Posted on 02/17/2010 10:58:00 AM PST by Steelfish
February 17, 2010
The Strange Case of Mullah Baradar [Dana M. Perino and Bill Burck]
Yesterday, the New York Times broke the story that one of the Taliban’s top military commanders, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had been captured in Karachi during a joint raid by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the CIA. Baradar is reportedly second only to Mullah Omar in the Taliban’s loose hierarchy. The Times reported this as a huge victory, and the Obama administration took a few well-deserved bows.
At first blush, and based solely on the Times’s reporting and the administration’s reaction, this did indeed appear to be a major achievement. We noticed something odd with the triumphant tone, however. The article published yesterday noted that Baradar had been one of the Taliban’s “most approachable leaders” and one of the few Taliban commanders willing to negotiate with President Karzai's government.
This struck us as discordant with the dramatic raid, capture, and interrogation of Baradar initially described by the Times. Baradar was not captured in a spider hole, like Saddam Hussein was, or hiding out in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was. Instead, it appeared that his location was not much of a secret at all.
At first we wrote this off as more evidence of the on-again/off-again “cooperation” we receive from the Pakistani intelligence service, and Baradar’s capture was a good sign it was on again. But, according to new reporting by the Times today, the reality is far more complicated.
Today, the Times is reporting that the real story behind Baradar’s capture is that Pakistan wanted to gain a place at the table in negotiations between the U.S. and Karzai and the Taliban.
Specifically, Baradar, it turns out, was one of Karzai’s main contacts with the Taliban for years,.......
(Excerpt) Read more at corner.nationalreview.com ...
What I find extremely curious about this dude’s capture is the fact that since it has happened I have seen continuous news reports saying he is singing like a bird. Why would they broadcast that info, especially within 24 hrs. of his capture?
Well it’s been on the news for days that he is telling all sorts of things. That is stupid even if it has been 10 days.
My gosh, there are intelligene people who said telling the media that the Underwear Bomber was talking was stupid too. Seems to me they just want to pat themselves on the back so it appears they are tough on terrorism.
Its more Obama deception.
We know he flucked up 3 times on terrorist attacks here in the U.S.
He means to ‘change’ that image, with a complicit media...
I went to the original Slimes story, they bragged how they did not run with the story right away at the request of the WH!
My gosh, if it were GWB and the lives of soldiers depended on it they would say too bad!
BTTT
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