Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari "spoke with derision in an interview about U.S. concern over the vulnerability of his country's nuclear arsenal, Hersh said. "In your country, you feel that you have to hold the fort for us. The American people want a lot of answers for the errors of the past, and it's very easy to spread fear. Our Army officers are not crazy, like the Taliban. They're British-trained. Why would they slip up on nuclear security? A mutiny would never happen in Pakistan.
Moreover, an unnamed senior Pakistani official said to have close ties to Zardari added, "you'd like control of our day-to-day deployment. But why should we give it to you? Even if there was a military coup d'etat in Pakistan, no one is going to give up total control of our nuclear weapons. Never. Why are you not afraid of India's nuclear weapons?
The official answered his own question with, "Because India is your friend, and the longtime policies of America and India converge. Between you and the Indians, you will f*ck us in every way. The truth is that our weapons are less of a problem for the Obama Administration than finding a respectable way out of Afghanistan.
A former senior U.S. intelligence official told Hersh the Pakistanis gave the U.S. intelligence about their warheads, some of the warheads' locations, and their command-and-control system. However, a U.S. military spokesman for Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "I am not aware of our receipt of any such information.
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