George W Bush - President in 2000?

[thepennyking]

US government under fire for giving elite military status to Pakistan
Tue Mar 30, 8:06 PM ET Add Politics - AFP to My Yahoo!



WASHINGTON (AFP) - Opposition Democrats assailed President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s administration for granting Pakistan non-NATO (news - web sites) ally status, despite an ongoing probe on possible high-level links in Islamabad to an international nuclear scam.


AFP/File Photo



Democratic party legislators said Washington should have waited for the investigations to be completed before rewarding Pakistan the elite military status.


The lawmakers grilled John Bolton, Bush's point man for arms control, at a congressional hearing Tuesday over the extent of Pakistan's government involvement in nuclear proliferation following confessions by its top scientist that he had shared nuclear secrets with Iran, Libya and North Korea (news - web sites).


Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program and a national hero, admitted last month to the clandestine proliferation, but he and Islamabad have insisted he acted alone. Musharraf pardoned Khan immediately after the confession.


Last week, US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) announced that Washington would reward Pakistan with "major non-NATO ally", paving the way for more US military aid to Islamabad.


Bolton told the House that the government was continuing to seek information about exactly what Khan's activities were.


"Do you think that the designation of Pakistan as a major non-NATO ally should wait until we've made that determination," asked Democrat legislator Gary Ackerman.


Bolton said the granting of the non-NATO ally status was based on "other factors," apparently referring to its cooperation in hunting for al-Qaeda members.


He said the United States would take action if it had information about complicity of top levels of the Pakistani government.


"Extensive efforts" were under way in a variety of places, not just Pakistan, to seek more information on the Khan network, he added.