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 ...
Yo, Nancy. Anybody ever 'splain to you the theory about stripes.
Arrest her for aiding a fugive.
You don't want to read my comment!
IMHO, the offer of a $25M or $50M reward is not credible to most Pakistanis. I think the results would be much more positive if the Allies purchased a tract of perhaps 300 acres of tillable land and stocked it with 1,000 goats, 50 cattle and various other livestock, then gave out video information on the revised reward - well, go ahead and add some money expressed in local currency.
Yes I do...Yes I do ....Yes I do !!!
Check yer mailbox
Oh no check yourrrrrrr mailbox !....:o)
exactly what I was thinking! Fashion police alert!!!
Ah yes, The continuing Saga of our beloved Bin Laden escapes again. Now we find out how one of our diplomats comprimised his capture. Are we running out of ideas on how to explain this fellow's ability to elude capture or what ?, Personally I liked the story of the Pakistani General who mucked up the assault in the mountains. But the grandest story I've heard thus far is how Bin Laden escaped by riding a donkey out of Tora Bora in the first place, totally eluding military spy satellites capable of seeing facial expressions through clouds in the dark of night from sixty miles up and also somehow breaking through the cordoned area of 25,000 soldiers around Tora Bora itself. Either this "Bearded Wonder" has more than Nine lives or ??????....If we could do Tora Bora all over again, would we allow another three day cease fire to allow the prisoners to make amens with their Alah ?....
What a nincowpoop...what a gullibull!
Still, she's had some crappy assignments, like most career state officers. I don't know the reasons for this, and I'm not sure we should be jumping on board the Powell-bashing just yet without the info. It sounds awful, but there has to be more to this. Doesn't there? Is our State Dept that stupid, to let this happen and then to PROMOTE the woman back to Foggy Bottom? Don't answer yet...
Remember, the promotion is fairly recent. And the ambassador slot in Pakistan is obviously a career diplomat slot right now, but it's one that could certainly have been handled differently, earlier, if the White House had wanted it to be.
I want to know more before I jump on the 'dump the dyke' bandwagon. Sounds 100% grade-A stupid, but I have a hard time imagining even career State people just being 100% grade-A stupid.
THE FIRST LINK YOU POSTED HAS ALREADY BEEN REMOVED!
Somebody on State is doing a little CYA--what'd it say?
I don't have any given book to refer you to, but if you have the time, there should be a lot of material you can research to illuminate just how obtuse and obstructionist the State Department can be. Sometimes it seems like downright ignorance and sometimes that is exactly what it is. At other times, it is institutional arrogance. I wasn't impressed with Powell, but I don't blame him for the attitudes of people in the State Department. I am pleased with Condoleeza Rice, but remember this: no matter what she does, no matter how she shakes the place up, she only has a few years there. And then, things return to normal - and daffy.
A real fashion plate! She looks so idiotic that Pakis are laughing.
Thats PAT!
THE FIRST LINK YOU POSTED HAS ALREADY BEEN REMOVED! Somebody on State is doing a little CYA--what'd it say?
Sure 'nuff.
Dated in early January, 2005, it was an announcement that the Rewards For Justice Program was either being implemented or was freshly up & running in Pakistan. It was a short announcement, 3-4 paragraphs...don't remember anything else specific about it. Anyway, it confirmed the allegation in the article that the program had NOT been operating in Pakistan.
I'm wondering if the bigger story in this might be that this was a good part of the reason that SOS Colin Powell is gone? Especially in light of info like this being made to disappeared...
press releases U.S. Launches Media Campaign For Rewards For Justice Program 01/07/2005
Islamabad - January 7, 2005: As part of the ongoing war against terrorism, the U.S. Department of State has launched a public campaign in Pakistan to promote awareness of the Rewards for Justice Program and urge people to help bring some of the most wanted international terrorists to justice. A leading Pakistani Urdu daily carried the first in a series of newspaper advertisements today. More such advertisements in other newspapers, as well as radio and television, are expected to follow. Similar ads have appeared in publications as far-ranging as The New York Times, Al Hayat, Paris Match, Die Welt, and Pravda.
The campaign was launched under the Rewards for Justice Program, one of the most valuable U.S. Government tools in the fight against international terrorism. Established by the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism, the program is administered by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
The goal of the Rewards for Justice Program is to bring international terrorists to justice and prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States.
Under the program, the Secretary of State may offer rewards up to $25 million for information that prevents, frustrates, or favorably resolves acts of international terrorism against U.S. interests worldwide, or leads to the arrest or conviction, in any country, of terrorists responsible for such acts.
The Program has been an effective tool in the fight against international terrorism.
In the past seven years, the United States has paid more than $57 million in 29 cases to people who have provided credible information that put terrorists behind bars or prevented acts of international terrorism worldwide. The program played a significant role in the arrest of international terrorist Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Thousands of lives have been saved as a direct result of the Rewards for Justice Program.
The identity of anyone providing information is kept strictly confidential. People with information should contact the U.S. Embassy or Consulate or call 0800-23234.
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