign the Pakistanis about the TTP is a favorite technique of those who have lost the war in Afghanistan. Now they need patsys—someone to blame the defeat on. They seek the ephemeral “Ho Chi Minh” trail in Pakistan and try to discover “hideouts”—when 80% of Afghanistan is controlled by the Taliban. They talk about safe havens in FATA when Mr. Karzai cannot even control his section of Kabul. Mr. Khan has neither logic nor common sense on his side. He is happy about finding a spot on the Huff. Congrat Mr. Khan you made it—but at what cost. Your Faustian deals with the Huff pay little. Your soul should have more integrity and more value.

North Waziristan Taliban, under the leadership of Haqqanis, are still strong in their bases and gathering support from some elements of the Pakistani military. As the Pakistani Taliban have also joined them in recent weeks, they might launch major attacks in Afghanistan. Although the real perpetrators of this carnage remain in the "open closet", the lack of a concerted effort would hamper any half-hearted attempts of the Pakistani military. Saad Khan. Social and political activist in Islamabad. Posted: November 10, 2009 03:25 PM

Mr. Khan, you had a choice—you could use your writing power to enlighten people about the people of Pakistan. You chose to malign them. The choice is yours. Your fifteen minutes of fame will be over soon—but you have been part and parcel of Islamphobia which affects children of Pakistani origin in the West. Mr. Saad Khan, may God Bless and may he bring the love your own people into your heart. May you live long and prosper.

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I will post this in the comments section of your column—of course you won’t print it—even if you do—the vultures will have at it—reducing the content to one liners…and so it goes