ozpharlap Posted May 5, 2011 Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 Will the underlying tensions between Pakistan and the US, which now seem to be on a slight simmer lead to hostilities? Report: THE Pakistan government is refusing to allow the US access to 11 people who survived the deadly American attack on Osama bin Laden's compound. The stance threatens to further strain relations between Washington and Islamabad. Relations have been tested by the US raid on bin Laden's hideout in the garrison town of Abbottabad, north of Islamabad, and suspicions about how much Pakistani officials knew about bin Laden's whereabouts. Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, the al-Qaeda leader's fifth wife, who was injured in the shootout, is reportedly in a military hospital in Rawalpindi. The White House has confirmed she received a bullet wound in the calf. Advertisement: Story continues below Three women and nine children who were spared during the raid are understood to be in detention in Pakistan. One of them - Osama bin Laden's 12-year-old daughter - watched as her father was shot dead by US special forces, The Guardian has reported an unnamed Pakistani intelligence official as saying. Witnesses who watched the attack from their homes nearby told the Herald yesterday that Pakistani security officials arrived at bin Laden's house minutes after the US forces carrying bin Laden's body departed by helicopter. The now-deserted high-walled compound has been sealed off by Pakistani intelligence officials and is surrounded by paramilitary personnel with high-powered weapons. Some heavily armed police had taken up positions on rooftops of buildings adjacent the bin Laden compound. Abdul Rashid, who owns a small shop nearby, said that two men apparently killed in the raid often bought sweets from him. ''They often purchased toffees and chocolates for the children who lived there,'' he said. ''Sometimes they came with five children, including two small girls.'' A statement issued by the foreign ministry in Islamabad on Tuesday confirmed that members of bin Laden's family were being held in Pakistan but they did not reveal their identities or exact whereabouts. ''They are all in safe hands and being looked after in accordance with law,'' the statement said. ''Some of them needing medical care are under treatment in the best possible facilities. As per policy, they will be handed over to their countries of origin.'' Meanwhile, a White House statement saying the US reserves the right to make further strikes on terrorists inside Pakistan has attracted widespread media coverage in Pakistan. Many Pakistanis consider the US strike on the bin Laden compound, which was completed before Islamabad was informed, as a serious infringement of their territory. ''Many people feel that sovereignty has been violated,'' said Talat Masood, a retired Pakistan general turned security analyst. The Pakistan government has expressed its ''deep concerns and reservations'' about the manner of the operation, which is said to have been conducted without prior information or authorisation. Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted May 5, 2011 Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 Sovereignty? I think that word is 3 letters more then the average 'American' can comprehend. Therefore the word has no meaning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unit731 Posted May 5, 2011 Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 Oh, for God's sake. It's called diplomacy. What they say in public may or may not have any meaning whatsoever. They wanted him dead also. Oh, and keep the US foreign/military aid money coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpharlap Posted May 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 Diplomacy maybe, but all great civilizations fall for being to diplomatic And the problem with Pakistan is, who is they, no one really knows who is running the show Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpharlap Posted May 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 Oh, for God's sake. It's called diplomacy. What they say in public may or may not have any meaning whatsoever. They wanted him dead also. Oh, and keep the US foreign/military aid money coming. Diplomacy like below (and we are currently training their army) FOREIGN Minister Kevin Rudd has been drawn into an ugly international dispute over intelligence revelations, which Pakistan says could have disrupted the top-secret US operation to kill Osama bin Laden. Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency claims Mr Rudd "shattered" a confidence by publicly confirming the arrest of Bali bomber and al-Qa'ida acolyte Umar Patek in late March. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's most senior official, secretary Dennis Richardson, yesterday dismissed the claims as "untrue and absurd". But an ISI spokesman told The Australian yesterday Pakistani authorities had deliberately kept secret Patek's arrest in January - in the same town where bin Laden was found and killed this week - for fear that "subsequent leads would all go dead". The spokesman said they were dismayed when Mr Rudd, on March 30, confirmed the arrest at the end of a Bali Process meeting he co-chaired with Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa. "Information on the arrest of such people is not released for as long as possible so we have time to get his contacts because there's always a fish bigger than him," he said. "If the news gets out that this person has been arrested then all his contacts disappear. That's precisely why we did not do it but somebody else beat us to it. Your guys (Australia), in their wisdom, thought it would be good to score a point. They had no hand in his arrest. We're the ones who arrested him and we shared that information with them in confidence and that confidence we found was shattered when they immediately went public with the information." The ISI's claims have the potential to disrupt diplomatic relations with Pakistan, at a time when military ties between the two nations are the strongest they have been. Mr Richardson said yesterday: "Mr Rudd's statements on the matter were in conformity with the advice from the Australian security and intelligence community. They also followed comprehensive coverage of this matter in the international media. "This has also today been confirmed by the US embassy in Canberra." Yet there is ample evidence to suggest Pakistani authorities were sincere in their efforts to keep Patek's arrest under wraps and were irritated by Mr Rudd's announcement; either because he compromised their investigations or because he stole the thunder for their arrest. Many security experts have also expressed surprise that the leaking of Patek's arrest in Abbottabad did not trigger alarm bells in the bin Laden compound and prompt the al-Qa'ida chief to flee the area. Pakistan intelligence officials arrested Patek on January 25 after tracking him and his Filipino wife to a house not 10km from the bin Laden compound, following the detention of an alleged al-Qa'ida facilitator in Abbottabad known as Tahir Shehzad. Patek was one of the last remaining leaders of Southeast Asian militant network Jemaah Islamiah still on the run since the Bali bombings triggered a US-assisted crackdown. But news of the high-value arrest did not come out until early on March 30, when Associated Press was tipped off to Patek's capture in Pakistan by Philippines and Indonesian intelligence sources. Just hours later, Mr Rudd confirmed the arrest during a press conference marking the ending of the Bali Process meeting he co-chaired with Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa. He declared it "a potential major step forward in the fight against terrorism". However, Mr Natalegawa refused to confirm the arrest, citing operational concerns, and appeared annoyed by Mr Rudd's announcement. "Not wanting at the same time to reject what Kevin, Mr Rudd, has said, I cannot confirm that fact," Mr Natalegawa said. Patek, an explosives expert, carried a $US1 million bounty on his head for his alleged involvement in building the bombs that killed 202 people - including 88 Australians - in the 2002 Bali attacks. On April 13, AP was again the first to reveal that Patek was caught in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad, just 100km from the capital, Islamabad. While that leak came from an ISI official, The Australian understands the story created serious blowback both within the ISI and for the Islamabad office of Associated Press. When asked yesterday if he believed Mr Rudd's announcement on March 30 confirming Patek's arrest risked derailing the bin Laden operation, the ISI spokesman replied it was "academic now because Osama has been found and killed". But he added: "Yes it was disturbing. That information should not have been released when it was." It is not clear whether intelligence gathered during Patek's three months in detention helped lead to the killing of the world's most wanted terrorist. A senior US counterterrorism official this week claimed it was "pure coincidence" Patek was in Abbottabad. But just a day later Indonesian Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said Patek was in fact in Pakistan to meet with bin Laden, who he is believed to have met in Pakistan's al-Qa'ida training camps ahead of the September 11, 2001 attacks. While many have questioned why the Patek revelations did not prompt bin Laden to flee his Abbottabad compound, Pakistani security analyst Ayesha Siddiqua says the explanation could be there was nowhere left for the 54-year-old terror leader to go. "Bin Laden was caught at a time when he was old and sick; when he could not have been saved," she told The Australian, referring to persistent rumours that the al-Qa'ida chief suffered from a debilitating kidney disorder. Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 Biggest problem probably is Pakistan sees the USA as heathens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 The Pakistan civil government has zero control of the military or ISI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 If Pakistan goes Taliban, India will nuke it. Then Pakistan will nuke India. The rest of the world will watch as South Asia glows in the dark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozpharlap Posted May 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 This is what is worrysome, India having a good reason to attack and with the majority of the western world growing tired as to Pakistan & Saudi Arabia's unwillingness to stop home grown terror. Mind you, I think that will just continue to squeeze the money trail and hope that good sense takes over sooner rather than later Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous God Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 <> Unlike the USA which sends them to a trip to Cuba, which USA citizens aren't allowed to go too The irony! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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