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CNN Live At Daybreak
Pakistan Proliferation
Aired February 12, 2004 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In what many consider one of the most remarkable features of the president's speech were the exceptional details he shared about A.Q. Khan's smuggling network.
Our Mike Chinoy has more on that from Islamabad, Pakistan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was, in President Bush's words, an extensive and sophisticated black market operation, spanning the globe, run by the architect of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, supplying nuclear technology and equipment to some of the United States most bitter enemies.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He and his associates sold the blueprints for centrifuges to enrich uranium, as well as nuclear designs stolen from the Pakistani government.
CHINOY: Mr. Bush described Khan as the network's director, leading scientific mind and main salesman. He said the operation center and key transit point was Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Dubai was the headquarters for Khan's deputy, a Sri Lankan named B.S.A. Tahir. He operated through a front company called SMB Computers. The president described Tahir as the network's chief financial officer, money launderer and shipping agent.
According to Mr. Bush, the key breakthrough came when American intelligence tracked a shipment from a Malaysian factory that has been identified as Scomi (ph) Precision Engineering. From Malaysia, several cargo containers were transferred in Dubai to a German-owned ship. It's destination, Libya, via the Suez Canal, where it was seized.
BUSH: They found several containers, each 40 feet in length, listed on the ship's manifest as full of used machine parts. In fact, these containers were filled with parts of sophisticated centrifuges.
CHINOY: When confronted with the shipment, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi agreed to voluntarily end his nuclear weapons program, while the evidence led investigators back to Pakistan on the trail of Abdul Qadeer Khan.
It was a key turning point in convincing President Pervez Musharraf that he had no choice but to act against the man who is still viewed as a national hero in Pakistan. (on camera): President Bush says he's confident that Khan and his top associates are now out of business, but he warned that key members of the scientist's global smuggling network are still at large.
Mike Chinoy, CNN, Islamabad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired February 12, 2004 - 06:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In what many consider one of the most remarkable features of the president's speech were the exceptional details he shared about A.Q. Khan's smuggling network.
Our Mike Chinoy has more on that from Islamabad, Pakistan.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was, in President Bush's words, an extensive and sophisticated black market operation, spanning the globe, run by the architect of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, supplying nuclear technology and equipment to some of the United States most bitter enemies.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He and his associates sold the blueprints for centrifuges to enrich uranium, as well as nuclear designs stolen from the Pakistani government.
CHINOY: Mr. Bush described Khan as the network's director, leading scientific mind and main salesman. He said the operation center and key transit point was Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Dubai was the headquarters for Khan's deputy, a Sri Lankan named B.S.A. Tahir. He operated through a front company called SMB Computers. The president described Tahir as the network's chief financial officer, money launderer and shipping agent.
According to Mr. Bush, the key breakthrough came when American intelligence tracked a shipment from a Malaysian factory that has been identified as Scomi (ph) Precision Engineering. From Malaysia, several cargo containers were transferred in Dubai to a German-owned ship. It's destination, Libya, via the Suez Canal, where it was seized.
BUSH: They found several containers, each 40 feet in length, listed on the ship's manifest as full of used machine parts. In fact, these containers were filled with parts of sophisticated centrifuges.
CHINOY: When confronted with the shipment, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi agreed to voluntarily end his nuclear weapons program, while the evidence led investigators back to Pakistan on the trail of Abdul Qadeer Khan.
It was a key turning point in convincing President Pervez Musharraf that he had no choice but to act against the man who is still viewed as a national hero in Pakistan. (on camera): President Bush says he's confident that Khan and his top associates are now out of business, but he warned that key members of the scientist's global smuggling network are still at large.
Mike Chinoy, CNN, Islamabad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
