How a Lone Diplomat Compromised the Hunt for Bin Laden

NY Sun ^ | March 28, 2005 | RICHARD MINITER

[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.

[Valin]

Thanks, I missed that.

[AdmSmith]

The State Department has dramatically reduced staff in Pakistan, even though President Pervez Musharraf has became a valued ally in the US war on terror. That means temporary personnel often make up the bulk of the staff. More than 7,000 temporary staffers have come through Pakistan since Sept. 11, a State Department record.

US Ambassador Nancy Powell admits the constant turnover puts a strain on contacts in a country where personal relationships with local officials are crucial. "For those working on economic assistance, or on our law-enforcement programs, making the contacts and getting up to speed on the political situation in Pakistan is absolutely key," she says. "And [turnover] is a detriment."

Employees also grumble about the fact that Pakistan has been a singles-only posting since Sept. 11, meaning partners and children must stay home. Coping with loneliness is a common theme at the American Club bar, though most diplomats say they would make the same decision to come if they had it to do over.

"I think it is a question virtually everyone asks themselves," says Deputy Chief of Mission William Monroe, who left his family behind when he came to work in Pakistan. "You feel you are doing something so important that it is hard to say, gee, I wish I hadn't done this."


http://www.hvk.org/articles/0603/52.html

Date: June 3, 2003

[beachn4fun]

ave promised that they will do everything in their power to thwart the work of the US government.

Then I hope those dumbasses get fired.

[brazzaville]

Good morning.

Where are your priorities, leadpenny. What can be a greater threat to the USA than overpaid entertainers using drugs to enhance their ability to make money?

Michael Frazier

[Inwoodian]

I could swear that the woman in the photo was the 1993 Petaluma Wrist Wrestling Champion.

[spokeshave]

"following six and a half years as a high school social studies teacher in Dayton, Iowa. She has studied French, Nepali and Urdu"

Unbelievable.

[stinkerpot65]

Is it not a insulting and stupid to send a fat, sloppy lesbian to a key Muslim ally?

[Southack]

"The US ambassador to Pakistan, Wendy Chamberlain, has asked to return home after less than a year in Islamabad because of the disruption to her family life caused by the security situation there. Chamberlain, who is a single mother, has been frequently separated from her school-going daughters China, 14, and Jade, 12, since she moved to Pakistan last summer. The girls went to Islamabad last August to be with their mother and study there but were evacuated in September following the 9/11 catastrophe. They returned to Islamabad in January but were evacuated again after the March 17 church bombing that killed a female US diplomat and her daughter. That made the kids intercontinental yo-yos and destroyed any kind of stable home life. It also damaged Chamberlain's ability to concentrate on matters at hand, which were of pretty high import the whole while. A person — man or woman — can be a sharp, even ruthless diplomat and negotiator, but they remain parents and (sometimes) spouses. Chamberlain’s recall will seriously undermine US diplomatic activity in a country where the American ambassador enjoys enormous clout, unparalleled access, and is often referred to as the viceroy of the country. Compounding her exit will be the departure also of Michelle Sison, the Deputy Chief of Mission in Islamabad, who is completing her tour of duty and returning to Washington."

Our State Department is an international bathhouse.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Her qualifications to be ambassador to Pakistan (during our most critical moments in the War on Terror and the unt for OBL were six years as a HS social studies teacher?

[BillF]

It was some dumb broad American ambassatrix who told Sadaam that it would be cool to invade Kuwait.

Left-wing, old media, Saddam disinformation at work.

Unless she has a very good explanation, Nancy Powell, the diplomat discussed in the posted article did a terrible job. However, please don't generalize from that situation based on disinformation.

In the earlier matter, April Glaspie was the diplomat who discussed Kuwait with Saddam Hussein. At a meeting with Saddam shortly before the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Glaspie is said by the left (and many of their willing accomplices in the old media) to have given Saddam the green light to invade Kuwait. Their evidence is a transcript of the meeting as released by Saddam Hussein and having Glasbie state that the U.S. did NOT take a stand on intra-Arab border disputes.

Do you think that Saddam might heave released an incomplete or false transcript for propaganda purposes? At any rate, Glaspie claims that her statement and discussions with Saddam included the qualification that intra-Arab disputes were to be settled peacefully.

The left and many of the old media choose to believe Saddam over the American diplomat. I hope that you would be reluctant to believe Saddam's propaganda, repeated and amplified by the left and their willing accomplices in the media, over the U.S. diplomat.

[pollwatcher]

"Somebody at Foggy Bottom must have a thing for Al Lewis look-alikes."

LOL!

[niteowl77]

Her profile looked close enough, and I always thought Madeline Albright had some Munster DNA too.

And I've never seen Al and Helen Thomas together at the same time.

[Finalapproach29er]

Did Powell really send a lesbian to Pakistan? LOL LOL LOL

[buckrat]

Thats a woman?

[monkeywrench]

C'mon, now, maybe they had an important bowling tourney after the swearing in.

[doug from upland]

Doug, you idiot. It is www.rightalk.com. Doh.

[doug from upland]

RICHARD MINITER DOT COM

[Admin Moderator]

Try it again. We can't edit replies..

[Rodney King]

See post #3. The picture says it all.