Did bin Laden hide in plain sight?: Lawmakers
(AP)
3 May 2011, 1:13 PM
WASHINGTON - Incredulous U.S. lawmakers are pressing Pakistan for answers to
two simple questions: What did its army and intelligence agents know of Osama
bin Laden's whereabouts and when did they know it?
The al-Qaida terrorist leader behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks lived and died
in a massive, fortified compound built in 2005 and located on the outskirts of
Abbottabad, some 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the capital of Islamabad. It
stood just a half-mile (800 meters) from the Kakul Military Academy, Pakistan's
equivalent of West Point, and close to various army regiments.
Amid the high praise on Monday for the successful U.S. military operation,
congressional Republicans and Democrats questioned whether bin Laden was hiding
in plain sight, with Pakistani military and intelligence operatives either
totally unaware of his location or willfully ignoring his presence to protect
him.
It was more than a rhetorical question as lawmakers raised the possibility of
imposing conditions on the billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars that flow to
Pakistan, largely economic aid to back an unsteady government.
"I think this tells us once again that, unfortunately, Pakistan at times is
playing a double game," said Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a Senate Armed
Services Committee member who indicated that Congress could put limits on funds
for Pakistan.
Bin Laden's death and questions about Pakistan's eagerness in the fight against
terrorism come as the tenuous U.S.-Pakistan relationship seems even more
fragile. In recent weeks, CIA contractor Raymond Davis' killing of two
Pakistanis and stepped-up U.S. drone attacks have further strained ties between
the two countries.
Different factions within Pakistan itself complicate its role as a U.S. ally.
What state officials and those in the military may have known about bin Laden
could be quite different from what tribes and even families in the region knew
or, more to the point, were willing to say about the Abbottabad compound and
its occupants.
Early last month, CIA Director Leon Panetta met with Pakistan's intelligence
chief, Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, a meeting Washington officials saw as make or
break. The Obama administration said it was negotiating a possible reduction in
U.S. intelligence operatives and special operations officers in Pakistan as
they sought to ease Pakistani concerns about spy activity.
Prior to the raid on the compound, U.S. officials say, they didn't inform
Pakistan of its plans. Unaware and unnerved Pakistanis scrambled their aircraft
in the wake of the U.S. military intervention.
Publicly, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton thanked Pakistan for its
cooperation and said the country "has contributed greatly to our efforts to
dismantle al-Qaida." She said that "in fact, cooperation with Pakistan helped
lead us to bin Laden and the compound in which he was hiding."
John Brennan, White House counterterrorism adviser, said the administration was
looking at whether bin Laden had a support system in Pakistan that allowed him
to remain in the country.
"We know that the people at the compound there were working on his behalf, and
that's how we ultimately found our way to that compound," Brennan told
reporters at the White House. "We are talking with the Pakistanis on a regular
basis now, and we're going to pursue all leads to find out exactly what type of
support system and benefactors that bin Laden might have had."
Based on the location of the compound and its proximity to army regiments,
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said Pakistan's
intelligence and army has "got a lot of explaining to do."
Hours later, Levin acknowledged Clinton's assessment, but he said he stood by
his questions, citing the size of the compound compared with surrounding
buildings and the fact that its residents took the unusual step of burning all
their garbage and avoiding any collection.
"It's hard to imagine that the military or police did not have any ideas what
was going on inside of that," Levin told reporters in a conference call.
Said Collins, "It is very difficult for me to understand how this huge compound
could be built in a city just an hour north of the capital of Pakistan, in a
city that contained military installations, including the Pakistani military
academy, and that it did not arouse tremendous suspicions."
In an essay published Monday by The Washington Post, Pakistani President Asif
Ali Zardari denied suggestions his country's security forces may have sheltered
bin Laden, and said their cooperation with the United States helped pinpoint
the al-Qaida leader.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, who has traveled
extensively to Pakistan and even worked as an intermediary to get Davis
released, said candid conversations with the Pakistanis were necessary.
However, Kerry said it would be a mistake to forget "we've had people on the
ground tracking this. There's some degree of assistance and cooperation of the
Pakistanis."
Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee,
cautioned against pushing Pakistan away.
"I'm not the easiest on Pakistan, but the fact is we had a period of time when
we had nothing to do with Pakistan and it was not a productive exercise,"
McCain said. Pakistan's nuclear arms would be a direct threat to U.S. national
security, he said, if those weapons fell into the wrong hands.
Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said that while
Pakistan must be asked about what it knew of bin Laden's whereabouts, the
relationship remains important for U.S. national security.
"It is incredibly important to us to maintain a relationship so we can pursue
those targets that we know are posing a threat to the United States," Rogers
said. "So that's a balance, and we'll have to work through it."
------------------------------------
Post message: [email protected]
Subscribe : [email protected]
Unsubscribe : [email protected]
List owner : [email protected]
Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
