Oblivious to Osama
While McRaven’s statement clears the civilian government, it raises questions over our own intelligence capabilities. Given the strength and size of this network, as well as the money spent on it, it should not have been too much to expect some hint of information regarding Bin Laden’s whereabouts. For many in the country, it is still hard to believe that no one in the establishment or military knew that he was, in fact, residing in Abbottabad, along with his family. Many conjecture the argument that Bin Laden and other key militants were being protected and this will continue to hang in the minds of Pakistanis, given the realities of the country. At an internal level, we need to look into any possible support for extremist forces from within our territory. This is something we cannot evade.
The US security team, which has commented on its own successes against al Qaeda, has also commented on the need to build partnerships with other nations to work against terrorism. The challenge for Pakistan must be to prove that it is trustworthy enough to act as a useful partner. After all, today the country is seen as a focal point for militancy, with key al Qaeda and Taliban figures still possibly based here. For this purpose, intelligence practices need to improve and a genuine bid needs to be made at home to combat terrorism by going after its key perpetrators with full force, rather than opening ways for other countries to do so.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2012.
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GOP doesnt know about target killings, inflation, rising poverty, rising debt, detoriating health, looming disasters either. So they are really not telling much
It is clear ISI doesn't really consider Osama to be as relevant as Americans hype him up to be therefore it would have been foolish for ISI to spend so many resources in tracking down a single, old and almost irrelevant person just so US can have its revenge from 9/11 culprits. The "many" people who still think military was hiding Osama are in fact pro western minority. Majority of the Pakistani people don't even believe Osama was there.
Even if it is believed that the ISI failed to locate OBL despite its resources and home turf. How many heads rolled after their failure came to light? As everybody is living happily thereafter, shows that it was not a big deal for the ISI and army. Surprise surprise!
The statement that the GOP was unaware of the presence of Osama is very much believable. But that doesn't clear the real power center which is Pakistan army. It is understandable no one trusts Pakistan army but still it is hard to believe that army & ISI was completely in the dark during operation Geronimo.
Clinton clearly thought that people within your "establishment" knew where OBL was hiding - she stated that during a question/answer session at one of your Universities. Obama certainly believed it and said as much during his debate with Romney. Comments after the fact indicating that they don't have proof maybe technically correct - but the actions of both America and Pakistan clearly indicate that despite the lack of evidence/smoking gun people at the highest levels think otherwise.