1. Saudi-Pakistani Nuclear Agreement?
The United Press International broke the story that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan engaged in a secret nuclear agreement, which drew quite a media and governmental response.
A US State Dept. official stated that there he has "not seen any information to substantiate what would seem to us to be rather bald assertions." A Saudi official also denied the reports: "This story has been going around for 25 years. It is absolutely wrong." Rifaat Hussain, Chairman of the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad, told Arab News that Pakistan has "a special arrangement with Saudi Arabia under which Riyadh has been supplying oil to Pakistan on a concessionary rate, but there are no oil-for-weapon agreements between the two countries."
"State Department Deputy Spokesman on Saudi-Pakistani Nuclear Deal
"Nuclear allegations bald assertions: US"
"US Dismisses Reports of Pakistan-Saudi Nuke Deal"
Amidst the controversy of a speculative report of this caliber, the original journalist, Arnaud de Borchgrave, stood by his story. Pramilla Srivastava (South Asia Tribune) questions the veracity and integrity of Borchgrave's report, source, and newspaper. David Jones, foreign editor of the Washington Times (US), defends Borchgrave's report by providing additional evidence in the form of a July 2002 report (included below) by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The report claims that Crown Prince Abdullah sent his son to Pakistan for the test-launch of the surface-to-surface Ghauri missile (range 900 km)
"US scribe stands by Saudi-Pakistan nuclear nexus report"
"Analyzing the Borchgrave Scoop on Pak-Saudi Nuke Deal"
"Week in Review"
"The Coming Saudi Showdown"
The New York Post (US) claimed that Major General Aharon Zeevi, the Israel Defense Force's senior intelligence officer, told a parliamentary committee that Saudi Arabia had visited Pakistan with the intention of purchasing nuclear warheads, for Saudi land-based missiles. A State Dept. report (included below) by Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon official, stated that "Saudi Arabia does not have weapons of mass destruction, it did, however, buy long-range CSS-2 ballistic missiles from China." Anwar Iqbal (United Press International) draws from another US source, a former Defense Intelligence Agent Thomas Woodrow, that Saudi Arabia has been financing Islamabad's nuclear and missile purchases from China. The South Asia Tribune claims that a Saudi security personnel reportedly discovered a bugging device in their hotel during the visit to Pakistan.
"Saudis Trying To Buy Nukes"
"Saudi Arabia, Pakistan in N-talks, US media insists"
"The Evolving Threat From Weapons Of Mass Destruction In The Middle East"
"Analysis: Footprints of a nuclear deal"
"Why the Saudis Took Away All Bed Sheets from Pakistan"
"Pak embarrassed as Saudis find bugs in Prince's room"
An editorial in the Telegraph (India) shifts the focus of the Saudi visit from potential deals to salient comments, but "lost opportunities in Indo-Saudi relations in at least a decade have obscured what is possible for New Delhi to do with Riyadh. Saud's assertion in Islamabad on Indian Muslims is...significant [in] extolling Indian secularism and declaring his faith in the strength of India's constitutional process to safeguard India's Muslims."
"Beyond Black And White"