On a Dutch site I read that Sjah Reza wanted to develop nuclear energy in Iran back in the late sixties. USA offered help and supplies: a nuclear reactor for research, uranium and plutonium. The reactor was started in 1967, but broke down rather quickly. The French offered to repair, for which they received a loan of one billion dollar for building a nuclear plant in Tricastin (France). As of 1974 more countries offered their services: contracts followed for five reactors and nuclear fuel from France. Two reactors and fuel from USA. Regular purchase of uranium from Australia. Two reactors from West Germany. Denmark supplying 10 kilos of refined uranium and 25 kilos of raw uranium. That was all about thirty year ago.

Tech personell came from Argentina and India, while Iranian students studied in West-Germany and the UK. Iran, Pakistan and Turkey had talks for working together on regional installations. In 1975 the budget for development of nucleair energy in Iran was about 30 billion dollar. More reactors were ordered, but by the end of 1978 there were insufficient fundings to go on. At that time not even one of the reactors was completed, but can you imagine the bustle? All these countries working together, sharing technology.

The people of Iran took control in the second half of the seventies, led by Khomeini. Iraq invaded Iran, starting a war that would last ten years. During the first year of war Israel managed to bomb Iraqs first (almost) completed nucleair powerplant in Osirak (7 juni 1981). After that development stopped in the Middle East. Many countries in The West stopped working actively on nuclear technology too.

Now, I need to tell you all that because it makes clear how people like Dr. Qadeer were working and studying with colleague scientists from all over the world at the same goal. (In fact he studied at universities in my country and he married a woman speaking Dutch.) Those scientists are internationally minded and ofcourse take more freedom in who they talk to. That’s normal.

But I have to tell you too that Dr. Qadeer is not just a hero scientist with a clean slate. In my country he was convicted for espionage. Working for Urenco (Uranium enrichment corporation) he apparently stole information for Pakistan. After eleven years of living in Europe he went for a holiday to Pakistan, but didn’t return to his family in The Netherlands. However, supposely because of an intervention by CIA in the eightees he is allowed to travel to The Netherlands again for ‘humanitary reasons’ visiting family and such. (The head of the Dutch intelligence agency met him personally, as was told on television a couple of years ago.)

There is a lot of politics involved, and if we take in account our long history of sharing information and working together on nuclear technology, this story gets an extra dimension:

I think that Dr. Qadeer probably did a lot of things for Pakistan that aren’t pretty. Ofcourse people from the West did the same kind of things that aren’t pretty either. And there’s a lot going on that isn’t told in the media. But it is hard to say who is doing ‘more wrong’ in this matter. It is a ball game of which we as average people know too little. We’re played.