Evidence at bin Laden's home raises nuclear concerns

During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the CIA provided Stinger missiles to the Majahideen (the forerunner to Al Qaeda). The Mujahideen may have fought in Afghanistan but were based in Pakistan. When the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan, Pakistan sold the remaining Stinger missiles to North Korea. This most likely was in hopes the North Korea could reverse engineer the batter packs on the Stingers that were running low. It would seem that Pakistan may have also received assistance from North Korea with their nuclear weapons program.

According to the Washington Times article, Pakistan has over 100 nuclear weapons. There is the possibility that Al Qaeda has infiltrated the Pakistani military. It seems more certain since reports are indicating bin Laden was in his house for over 6 years, right next to the Pakistan military academy. It would be the equivalent of John Dillinger getting an apartment next door to J. Edgar Hoover's office and the FBI not knowing it.

The jubilation over bin Laden's death masks the ascension of his number two, al Zawahiri. He was perhaps the sole reason Al Qaeda was quick to collaborate reports of bin Laden's death. He was basically saying, "the king is dead, long live the king". The death of bin Laden now gives al Zawahiri to reunify the split between his faction and those that remained loyal to the former leader.

Rather than facing clear skies ahead, the United States is facing two new and unpredictable situations. One is a nuclear armed Al Qaeda in Paksitan. The other is the situation in Iran. Ayatollah Khemenei has called for Ahmadimejad to step down, which for now looks like it won't happen. If tensions continue to mount in Iran, this could erupt in another internal conflict with Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program going to the victor.

Washington Times