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The REAL enemy: How Pakistan hid Osama Bin Laden from the U.S. and fueled the war in Afghanistan
Daily Mail ^ | 14 April 2014 | James Nye

Posted on 04/15/2014 1:56:48 AM PDT by spetznaz

The United States has been fighting the wrong war against the wrong enemy these past 13-years according to a damning new book - while behind closed doors Pakistan has been laughing in its ally's face.

Pullitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Carlotta Gall claims that not only did Pakistan willfully hide 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden but also sponsored the Taliban insurgency after 2001 that has cost 2,625 American and British lives. The respected reporter, who spent more than a decade in the region for the newspaper, alleges that Pakistan's leadership have been tricking the United States into treating it as a friend for decades.

'Pakistan did know,' Gall said to ABC News, speaking about bin Laden’s location. 'They were hiding him, they were handling him. Someone on the inside told me this. They had a special desk that knew where bin Laden was.

Gall also makes the allegation that bin Laden's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is most probably being provided with safe haven by Pakistan.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: pakistan; waronterror
Something that several people have been saying for quite some time now. In terms of threats to the US Pakistan ranks high. It exports a radical version of Islam from its many madarassas, the Pakistani ISI actively provide assistance to terrorists, and they have nuclear weapons.

It is understandable why the US has a history of supporting the country. During the Cold War India was closer to the USSR than to the West, and in the Great Game that meant the US had to support Pakistan. However, things have changed since then. In the same way it is understandable why Saudi Arabia had blanket support from the US no matter what, but, again, things have changed since then.

In my opinion the top five threats to the US are as follows:

(i) China, due to its economic and growing military might;

(ii) Pakistan, weak government, strong ISI with links to various groups with questionable ideologies, history of WMD proliferation (North Korea's missile program and nuclear weapons come to mind), and nuclear weapons;

(iii) Saudi Arabia, due to it being the source of Wahhabi/Salafist ideology as well as financing for terrorists groups from Yemen to Zanzibar, and a main rockbed for agglomerated global terrorism;

(iv) resurgent Russia;

(v) agglomerated global terrorism.

In my ranking I would put Iran at number 6 and North Korea as a distant number 7. Not saying that a country like Iran is not a danger, but it is seriously ludicrous to wax poetic about Iran and completely overlook Pakistan.

Anyways, it is much easier to focus on Iran than to look at greater problems such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, not to mention China, thus I don't expect much to change.

1 posted on 04/15/2014 1:56:49 AM PDT by spetznaz
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To: F15Eagle
When the Northern Army of Afghanistan was starting to make headway against the Taliban and/or alqueda, just prior to our entry, Osama loyalists began streaming in from Pakistan.

Osama told them to go back so they didn't get creamed.

All you had to do is look at the map of where Osama was and voila.....you couldn't help but think...."All Roads led to Osama". And he was very close to the Paks Military Headquarters. Of course they knew.

Nevertheless, Pakistan was the only country that would provide a base for our operations.

3 posted on 04/15/2014 2:54:40 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Sacajaweau

“And he was very close to the Paks Military Headquarters. Of course they knew.”

And I’m sure they were confident we’d never try to conduct an operation there, even if we knew where he was.


5 posted on 04/15/2014 3:12:42 AM PDT by ryan71 (The Partisans)
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To: F15Eagle
Just another Bash Bush piece.

Mushy kept the country together despite it being deeply divided into two "military groups"...

Originally, they said Mushy would only last 6 months.

But if it wasn't for Mushy, we wouldn't have had a base.

Pakistan had "0" intelligence capabilities when we arrived. We changed all that.

Interesting timing...Pushes Benghazi, NSA, IRS, BLM, Obamacare and all the other insane activities of Obama under the rug.

6 posted on 04/15/2014 3:40:21 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: spetznaz

Well D’uh! Pakistan is a moslem country. Of course they are the enemy!!


7 posted on 04/15/2014 4:52:20 AM PDT by John O (God Save America (Please))
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To: Sacajaweau; F15Eagle
Just another Bash Bush piece. Mushy kept the country together despite it being deeply divided into two "military groups"... Originally, they said Mushy would only last 6 months. But if it wasn't for Mushy, we wouldn't have had a base. Pakistan had "0" intelligence capabilities when we arrived. We changed all that. Interesting timing...Pushes Benghazi, NSA, IRS, BLM, Obamacare and all the other insane activities of Obama under the rug.

Bash Bush? How? Or better yet, as I do not know the political leanings of the author of the book the news article refers to, it is best to focus on Pakistan and what type of country it is. I don't think it is false, or bashing President Bush, to state that it (a) has a weak government, (b) an overly strong ISI that is essentially more than an intelligence agency and may be considered to be beyond a shadow government, (iii) while the country has supported the US it has also hampered it as well, (iv) it has a population that has one of the lowest opinions of the States, (v) it has nuclear weapons (the first Moslem Bomb), (vi) it is a state supporter of terrorism, something India can attest to, and (vii) it is a state exporter of nuclear technology, with Dr. AQ Khan's network benefiting the North Korean WMD effort.

That is fact, and has nothing to do with discrediting President Bush. In the same vein, it has nothing to do with sweeping Obama's messes under the rug. AQ Khan was helping the North Korean atomic program long before some unknown Illinois State Senator called Obama gave a keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

I have never understood why everything has to be black and white. Either supporting someone or bashing them. The British Foreign Secretary said ten years ago that Pakistan was the most dangerous country in the world (long before we knew something called Obama existed), and just last year Liam Fox, the former British Defence Secretary, called Pakistan 'the most dangerous country in the world and one of the gravest threats facing humankind.' President Bush was not president last year.

8 posted on 04/15/2014 5:58:25 AM PDT by spetznaz (Nuclear-tipped Ballistic Missiles: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol)
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