US slaps sanctions on 13 people tied to A.Q. Khan

[sabra]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Monday that it had slapped sanctions on 13 individuals and three private companies because of their involvement in the Pakistan-led A.Q. Khan nuclear-proliferation network.

"We believe these sanctions will help prevent future proliferation-related activities by these private entities, provide a warning to other would-be proliferators," the department said in a statement.

The sanctions followed a multiyear U.S. government review of information regarding the A.Q. Khan network, it said.

The entities provided an "extensive international network" for the proliferation of nuclear equipment and know-how that offered "one-stop" shopping for countries seeking to develop nuclear weapons, the State Department said.

...

The sanctioned individuals and companies were listed by the State Department as:

Selim Alguadis, Kursad Zafer Cire, Muhammad Nasim ud Din, EKA Elektronik Kontrol Aletleri Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., ETI Elektroteknik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., Tradefin Engineering, Muhammad Farooq, Daniel Geiges, Paul Griffin, Peter Griffin, Abdul Qadeer Khan, Shamsul Bahrin bin Rukiban, Buhary Seyed Abu Tahir, Gotthard Lerch, Gerhard Wisser and Shah Hakim Shahnazim Zain.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N12506401.htm

[aquart]

1. Now? Why now?

Isn't this the work Plame was doing?

[Jambalaya]

5. Timing is everything

I asked myself the same question-why NOW? It's like Bushco has let the clock run out on every dirty deal.PAGING leveymg.

[Soylent Brice]

2. Peter Griffin?

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

3. what about those other knowns

who had ties to AQ?

:shrug:


:smoke:

[Baby Snooks]

6. Like George HW Bush?

Interpol among others wanted to have Khan arrested and charged and the CIA intervened. And who was head of the CIA at the time? George HW Bush.

The Bushes apparently like the terrorists and the proliferators. You could probably win the war on terror at their dinner table.

[leftchick]

4. where is the dick?

the list is not complete without cheney there.

[Baby Snooks]

7. This is for the Big Boys...

Cheney, in the scheme of things, is still just a Little Boy. He doesn't get to wheel and deal with the Bushes and the Bakers and the Candlestickmakers. Only do their bidding. It's a complex family so to speak. He was in charge of Baby Bush. Not Daddy Bush.

[cosmicone]

8. AQ Khan is just a scapegoat

The real culprit was Musharraf, ISI and Pakistani government at the highest levels.

There is no way AQ Khan and a few people could have carried out the proliferation without the express involvement of Pakistani government at the highest levels.

[sledgehammer]

11. Yep, I agree with you on this

It stretches back to General Zia's time in the mid-80s. In fact, the non-Army Pak govts (i.e. the govts of Benazir and Nawaz Sharif from 1988 to 1999) were powerless spectators as the Army did its wheeling and dealing (and pocketed some nice commissions along the way).

[Ian David]

9. ...

KhaAAAAAAAAAaaaAAAAaan!

[Alcibiades]

10. Man, are they on top of this, or what?

When it comes to invading Iraq: we must do it now!
$700 billion Wall Street giveaway: we must do it now!
Sanctions for the most dangerous nuclear proliferators ever? Let's not be hasty. Let's do it in the last week of the administration.

[peacetalksforall]

12. Hasn't the Khan Pakistan U.S.dealings, with intermediaries in Israel, been going

on for about 15 years?

[peacetalksforall]

13. Here is a link for a 2004 article about the Griffens and Khan - already under investigation.

http://www.hindu.com/2004/03/06/stories/2004030601191300.htm

I remember reading this at the time.

It would be interesting to find a timetable relative to the period of takedown of Brewster-Jennings AND the start of the WH WHIG campaign to demean the CIA - all relative to the start of the investigations.

Waiting to hear Cheney say he was never part of that.

[peacetalksforall]

14. Here is another link with the Griffin names and Khan. There's an extra one

with Richard Perle (#2)- intelligence being stolen and provided is not named. This is all from the 1970's. Indian newspaper.

1. Summer 1976: Misdial Leads to Long-Term Relationship between A. Q. Khan and British Businessman Abdus Salam, a procurement agent for the A. Q. Khan nuclear network, misdials a number for US-based machine tool giant Rockwell, instead calling the British agent of its power tool division, Scimitar, in Wales. Salam wants to buy $1 million in power tools and the person on the other end of the line, sales manager Peter Griffin, is surprised by the request, but happy to ship such a large order. This chance encounter will lead to an extremely long relationship between Griffin and Khan, with Griffin supplying a very large amount of equipment for Khan’s efforts. Griffin initially travels to London to meet Salam, who had been put in touch with Khan through a mutual acquaintance. Overcoming his initial wariness about the business, Griffin leaves Scimitar to set up a company called Weargate Ltd, which works with an electrical shop called Salam Radio Colindale to supply Khan’s needs. Authors Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark will later comment that Salam Radio Colindale is a “down on its luck electrical shop which proved terrific cover for such a discreet business,” and that it “would become one of dozens run by expat Pakistanis from similarly unassuming corner stores, supplying components to Khan.” Griffin becomes a director of the company in 1977, when it changes its name to SR International.
Entity Tags: SR International, Abdul Qadeer Khan, Peter Griffin, Salam Radio Colindale, Abdus Salam, Scimitar, Weargate Ltd
2. Timeline Tags: A. Q. Khan's Nuclear Network

March 1978: Congressional Staffer Offers Israeli Classified Material During breakfast at Washington’s Madison Hotel, Stephen Bryen, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer and a close associate of Richard Perle, is overheard offering to pass classified material to Zvi Rafiah, the Congressional liaison officer for the Israeli embassy and a suspected senior Mossad officer (see October 1973). “I have the Pentagon document on the bases, which you are welcome to see,” Bryen reportedly says. The eavesdropper is Michael Saba, a businessman and former executive director of the National Association of Arab Americans. Saba, who recognizes Bryen as a staff member of the Senate Committee, promptly reports the incident to the Justice Department, which quickly launches an FBI investigation. The investigation will find that Bryen has illegally obtained classified documents of military and scientific importance and that he has been seeking material that “could prove to be a major embarrassment to the US government.” The investigation also learns that he has been meeting with Zvi Rafiah “two or three times a week.” The FBI ultimately assembles “a good circumstantial case” that Rafiah “routinely issued orders to Bryen” and will recommend that the case be brought before an investigative grand jury for espionage. Instead, the case will be closed (see April 1979).
Entity Tags: Michael Saba, Clifford Case, Henry (“Scoop”) Jackson, Zvi Rafiah, Stephen Bryen
Timeline Tags: Neoconservative Influence

3. Shortly After November 1979: British Authorities Intercept Telexes Between A. Q. Khan and Supplier British authorities intercept telexes between Pakistani nuclear scientist A. Q. Khan and British businessman Peter Griffin, who has been supplying parts for Khan’s nuclear weapons program (see Summer 1976). Griffin will comment: “I would get my usual telex from Khan and the next day a telex from Customs with lists of all the new things going on to the export control list, which coincidentally were all the things that Khan had just asked for.”
Entity Tags: Abdul Qadeer Khan, Peter Griffin, HM Customs and Excise
Timeline Tags: A. Q. Khan's Nuclear Network