Inquiry Suggests Pakistanis Sold Nuclear Secrets (NYT)

Two quick points:

"The Pakistani action to question Dr. Khan's associates was prompted by information Iran turned over two months ago to the International Atomic Energy Agency, under pressure to reveal the details of a long-hidden nuclear program."

Gee, I guess the United Nations is actually pretty effective at monitoring and uncovering illicit programs to build weapons of mass destruction. (Oh, and these were the same inspectors Bush booted out of Iraq).

"A senior Bush administration official, while declining to comment on what was learned when Pakistani officials questioned the men, said that all three had been 'well known to our intelligence folks.'"

So, the Bush administration knew the Pakistanis were selling "nucular" (sic) secrets to the "axis of evil" (Iran and North Korea), and yet still thought it was a good idea to provide the Pakistanis with military aid and sophisticated weapons sales, preferential trade concessions (that undercut U.S. workers with exploited Pakistani labor), and an air of legitimacy to a military dictatorship.