Countdown To Zero Page #3

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or plutonium

and if you do it right

it will explode.

The design of the first

atomic bomb

was a very deep secret

In fact that was a time when

people didnt even know

whether a bomb was possible.

Now the making of the atom bomb

has become much easier.

Those who say that building

a nuclear weapon is easy

They are very wrong

Those who say building a crude device is very difficult

They are more wrong

Do you agree with that statement?

I wont comment on that statement

- Okay, Alright

People from the U.S Nuclear laboratory were

testified to a classified section to the Congress

and they said it would be possible

make a nuclear bomb

with all parts being

Commercially available

except from the actual nuclear material

Senator Biden asked

the heads of the three

weapons labs:

Is it possible?"Is it really possible that the

terrorists could do this? "

They said "yes."

They said:
"This is something that we test

our graduate students from time to time.

"We take two students who

havnt been prepared for doing this"

We tell them:
"See if you can

make a bomb that would work. "

"And on the whole most of them passed this test"

Biden said:
"Prove it"

And so they went and

made a nuclear bomb,

with everything other than

the nuclear material,

from commercial parts.

They actually brought it in to the

classified hearing room in the Senate.

Typically, an implosion

bomb would have something like a

the size of a grapefruit.

If, lets say, between

is available,

then the design is not

a major factor.

It would not be very efficient.

it would not use all the uranium that was used in it.

and yet it would be enough to level a city

During my 10 years

as prime minister,

what i really noticed was that

it was actually the threat of the proliferation,

the fact that these

weapons could fall

into other peoples hands

That was the thing

that troubled me,

that kept me

awake at night.

In the capital, Islamabad, / i

word hit the streets in early afternoon:

Another nuclear device

tested successfully. / i

As

Pakistan celebrated, / i

the public hailed AQ Khan

as the father of the Islamic bomb. / i

In 1974, AQ Khan

was working at a company

that was developing a brand new

process of enriching uranium

He stole their designs and took

the list of all the suppliers.

At the end of the day he is

not really a master scientist

but he is a master smuggler

and a master organizer.

He knows how to get

the pieces out of the countries

and how to find stuff

and buy stuff

There was this whole plan

to start an operation setup

by the intelligence services,

by the army and by Dr. Khan

Restrictions were placed

Sanctions were placed.

But somehow the pakistanis

got around that

and the formal help actually

came from India's enemy- China

China gave a blueprint of a

nuclear bomb to Pakistan.

Around

early 1980s,

Khan makes contact

with the Iranians,

who were very interested

in getting a bomb

but clearly dont have the scientific

or industrial capacity

to do it themselves

And thus he starts on a

a commercial enterprise.

Khan has got a full marketing

regime laid out

brochures and videos tapes that

offers nuclear wares

It extremely lucrative business

He had extensive

contacts, networks,

and he didnt much care about

who the ultimate client was going to be

He contacted Iran

North Korea, Libya,

but he didnt just give them the technologies

He also took the bomb designs

that the Pakistanis had

and threw those in as a sweetner

He gave them 24/7 technology support

.

Got a problem?

Call 1-800-AQKHAN.

It was a full service operation

The U.S. intelligence began

to focus on AQ Khan

in the late 1990s.

The homerun was in

December 2003 with Libya.

The CIA and British Intelligence

essentially caught the Khan network red handed

Selling a full scale nuclear weapon to Libya.

If it wasnt for AQ Khan,

Libya never would have got the centrifuges

but that they have

thankfully today given up

If it wasnt for AQ Khan,

there wouldnt be an Iranian nuclear program

Iran is the tip of the spear

It's the big problem

that we have to solve.

They promised not to

build nuclear weapons,

but the problem is that the

very same centrifugals

very same factory

that can enrich uranium

to low quantities

for nuclear fuel

can enrich it

to high quantities

for nuclear weapons.

So the question is:

Do you trust Iran?

By their own admission they

have deceived inspectors

about their nuclear activities

for 17 years.

Without question Iran is trying

to get a nuclear bomb.

They have made that very clear,

despite their promises

that they are only pursuing

civil and peaceful objectives

for their nuclear program.

They are really good

They are trying to bring things in

that can be used for their nuclear program

The Iranians

have worked very hard

to hiding and disguising their facilities

Many of their facilities are

in crowded urban areas

underground,

extremely well protected

from any sort of

aerial bombing

If Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons capability

the impact is across the whole of the the region

We will get a whole set of other countries

deciding they have got to acquire

nuclear weapons capability

Syria, Saudi Arabia,

Turkey, Egypt ...

the rivals of the Iranian

Shite state

would match their capabilities

and would go from the Middle East

with one nuclear armed nation Israel

to one with three, four or five

nuclear armed nations

They are surrounded by

very unstable regimes and countries .

If Iran acquires

everything it needs,

without doubt pieces of that

become more readily available

to terrorist organizations like Hamas.

The risk that you have today

with regimes like

Iran or North Korea

is they are prepared

to start trading

that nuclear weapons capability

and technology.

The Pakistanis had the

nuclear know how.

they didnt have a

delivery system.

The North Koreans

had the missile,

and didnt have the

nuclear know how

So there was a natural convergence of interests here

The North Koreans have

a long track record of

selling military technology

and missiles to

the Syrians,to the Iranians,

to the Iraqis, Pakistanis.

They dont really

have any other exports.

Daily life is very real

Food is in short supply

you drive around the

capital,Pyongyang, at night

and its basically dark.

There is a famous

satellite photo

that shows the

Korean peninsula.

and in the south, we see all these lights,

and then its just black

we are still dealing with his years

of unchecked activities and contacts

and its really a genie out of the bottle

that cannot be easily put back

We spend billions of dollars

putting in radiation detectors

but highly enriched uranium

is easily shielded

If you are depending on

portal monitors

to defend a city

against a nuclear detonation,

You have done far too much too late

Nuclear weapons

dont have to be

exactly on target.

Close is good enough.

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