Former CIA officer John Kiriakou reveals the shocking story of how Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf handed control of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal to the United States. Fearing the weapons might fall into terrorist hands, Musharraf reportedly feared instability and allowed US oversight in exchange for massive military aid.
00:00So we had this hot war with Pakistan in May and it happened and the nuclear question came up again.
00:07And I thought, what better person than you to sort of, you know, illuminate a little bit more about Pakistan's nuclear weapons and everything.
00:14So you were there on the ground in Pakistan in 2002, 2003.
00:18We also saw Pakistan sort of lurch into almost like a civil war with the various terrorists it had propped up in its backyard.
00:25You know, was there ever a fear that these nuclear weapons would fall into terrorist's hands?
00:31Yes. When I was stationed in Pakistan in 2002, I was told unofficially that the Pentagon controlled the Pakistani nuclear arsenal.
00:44That Musharraf had turned control over to the United States because he was afraid of exactly what you just described.
00:50But the Pakistanis in the intervening years, and remember, I was there 23 years ago.
00:59Over the last 23 years, the Pakistanis have come to say that is absolutely not true.
01:05The United States has nothing to do with the Pakistani nuclear arsenal, that Pakistani generals are the ones that control it.
01:12So I don't know if, if that's true, then I would be very worried about who is in charge politically in Pakistan.
01:24You know, for example, for example, Imran Khan, I can't believe that I forgot his name.
01:31Who's in jail.
01:32Who's in jail.
01:33Yes.
01:33Right. And still wildly popular.
01:36Wildly. Yep.
01:37He told us when he was still the prime minister, he said, listen, I've got this political situation here domestically.
01:44I'm going to start blaming you for everything.
01:48And, and the ambassador laughed and said, we get blamed for everything anyway, so we don't care.
01:53So everything that happened, it was the United States fault.
01:56And it was the U.S.
01:57They turned their backs on us and the U.S. did this and the U.S. did that.
02:01And then they arrested him anyway.
02:04So he got a message out to the U.S.
02:07Government saying, can you help me get out of this?
02:09And we went to Jemima Goldschmidt, his gold, whatever her name was, ex-wife.
02:15And she went to Pakistan and asked them if they would release him.
02:19And they said, no.
02:20So like you, I'm worried about continued disagreement in Pakistani politics that has the potential to spill into the streets because the Pakistanis have a tendency to get themselves spun up.
02:36And people die during demonstrations and there are attacks against political figures and assassinations and, and, and the country is not known for its transformative, you know, leaders making positive decisions.
02:51I'll tell you another thing when Benazir Bhutto was in exile in Dubai, I went to see her with another, a senior officer.
03:02I went as the note taker and she lived in this $5 million palace on the, on the Gulf.
03:13And we were sitting in the, the front room, the, the salon of, of the house, and we heard a car pull up and she said her exact words.
03:27So help me God.
03:29If he came home with another Bentley, I'm going to kill him.
03:33Is that daddy?
03:34Yeah.
03:35Her husband.
03:35And I said to my boss afterwards, she makes $60,000 a year.
03:43She lives in a $5 million house and he has a collection of Bentleys.
03:49Aren't they ashamed of themselves?
03:51Like how can they go back to Pakistan and look the Pakistani people in the face when their people don't even have shoes.
04:00And in a food to eat.
04:02Like, I understand corruption is a problem there, but that level of corruption.
04:09Come on.
04:10Well, those are the kinds of politicians that the Pakistani people have to deal with.
Be the first to comment