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How a Lone Diplomat Compromised the Hunt for Bin Laden
NY Sun ^ | March 28, 2005 | RICHARD MINITER

Posted on 03/28/2005 3:46:19 AM PST by Straight Vermonter

WASHINGTON - A lone U.S. ambassador compromised America's hunt for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan for more than two years, The New York Sun has learned.

Ambassador Nancy Powell, America's representative in Pakistan, refused to allow the distribution in Pakistan of wanted posters, matchbooks, and other items advertising America's $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of Mr. bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.

Instead, thousands of matchbooks, posters, and other material - printed at taxpayer expense and translated into Urdu, Pashto, and other local languages - remained "impounded" on American Embassy grounds from 2002 to 2004, according to Rep. Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois.

While the American government was engaged in a number of "black" or covert intelligence activities to locate Al Qaeda leaders, Mr. Kirk said, the "white" or public efforts - which have succeeded in the past in leading to the capture of wanted terrorists - were effectively shut down in the months following the September 11 attacks.

Mr. Kirk discovered Ms. Powell's unusual order in January 2004 and, over the past year, launched a series of behind-the-scenes moves that culminated in a blunt conversation with President Bush aboard Air Force One, the removal of the ambassador, and congressional approval for reinvigorating the hunt for Mr. bin Laden.

(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; ambassador; binladen; clintonplant; geopolitics; manhunt; nancypowell; obl; pakistan; powell; richardminiter; rino; southasia; statedepartment; subversion; usembassy
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To: Straight Vermonter

bump


121 posted on 03/28/2005 4:22:24 PM PST by XHogPilot (GW Bush is a strategic genius!)
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To: Straight Vermonter

Ambassador Nancy Powell

I hate to admit I am of the same sex as this person. But then maybe I am not, if you get my drift. :-)

122 posted on 03/28/2005 4:30:30 PM PST by Spunky ("Everyone has a freedom of choice, but not of consequences.")
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To: Straight Vermonter

bttt


123 posted on 03/28/2005 4:38:41 PM PST by expatguy (http://laotze.blogspot.com/)
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To: Spunky

BUMP


124 posted on 03/28/2005 4:39:51 PM PST by BulletBobCo
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To: Spunky

BUMP


125 posted on 03/28/2005 4:40:16 PM PST by BulletBobCo
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To: Spunky

BUMP... TO SCROLL THAT PICTURE OFF MY SCREEN


126 posted on 03/28/2005 4:40:56 PM PST by BulletBobCo
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To: Straight Vermonter

The bumper sticker ratio in State Dept parking lots ran about 12 to 1, Kerry over Bush.


127 posted on 03/28/2005 4:45:21 PM PST by dagnabbit (Vincente Fox's opening line at the Mexico-USA summit meeting: "Bring out the Gimp!")
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To: AdmSmith

Reduced staff at the Pakistan embassy due to fear of violence and assassination. That's why families are left behind in America.

Nancy Powell fits the mold. Single.


128 posted on 03/28/2005 5:13:36 PM PST by dennisw ("What is Man that thou art mindful of him")
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To: Spunky

She looks like a dieting John Goodman.


129 posted on 03/28/2005 5:15:51 PM PST by JCEccles (If Jimmy Carter were a country, he'd be Canada.)
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To: Southack
It also damaged Chamberlain's ability to concentrate on matters at hand, which were of pretty high import the whole while.

I don't recall General George S. Patton having any problems "concentrating" on his task (also of pretty high import) while he was forced to be separated from his son from 1941-1945.

130 posted on 03/28/2005 6:15:12 PM PST by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: raybbr

Caption. "Does this outfit make me look fat?"

LOL! Sorry, I couldn't help it.


131 posted on 03/28/2005 6:33:03 PM PST by Balata
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To: raybbr

Caption. "Does this outfit make me look fat?"

LOL! Sorry, I couldn't help it.


132 posted on 03/28/2005 6:34:02 PM PST by Balata
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To: raybbr

Is that her wife in the middle?


133 posted on 03/28/2005 6:43:54 PM PST by Prince Charles
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To: dennisw
As far as I'm concerned it's idiocy and insulting to send any woman to be an ambassador to a Muslim nation. State should have kept re-assigning her to Africa

Ummm... no Mooslim nations located on the African Continent??

134 posted on 03/28/2005 7:23:05 PM PST by AFreeBird (your mileage may vary)
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To: elli1

I think it was a new item on Lucianne.com today--but I saw it somewhere. The name Powell struck me because of Colin and it was the State Dept.


135 posted on 03/28/2005 8:43:42 PM PST by wildbill
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To: mrsmith
Not clear she was responsible for ending the program.

No, it's not. Things were dicey for Mushareff in Pakistan, thinking back to the street protests, etc. leading me to think that there are possibily or probably some other points in the story that didn't get aired in this article. Lots of things have happened in Pakistan that had the potential to turn the place into a train wreck during Powell's tenure there and it didn't happen. I don't know anything about Nancy Powell but given that Miniter left the much higher profile captures of Yousef (before Powell) & Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (during) out of the article, I'm inclined to give Ms Powell the benefit of the doubt for the time being. It's not as though the Pakis didn't know that the US paid rewards or that they didn't know that OBL had a price on his head. Saturating the country with matchbooks & wanted posters may have been a counterproductive thing to do.

136 posted on 03/28/2005 10:14:46 PM PST by elli1
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To: wildbill

Checked Lucianne. You must have read it somewhere else.


137 posted on 03/28/2005 10:16:11 PM PST by elli1
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To: REPANDPROUDOFIT
I'm still wondering WHY she didn't distribute the material. Was it incompetence or a chip on her shoulder?

Is she a rabid anti-smoker? After all, no matches, they can't light up, right?

138 posted on 03/28/2005 10:31:59 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (Repeal the NFA of '34! the GCA of '68! and the '86 ban!)
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To: dagnabbit

If it's anything like the rest of DC and Northern Virginia, they still have Kerry bumper stickers on their cars


139 posted on 03/29/2005 4:46:16 AM PST by leadpenny
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To: Straight Vermonter
MEMORIALIZED IN SONG -- HERE
140 posted on 03/29/2005 11:58:21 AM PST by doug from upland (MOCKING DEMOCRATS 24/7 --- www.rightwingparodies.com)
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