On Nukes in Pakistan

By BRIAN KATES Daily News Staff Writer

orried by unrest in Pakistan, the Pentagon has explored plans to dispatch an elite unit into the country to disarm its nuclear arsenal, according to a published report.

The unit — trained to ferret out and disarm nuclear weapons — operates under Pentagon control with CIA assistance, Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh writes in the upcoming issue of the New Yorker magazine.

Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S. war against Afghanistan, is thought to have at least 24 nuclear warheads.

The article says South Asia experts in the U.S. "have doubts about Musharraf's ability to maintain control over the military and its nuclear arsenal in the event of a coup attempt."

The administration also has expanded the pool of terrorists who could be targeted for assassination by the CIA, the Washington Post reported today.

President Bush and his advisers have concluded that the U.S. has the legal authority to have known terrorists — not just Osama Bin Laden — snuffed out, even outside of Afghanistan, the Post said.

In another report, the Post says Pakistan had arrested and turned over to American custody a Yemeni microbiology student wanted in connection with the bombing of the Navy destroyer Cole.

Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed, 27, was turned over to U.S. authorities — bypassing normal extradition and deportation proceedings — as part of a broad investigation of Bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network, the Post quoted unidentified Pakistan officials as saying.

With News Wire Services

Original Publication Date: 10/28/01

http://www.nydailynews.com/2001-10-28/News_and_Views/Beyond_the_City/a-130122.asp

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 28, 2001