Pakistan Cabinet Recommends Pardon for Scientist

[isbister]

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's cabinet recommended a pardon on Thursday for the father of the country's atomic bomb after he admitted to selling nuclear secrets to nations including Libya, Iran and North Korea.

Abdul Qadeer Khan has said he acted independently in the nuclear proliferation scandal, but Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, warned in Vienna that the scientist was "the tip of an iceberg for us."

A statement from the Pakistan cabinet said it had decided to make a recommendation to President Pervez Musharraf that he pardon Khan. The president was due to brief journalists later in the day.

Analysts say an open trial of Khan, a national hero for his role in developing a bomb to rival that of old enemy India, could reveal embarrassing evidence implicating the army, which Musharraf heads, and make the scientist a martyr...

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=25JZTXPQY024QCRBAEZSFEY?type=worldNews&storyID=4291130

[gWbush is Mabus]

1. sounds like a cover up

Musharraf (Bush's ally in the war on terror)
sold nookular secrets to the axis of evil

[benderlane]

2. sounds like they are covering SOMETHING....

but its not a big deal - they dont want to get invaded.

[mike_c]

3. the whole affair smelled funny....

Khan maintained all along that he acted with the knowledge and approval of the Pakistani military and intelligence brass, then suddenly makes a national radio address claiming to have done it all alone. The next day a full pardon is recommended. Gotta be BS.