The Dots Remain Unconnected

NEW ORLEANS--In Saturday night's Democratic debate, moderator Charles Gibson opened the proceedings with a question about Pakistan and one about nuclear terrorism. Not one of the candidates connected the dots: the chief proliferator of nuclear knowhow and technology over the last 15 years has not been Iran, or Iraq, or Russia; it has been Pakistan, where "the father of the Pakistani A-bomb" A.Q. Khan ran an international nuclear bazaar.

Obviously, if you're worried about nuclear terrorism, one thing you should do is interrogate the chief nuclear proliferator. But, as the Dems fulminated on the two questions, trying to show toughness and resolve, not one of them suggested doing the obvious thing: calling on (assuming he's still in office when one of them is elected) President Musharraf to let the United States, or the IAEA, or anyone except Pakistani police question Khan, who remains under house arrest, unavailable for interrogation by any outside agency.

For $10 billion, the least we should expect is to get into that house.