Pakistan Planes and Plutonium

They're SHOCKED, I tell you, SHOCKED that Pakistan is building a new Breeder reactor to create plutonium. Why they are shocked I don't know. I was surprised that they hadn't a greater plutonium capacity already.

The reactor, which reportedly will be capable of producing enough plutonium for as many as 50 bombs each year, was brought to light on Sunday by independent analysts who spotted the partially completed plant in commercial-satellite photos. Snow said the administration had "known of these plans for some time."

The acknowledgment came as arms-control experts and some in Congress expressed alarm about a possible escalation of South Asia's arms race. Some also sharply criticized the administration for failing to disclose the existence of a facility that could influence an upcoming congressional debate over U.S. nuclear policy toward India and Pakistan.

"If either India or Pakistan starts increasing its nuclear arsenal, the other side will respond in kind," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), co-chairman of a House bipartisan task force on nonproliferation. "The Bush administration's proposed nuclear deal with India is making that much more likely."

Markey, the man most like to be upset by the obvious, appears to want to stop the deal with India because suddenly Pakistan has new capabilities. Completely forgetting that the civilian nuclear power technology isn't needed to create plutonium, and the fact that India has been very staunch in preventing the spread of nuclear technologies from its country.

Both countries already possess nuclear weapons. We should be more nervous about Pakistan increasing its capabilities, but that doesn't mean we should stop working with India when they have clearly shown an excellent record on non-proliferation. The sales of F-16s to Pakistan should be more worrisome. Pakistan isn't nearly as stable a country and the present military dictatorship may come crashing down. If Pakistan is destabilized, then the likelihood of misuse of the F-16s and the nuclear materials is to be worried about. Unfortunately, I don't see much that the US can do about the plutonium. The planes on the other hand can be controlled, though at present there is some incentive for the US to aid Pakistan, who has been assisting (somewhat) in the war on terror.

Then you get these types of comments that give one pause:

Henry D. Sokolski, the Defense Department's top nonproliferation official during the George H.W. Bush administration, said he was most surprised by the way news of the reactor in Pakistan became known.

"What is baffling is that this information -- which was surely information that our own intelligence agencies had -- was kept from Congress," said Sokolski, now director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center. "We lack imagination if we think that this is no big deal."

There is a huge assumption here. That being that the Administration willfully hid the information from congress. I'd like to look at it the other way around. Did congress, or any of its committees, request information on the reactors or plutonium production in Pakistan? Let's just conjecture that the Administration would take the task of telling congress every bit of intelligence that someone may want, would the congress be able to handle the amount of information? Who decides what should be just sent to them? Personally, the thought that the Administration should be deciding what information to send unsolicited to congress is just stupid.

I'd say that Sokolski has a bit too much imagination, or that he's spinning for some political purpose.