Posted on 03/28/2005 3:46:19 AM PST by Straight Vermonter
WASHINGTON - A lone U.S. ambassador compromised America's hunt for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan for more than two years, The New York Sun has learned.
Ambassador Nancy Powell, America's representative in Pakistan, refused to allow the distribution in Pakistan of wanted posters, matchbooks, and other items advertising America's $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of Mr. bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.
Instead, thousands of matchbooks, posters, and other material - printed at taxpayer expense and translated into Urdu, Pashto, and other local languages - remained "impounded" on American Embassy grounds from 2002 to 2004, according to Rep. Mark Kirk, Republican of Illinois.
While the American government was engaged in a number of "black" or covert intelligence activities to locate Al Qaeda leaders, Mr. Kirk said, the "white" or public efforts - which have succeeded in the past in leading to the capture of wanted terrorists - were effectively shut down in the months following the September 11 attacks.
Mr. Kirk discovered Ms. Powell's unusual order in January 2004 and, over the past year, launched a series of behind-the-scenes moves that culminated in a blunt conversation with President Bush aboard Air Force One, the removal of the ambassador, and congressional approval for reinvigorating the hunt for Mr. bin Laden.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
Yes.
Why in the world is she still working in the state dept.? Incompetence should not be sustained.
Sounds like she is just plumb dumb.
What's so dumb about a plumb. They always work for me.
I did a lot searching too. I could not come with any mention of a spouse or a partner. Strange they would see fit to put her into the Ambassadorship of Pakistan.
Ken, your brief sounds solid to me. Anything absorbed by the carter admin is not fit for the esteemed position of a shoe-shine-trusted-employee. NSNR
A carter admin political employee doing what they know best, F'up things for America.NSNR
I think I'm no longer interested in my breakfast.
Ima Fatdyke.
Didn't anyone tell her not to wear horizontal stripes???
Me neither. My bet is same as yours. She's a Janet Reno/Donna Shalala type of lesbian or sexually ambiguous
Strange they would see fit to put her into the Ambassadorship of Pakistan.
Probably done to appease the gay/lesbian/ultra leftist faction in the State Department. Colin Powell got to make some good appointments but he had to make bad ones also to appease the gays/commies there.
As far as I'm concerned it's idiocy and insulting to send any woman to be an ambassador to a Muslim nation. State should have kept re-assigning her to Africa
Go outside. Get some fresh air. Chop some wood. Come back inside and everything will look "better".
LOL. Only if I avoid this thread upon my return.
I'm with dsc.
About 4 years ago I was considering applying, and was looking over the prep materials I had received from State. The practice exam was wrong. As in, many questions that were keyed "correct" were actually incorrect.
Kinda made me wonder.
Unfrickinbelievable is all I can say.
"You can't expect incompetent scumbags to hire anyone but another incompetent scumbag."
Your statement bears repeating. That philosophy has destroyed many fine companies. And we see it at it's fullest bloom in many Government offices.
A matchbook cover advertisement was also the instrument to obtain key information on Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, one of those responsible for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City. As with Kansi, Yousef was captured in Pakistan. He was subsequently extradited to the United States, tried and convicted for his part in the bombing and is now in prison.
And then there is the Khalid Shaikh Mohammed case...KSM was arrested March 01, 2003 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan and, according to the following link, a reward was paid for info leading to KSM's arrest. Info came from a suspect in custody.
That program - known as Rewards for Justice - was discontinued in Pakistan prior to Ms. Powell's 2002 arrival because it was ''ineffective,'' the senior [State Department] official said.
US Ambassador to Pakistan prior to Powell was Wendy J. Chamberlain.
So, our tax dollars are spent on more stuff just sitting in a warehouse somewhere.
What else is new?
Can we ask her for a refund?
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