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Posted on 05/03/2011 3:56:08 PM PDT by Murtyo
NEW DELHI: The direct role of Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence in harbouring Osama bin Laden, first elsewhere and then in the cooler climes of Abbottabad where he met his maker, may never be known.
But there is growing realization around the world, with some US senators on Tuesday reinforcing the charge against Pakistan security and intelligence agencies of playing "a double game" of staggering proportions in the so-called global war against terrorism, that it will be virtually impossible to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Islamist terror till one of its main benefactors is neutered.
From the Haqqani network in Afghanistan to the Lashkar-e-Taiba operations in India, the shadowy ISI has long emerged as the prime clandestine sponsor and facilitator of militant Islam and transnational terrorism across the world.
Just last month, for instance, it came to light that secret US files sent to interrogators in Guantanamo Bay held ISI should be ranked with extremist outfits as al-Qaida, Hamas and Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
ISIs two main targets, of course, have always been India and Afghanistan, with the clear agenda being to make the former bleed through a thousand cuts, while facilitating the installation of a friendly regime in the latter.
"ISI operates with the mindset of a semi-criminal or a mafia don, indulging in activities such as killing innocents. Its an integral part of the Pakistan Army and plays a very crucial role vis-à-vis India and Afghanistan. ISI has been using terrorism as a state activity for long," says former Intelligence Bureau chief Ajit Doval.
ISI, of course, draws its support, sustenance and strength from its big brother, the Pakistan Army. It is no happenstance that Gen Kayani was the ISI chief before he took over as Army chief in 2007. Or, that the present ISI chief Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha was the director-general of military operations before taking charge of the intelligence agency, which even has successfully dabbled since the 1970s in controlling Pakistans domestic politics to a large extent.
That the ISI has virtually no oversight in terms of civilian or political control was brought home when the new civilian government in Pakistan in 2008 tried to bring ISI under its control but had to embarrassingly backtrack within a few hours.
Though it was created soon after the Indo-Pak conflict over J&K in 1947-48 to plug the gaps in intelligence sharing among the Pakistani armed forces, the ISI took some time to gain global notoriety as "a state within a state". It really came into its own in the 1980s when CIA and others used it to funnel arms and money to the Mujahideen battling the Soviets in Afghanistan.
From there on, there was no stopping the ISI from becoming one of the most powerful intelligence agencies in the world. Concomitant with this was the realization that it was futile to confront New Delhi in terms of conventional military strength, and therefore the need to resort to irregular warfare or proxy war to bleed India.
Despite its misgivings, with even the top US military officer Admiral Mike Mullen last month reiterating the charge that ISI had clear links with militants targeting coalition troops in Afghanistan, Washington has been forced to play ball with the agency because of the Afghan imbroglio.
"ISIs greatest accomplishment is of maintaining a certain level of trust with the Americans despite indulging in several adverse activities, many of which have come out into the open. That is a tremendous achievement. The question now is if the American threshold has been crossed. Given their need to pull out of Afghanistan, it doesnt look like so," says Doval.
Until the West can openly admit that Islam itself is the problem, the West will not win. Islam teaches “anything goes” to spread Islam. Islamic countries by their very nature cannot ever be trusted.
Was the ISI involved? Maybe.
Is the ISI innocent of protecting Laden? Maybe.
If the ISI was protecting him, how did our troops get in and take him down without losing a single player?
Perhaps this will become clearer over time, but for right now, I’m not convinced Pakistan is guilty or innocent.
I am convinced our troops are top notch.
I agree you’re correct. I think many Western leader agree, privately. But they are afraid of what saying so publically would do, maybe the Islamists would attach us!!
...As they should.
“Is the ISI innocent of protecting Laden? Maybe.”
There is no “maybe” in there. They absolutely were protecting him. Were they involved? Absolutely. Not on American side though.
I’m going to ask you what I asked another person. Do you know every person that lives within a quarter of a mile from you? Better yet, do you know everyone that lives within a quarter of a mile form your place of work?
The guy who sold Laden his land, didn’t know who he was. His neighbors didn’t know who he was. The children who supposedly entered his compound didn’t know who he was.
It is said that he seldom left his compound over the last six years.
Look, you may be right. I’m not convinced of that. I’m not convinced they didn’t know either. There are some things that are impossible to know for sure.
What I do know is that we were there for forty minutes. There was no opposition from the Pakistani military. Every one of our men made it out with their lives.
If the ISI was as good a friend to Laden as you seem to think, I don’t see that being the outcome.
Hey, that’s my take on it.
This guy is living in the center of a bustling city (not inside caves) in a big real estate close to what is West Point of Pakistan, with military and police head quarters not to far away. Osama lived there for a good amount of time with his entire family and possibly with his AQ support network/operatives, and here you are saying that its conceivable that ISI had no idea? The US was able to get accurate ground intel from thousands of miles away and ISI had absolutely no idea?? Are you crazy?!
“there is always the possibility that the ISI was not aware that Osama Ben Laden was their neighbor.”
There is just no way in hell that can possibly be the case. Nope, no way.
“Who dealt with seller, the contractors, the neighbors, and the local authorities? Laden, one of his wives, one of the other men or other women, or someone else? What name did Laden go by locally at the time of his death? How did he come to the area? Did others locate there and then he came along months or even years later in the middle of the night? Did the local authorities even know that a male individual of his description was staying there? If they did, did they know it was him?”
Sorry but those are lame questions. Real question is where did the money come from? Did it come from Bin Laden’s personal accounts? How was it channeled? Did it come from overseas or did OBL have local bank accounts in Pakistan? How did such large transfer of funds and such a large construction project in a relatively modest township go totally unnoticed by the ISI or local authorities? The stories just don’t add. Sorry.
“If a family moved in three blocks from me, I wouldn't know about it. If they claimed they were the Giraffe family, I wouldn't know they were really the Elephant family. I wouldn't know if they said they were the Smiths and then allowed the Joneses to move in serveral months later, and especially if the Joneses claimed to be the Johnsons.”
Have you ever lived in the sub-continent? Probably not. I HAVE. So take it from me. This isnt a quiet little farm country in the mid west. The cities there are densely populated and congested. Apartments, housing complexes are so close to each other that everyone knows everyone else’s business. And even here in US, I don’t know what hood you live but I happen to know all my neighbors pretty well.
“It wasn't the ISI’s top priority.”
If for annual $1.5 billion dollars plus weaponry to fight India, if catching Bin Laden wasn’t there “top priority”, then maybe WE got our priorities wrong. WTF are we giving them $1.5 billion a year for if OBL wasn’t their top priority!
“Even if it had been, they didn't have access to the prisoners we did.”
I don’t know how you manage to get that kind of BS out of your rear but they have plenty of Taliban prisoners of their own and more robust ground intel of their own. And very often they deny us access to their prisoners. Of course now we know why.
“If you'll think about it, even in the United States, people who have been wanted for decades sometimes show up right under everyone’s nose. It happens here. It can happen there.”
Lets get some perspective here. We aren’t talking about a cold case fugitive who happen to slip past the radar, We are talking about the world most well known terrorist fugitive. Every street kid in the world knows his name and has seen his face. Governments, militaries and intelligence agencies of the world are hunting for him. Do you really think he could stay so secure for so long without a little “help”.
Look Ravager, we’re going to disagree on this.
You’re vision of this completely misses the fact that U. S. troops were located in a safe-house near Obama’s compound.
If the ISI had to know Laden was there, then they had to know our troops were there too.
You can’t have it both ways.
You have decided to buy into the worst case scenario, and that’s your right. Take care.
“You’re vision of this completely misses the fact that U. S. troops were located in a safe-house near Obama’s compound.”
Obama’s compound?? I think you lost your bearings. Get back to me after you find them.
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