Posted on 03/28/2005 1:53:16 PM PST by mills044
(Sorry, I'm a newbie poster)Hat tip to Little Green Footballs: http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/weblog.php
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 accidentally learned of Ms. Powell’s impoundment policy as part of an official congressional delegation visiting Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, in January 2004.
During the course of his visit, Mr. Kirk met with several intelligence officers to discuss the hunt for Mr. bin Laden. Mr. Kirk, a moderate Republican from the North Shore of Chicago, also serves as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserves.
(Excerpt) Read more at daily.nysun.com ...
awww it's kinda sad when newbie posters have to lead off with an apology for being a newbie. :(
bttt
Welcome.
This has been posted already.....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1372160/posts
Apology for not hyperlinking to LGF (couldn't get html to work, arg).
FMCDH(BITS)
Obviously a lurker, though, because he/she knows our penchant for assuming newbies to be trolls.
And in typical, counter to American principles, state dep procedure, no censure, no black marks, no nothing. Reposting to the machine, and life goes on.
lace pants wearin, hankie holdin, pinky liftn, WUSSIES!
Top sends
Welcome to FR....good post.
Oh, the diplowienies really hate it when someone in authority has the knowledge, experience, and background to see through their little games... and to know where the bodies are buried.
A career State Department functionary, Ms. Powell was sworn in as American ambassador to Pakistan on August 9, 2002. A fluent Urdu speaker, she had previously served in posts on the subcontinent and across sub-Saharan Africa. She joined the State Department in 1977, following a six-year stint teaching high-school social studies in Dayton, Iowa.
That's what happens when you appoint career state department types to be ambassadors. The protection of American interests, which is the job of an Ambassador, is too important to be left to "career diplomats".
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