Pakistan President Unsure Osama Planned 9/11 - Report

Reuters/Yahoo ^ | 8-4-2002

[blam]

Pakistan Pres. Unsure Osama Planned 9/11 - Report

Sun Aug 4, 3:59 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S. fight against terrorism, is not convinced that Osama bin Laden was the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a report on Sunday.

"I didn't think it possible that Osama sitting up there in the mountains could do it," Musharraf said in an interview in the Aug. 12 edition of the New Yorker magazine, nearly a year after hijacked planes killed more than 3,000 people in New York, Washington and in Pennsylvania.

"He was perhaps the sponsor, the financier, the motivating force. But those who executed it were much more modern. They knew the U.S., they knew aviation. I don't think he has the intelligence or the minute planning. The planner was someone else," Musharraf said about the Saudi-born militant.

The United States blames bin Laden and his al Qaeda movement for the Sept. 11 airplane attacks that destroyed New York's World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon in Washington.

After the attacks, Washington turned to Pakistan for help in its bid to crush the al Qaeda network and sees Musharraf, who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, as a key ally in its war on terrorism.

Musharraf, who extended his tenure for five years in an April referendum boycotted by most mainstream parties, told the New Yorker that the controversial constitutional amendments he has proposed would make sure Pakistan is well governed.

"In our political setup, if you give a free ticket to the Prime Minister and the government and the Cabinet are looting and plundering. So you have to contain it. Elected governments played merry hell here," Musharraf said.

The amendments, which would allow Musharraf to sack the prime minister, dismiss the cabinet and dissolve an elected parliament, have been widely criticized within Pakistan, where they are seen running counter to Musharraf's promise to hand over power to a civilian government.

But the United States has refrained from criticizing Musharraf. Last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell in South Asia to defuse tensions between nuclear-capable Pakistan and its nuclear-ready neighbor India, said merely he had discussed the amendments with Musharraf.

Powell also refused to answer questions about whether former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto should be allowed to take part in October's parliamentary elections.

Musharraf, who has barred Bhutto from the country and accused her of looting the country when she was in power, said he would have Bhutto jailed if she were to return.

Bhutto has promised to return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile in Britain to contest the poll. But if Bhutto's party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) wins, Musharraf said he will not stop them from governing Pakistan.

"If they win the elections, they govern...And I will insure they govern honestly," he said.

[blam]

So....who was it? Iraq...Iran? (assuming that you believe Musharraf)

[Hugin]

"He was perhaps the sponsor, the financier, the motivating force. But those who executed it were much more modern. They knew the U.S., they knew aviation. I don't think he has the intelligence or the minute planning. The planner was someone else," Musharraf said about the Saudi-born militant.

I think he's just saying that others in Al Qaeda were actually responible for drawing up the plan on a tactical level. Which is what intelligence people have said all along. Sounds like somebody took what he was saying out of context to try to make a sensational sounding story.

[Dog Gone]

The US has already accused some other al-Qaida lieutenant of being the mastermind of 9/11. bin Laden was the one who gave approval.

[AM2000]

Any more suspects you can pull outta yer ass?

[mlocher]

I don't think he [bin laden] has the intelligence

well, at least musharaaf and i agree on this one thing.

[mlocher]

So....who was it? Iraq...Iran? (assuming that you believe Musharraf)

please re-read the article. musharaaf is speaking more about the hierarchy and operations of al-qaeda than he is about al-qaeda innocence. he did say bin laden probably financed it but that others with more technical knowledge planned it.

rueters deserves a[nother] swift kick in the ass for how they portrayed this story. it is yet another liberal article trying to present data as facts with a spin that has the intent of undermining the war on terror.

reuters is scum.

[Dialup Llama]

I think Musharef is saying bin Laden is going to be discovered to have beeen DEAD (he's dead Jim) but that it doesn't matter because what remains is still very dangerous.

[mikeIII]

If the details of the attacks were worked out by some underling, it doesn't exonerate the leader! Looks like Musharraf is attempting to shift the blame to some one unknown and of little consequence. Can't expect much help finding OBL, if he's alive, or any of the top Al Qaida scumbags, holed up in Pakistan.

[The Great Satan]

"I didn't think it possible that Osama sitting up there in the mountains could do it," Musharraf said in an interview in the Aug. 12 edition of the New Yorker magazine, nearly a year after hijacked planes killed more than 3,000 people in New York, Washington and in Pennsylvania. "He was perhaps the sponsor, the financier, the motivating force. But those who executed it were much more modern. They knew the U.S., they knew aviation. I don't think he has the intelligence or the minute planning. The planner was someone else," Musharraf said about the Saudi-born militant.

Yep, Osama was basically a recruitment guy. That's not to be sneezed at: human bombs are just as good as ICBMs, and something no Western, individualist culture could ever produce. But even the for-public-consumption narrative currently on offer in the US doesn't pin the planning on bin Laden, but rather on a Philippines-based, disco dolly-trawling, Johnny Walker Black Label-swilling co-conspirator of 1993 WTC bomber Ramzi Yousef by the name of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (above). Who stands behind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is something we are about to find out.