Truemors
is reporting from
Member
NP Rank:
NP Rank:
Pakistan Ties with bin Laden? Washington Didn't Trust Islamabad
Share: 
by NowPublic Staff | May 2, 2011 at 11:20 am
161 views | 0 Recommendations | 1 comment
Why Wasn't Pakistan Involved in Osama bin Laden Strike?
Osama bin Laden was hiding in plain sight in Abbottabad, Pakistan. In fact, he lived only a few miles from a major military academy in a neighborhood favored by retired Pakistani military brass. It's hard to ignore the likelihood that elements the Pakistani government either knew where Osama bin Laden was hiding, or had strong links to those who did.
WikiLeaks had published documents showing that US diplomats were convinced that Pakistan was tipping off bin Laden whenever American forces got too close.
Photos
Osama bin Laden was living in relative luxury in the middle of an affluent area, surrounded by Pakistani military and intelligence. One would think that a household behaving so strangely for so long would attract a little more law-enforcement attention, considering its location.
It's impossible not to do the math. Counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan said that it was "inconceivable" that Osama bin Laden didn't have local help. Brennan stopped short of openly accusing Pakistan's government of helping bin Laden, but that suspicion is fairly well known by now.
The US has publicly refused to rule out Pakistani aid to bin Laden, and mistrust would be a major reason to keep the local intelligence services in the dark. While Pakistan claimed a role in the strike that killed the al-Qaeda founder, the US said it acted alone and in secret, not informing Islamabad until after Navy SEAL Team Six had left Pakistani airspace.
While jihadists the world over are realizing just how far the US is willing to go to track down terrorists (billions of dollars spent, thousands of lives lost), this covert military strike was also an unmistakable message to Pakistan.
Advertisement
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
- Sign In or Join to post comments
Quadie4 (not verified)at 03:12 on May 6th, 2011
This calls for a celebration for those peace-loving people out there who has been scared of the rampant terrorism around the world! But as the saying "you cannot please everyone" goes, it's also a reality that Bin Laden's death will cause great grief to other group of people that believe in him, and let us not judge them of their faith and belief. I just really wish that this event would not lead to more cycle of hatred and revenge.On the lighter note, a simple village man in the Abbottobad became known of this event. His name is Sohaib Athar, thirty-three, and he noticed the sounds of a helicopter from his home on Sunday night and complained about it on Twitter. This guy is easily the most entertaining part of this whole Osama raid with his tweets. The whole situation is so tense and in all serious business, but I guess he provided people with a little breather to the situation at the moment with his amusing commentaries. I'm wondering if the raid turned out successful if Osama was also using Twitter at the time Athar noticed the helicopters. :p It was wonderful for him to be able to keep a funny bone amid all that gunfires and bombing! If I were in that place I'd be too scared to continue using Twitter! Check out more article about him here: <a title="Raid that got Bin Laden accidentally blogged about" href="www.newsytype.com/5782-bin-laden-raid-twitter/">Man unknowingly bemoans Bin Laden raid on Twitter</a>On top of it all, he wants nothing of all this fame and just want to remain a simple villager. And have some quiet sleep. :)