‘We Could Have Killed Him’: Ex-CIA Agent Reveals Pentagon Controlled Pakistan’s Nukes – Saudis Begged America To Spare AQ Khan | India News
The US could have eliminated Pakistan’s nuclear father, AQ Khan, but chose not to, and the reason may shock you. Former CIA officer John Kiriakou has revealed that Saudi Arabia intervened to protect the world’s most dangerous nuclear smuggler, forcing America to back down.
In an interview with ANI, Kiriakou, who spent 15 years with the CIA as chief of counterterrorism operations in Pakistan, said, “If we had taken the Israeli approach, we would have killed him immediately. It was easy enough to find him. We knew where he lived. We knew how he spent his day.”
So why didn’t they? Kiriakou explained: “He also had the support of the Saudi government. And the Saudis came to us and said ‘please leave him alone. We love AQ Khan. We work with AQ Khan. We are close to the Pakistanis… Leave him alone’.”
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“This was a mistake the US government made in not directly confronting AQ Khan,” Kiriakou said. While Israel eliminated nuclear threats without hesitation, America preferred Saudi diplomacy rather than stopping the most prolific nuclear weapons producer in history.
Did the Pentagon Check Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons?
Kiriakou revealed another striking claim. When he served in Pakistan in 2002, he was told that “unofficially, the Pentagon controlled the Pakistani nuclear arsenal. Musharraf had handed over control to the United States.”
But the story changed later. “In the intervening years, Pakistanis have begun to say that this is simply not true. The United States has nothing to do with Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal; it is the Pakistani generals who control it,” he said.
Who is John Kiriakou?
John Kiriakou is a former CIA officer who publicly acknowledged the CIA’s torture program in a nationally televised interview in 2007, confirming that the CIA tortured prisoners. Although the charges were dropped, he spent 23 months in prison. He insists that he has “no regrets, no regrets” and that he “did the right thing.”
(via ANI Inputs)
