Probing Link to Bin Laden, U.S. Tells Pakistan to Name Agents

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Pakistani officials say the Obama administration has demanded the identities of some of their top intelligence operatives as the United States tries to determine whether any of them had contact with Osama bin Laden or his agents in the years before the raid that led to his death early Monday morning in Pakistan.

The officials provided new details of a tense discussion between Pakistani officials and an American envoy who traveled to Pakistan on Monday, as well as the growing suspicion among United States intelligence and diplomatic officials that someone in Pakistan’s secret intelligence agency knew of Bin Laden’s location, and helped shield him.

Obama administration officials have stopped short of accusing the Pakistani government — either privately or publicly — of complicity in the hiding of Bin Laden in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One senior administration official privately acknowledged that the administration sees its relationship with Pakistan as too crucial to risk a wholesale break, even if it turned out that past or present Pakistani intelligence officials did know about Bin Laden’s whereabouts.

Still, this official and others expressed deep frustration with Pakistani military and intelligence officials for their refusal over the years to identify members of the agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, who were believed to have close ties to Bin Laden. In particular, American officials have demanded information on what is known as the ISI’s S directorate, which has worked closely with militants since the days of the fight against the Soviet army in Afghanistan.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/world/asia/07policy.html

[dkf]

1. If Muslims turned their back on Al Qaeda and Bin Laden for killing Muslims

Maybe they will turn their backs on a Bin Laden supporting Pakistan.

[The Magistrate]

2. This Is Going To Be Rum Fun, Sir

[Arctic Dave]

3. So they are acting like the US did after WW II by hiding and employing Nazis.

Sounds like a wasted breath on our part.

[groundloop]

4. This be be a difficult dance. Remember that Pakistan has lots of nukes.

If we abandon Pakistan they (and their nukes) could fall under the Taliban's influence. If we keep sending them aid, well, we'll be sending $3 billion per year to a corrupt government to keep them kinda' sorta' on our side. It's going to be a hell of a tough bit of diplomacy.

[Ikonoklast]

5. The ISI has been playing both ends against the middle forever.

Like taking our aid money and using it to train Kashmiri insurgents to keep India off balance.

They don't really see Islamic fundamentalists as an enemy, since many are burrowed deep in that agency as well as the military, but they certainly still see India as one.

[JJW]

6. Cash Cow

Bin Laden was a cash cow for Pakistan and the military industrial complex.

[Old and In the Way]

8. Sure makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Kind of reminds me of the drug war. Way too much money is made by keeping it illegal and having a 'war'. The GWOT is the MIC's trillion dollar golden egg. There aren't any nation states that seem interested in starting wars these days...the blowback is just too great. But apparently we need something to fight to justify those trillions spent on the MIC weapon systems. If I were a cynical person, I'd say that a terrorist boogeyman would need to be created to justify feeding the trillion dollar appetite of such a creature.

[KoKo]

7. Kick...This sounds good on first read..

[Old and In the Way]

9. I get the feeling that our 'partnership' with Pakistan on fighting the GWOT

is going to come to an ugly end pretty soon. I wonder how much of those 20+ billion dollars we've given Pakistan since 9/11 got funneled into activities that helped support terrorism....which, in turn, justified more billions to Pakistan to 'fight' it?

And just what is this nebulous key role that Pakistan fills in this GWOT? If the unspoken issue is they happen to have a nuke arsenal which could fall into the hands of radical religious fanatics....maybe we really need to figure a way to neutralize that from happening, instead of rearranging rockpiles in the mountains of Afghanistan.

[cosmicone]

13. Pakistan is global terror

Pakistani ISI terrorists have been present from Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, Dagestan all the way to Kashmir, Xin Jiang and Mindanao in the Philippines.

[pettypace]

10. Islamic fundamentalists are not a threat to the US

All this nation needs to do is gtfo of Afghan and Iraq, and boom! No more threat.

But we all know its bigger than that. The US's proxy state in the middle east needs to be supported at all times.

Let the Paks do what they need to do. It's their part of the world. US has no right to intervene.

[cosmicone]

11. It's about time we threw Pakistan under the bus. n/t

[yurbud]

12. weird--Washington called the obvious a conspiracy theory for a decade and now they are

shocked, shocked! that Pakistan was supporting al Qaeda.

Next thing you know, they'll notice Saudi Arabia helped the hijackers too.

[Keith Bee]

14. Sorry for duping your thread

K&R

[Veronica.Franco]

15. It's my guess ...

Obama already knows the identities as our CIA was observing the house for months before the raid and the hard-drives must have included his contacts list ... my guess is the US is now simply waiting to see if they'll lie to them ...

[Keith Bee]

16. Probing Link to Bin Laden, U.S. Tells Pakistan to Name Agents

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — Pakistani officials say the Obama administration has demanded the identities of some of their top intelligence operatives as the United States tries to determine whether any of them had contact with Osama bin Laden or his agents in the years before the raid that led to his death early Monday morning in Pakistan.

The officials provided new details of a tense discussion between Pakistani officials and an American envoy who traveled to Pakistan on Monday, as well as the growing suspicion among United States intelligence and diplomatic officials that someone in Pakistan’s secret intelligence agency knew of Bin Laden’s location, and helped shield him.

Obama administration officials have stopped short of accusing the Pakistani government — either privately or publicly — of complicity in the hiding of Bin Laden in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One senior administration official privately acknowledged that the administration sees its relationship with Pakistan as too crucial to risk a wholesale break, even if it turned out that past or present Pakistani intelligence officials did know about Bin Laden’s whereabouts.

Still, this official and others expressed deep frustration with Pakistani military and intelligence officials for their refusal over the years to identify members of the agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, who were believed to have close ties to Bin Laden. In particular, American officials have demanded information on what is known as the ISI’s S directorate, which has worked closely with militants since the days of the fight against the Soviet army in Afghanistan.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/world/asia/07policy.html?_r=1&hp

---

Besides Israel, I can think of no country more deserving of a financial aid cutoff than Pakistan.

[dipsydoodle]

17. Duplicate LBN

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4842745

[Keith Bee]

22. Oops! Sorry.

:blush:

[lib2DaBone]

18. The NeoCons must have another war... either Pakistan or Iran....

They won't be happy until they start another war.. or maybe even WW-III.

Israel aircraft are now using Iraq as a staging and practice area... this shuld go over well in the Mid East....

[leveymg]

19. What's your source for the assertion that IAF is "using Iraq as a staging & practice area"?

The NeoCons would love another war, a nice big regional war, even one with nuclear weapons and mass casualties. Then the millennium, and a thousand years of milk and honey. I recall Michael Ledeen mused to Richard Perle, "Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be singing songs about us." Instruments of g-d's will . . . and all that crap.

[dotymed]

20. IMO, they should be asking Bush and his cronies.

Connect the dots...

[MasonJar]

21. The irony is that we also apparently knew about this safe house for years.

We knew some big wig was hiding out there, just not who. And also I cannot prove it of course, but I believe that Bush let Osama go at Tora Bora, so he could have his little war in Iraq. Also if I remember correctly, the Bushes had ties to the bin Ladens in Saudi. Why is it worse for Pakistan to shield him than our own president? I am not supporting what the intelligence officers of Pakistan did, just wondering why we don't punish the guilty here.