Posted on 09/28/2001 4:18:10 PM PDT by knak
Our Political Bureau
NEW DELHI
MANY functionaries of the United States State Department, who handled South Asia under the Clinton Administration, may have to face embarrassment when the Bush regime gets down to locating the factors that made it easier for terrorists to carry out the September 11 carnage.
These functionaries, it is reliably learnt, ignored the warnings about the activities and intentions of the terrorist groups operating out of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
One of such reports had come from Michael Sheehan, the head of counter-terrorism wing of the State Department. Sheehans report also listed the measures that the US should have taken to prevent its homeland security from being breached.
The fact that his recommendations were ignored was one of the reasons why Sheehan left the State Department to take up a job with the United Nations.
Mention is also being made of the notes put up by the former assistant secretary of state for South Asia Karl Inderfurth. He is also believed to have alerted against the looming threat and asked for urgent remedial measures.
These facts are sure to surface once the Bush regime has taken care of its immediate priority: Retaliatory strike against the harbourers of terrorists.
While the aftermath of the terrorist attack has seen partisan quarrels taking the backseat, some uncomfortable questions about the failure to foil the terrorists are sure to be asked when the focus shifts to the domestic preparedness to deal with the threat.
Attention is sure to be focused on the role of Robin Raphel, former assistant secretary of state, in downplaying the threat from Taliban, as the gaze turns inwards.
The diplomat who had upset India by her insensitive remarks over Kashmir, aggressively pushed for staying engaged with the Taliban even when evidence available with the State Department pointed to the futility of winking at the abysmal human rights record and fundamentalist agenda of the clerics ruling from Kabul.
The examination of documents may give a new turn to the debate on whether there was an intelligence failure behind the success of the terrorists.
Sources, who are familiar with the contents of the reports submitted by the counter-terrorism and South Asia desks of the State Department, feel that attacks were perhaps facilitated by the failure to act on the intelligence available with it.
Muslim World Monitor, Issue 53: Part 1 of 2
... Robin Raphel Meets Dustom. ... is still not clear whether Raphel promised Dustom such support from ... the operations. Pakistan, Malaysia, Iran, Turkey and other Muslim ...
www.iap.org/news/MWM/mwm531.html - 26k - Cached - Similar pages
But it's a 404 not found page. Anyone know this "Dustom" guy's story? I have subsequently found out he was a communist general who defected to the masoud.
...Don't JESSIE's 'Go/no go to the Taliban TV Story' and CHELSEA's 'I was nearly killed at the World Trade Center' TALK Magazine Story smack of BILL CLINTON's Impeachment Media Diversion M.O. ...?
...When are we going to see the CLINTONS-3 silently dancing on a Florida Beach on TV once more...?
Nah. Bush will "move on." WJC will soon have a place in the new Dept. of Homeland Security, along with Condit.
And still, most liberals refuse to assign blame to the founder of their religion of Clintonism. They continue to worship the sorry bastard.
He and Hillary (and the minions they own) are partially responsible in a direct way for the terrible acts perpetrated on our great country. Seeing either of them ooze their way into press conferences and photo ops is so sickening, I must turn them off.
Unfortunately, we'll never be fully rid of them. LIke the pall of death, their stench will remain embedded in our collective minds. I'm trying to get used to it...
...The Enemy is now Within...
...and it is the CLINTONS-3.
Ms. Raphel was sworn in as the first Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs on August 6,1993.
Ms. Raphel was born in Vancouver, Washington, and spent all of her childhood on the West Coast. Graduating from high school in Longview, Washington in 1965, she went on to the University of Washington to study history and economics. She spent her junior year at the University of London studying history. She returned to England after graduating for a year at Cambridge University before taking a teaching job at a woman's college in Tehran, Iran. After leaving Iran in 1972, Ms. Raphel returned to the U.S. to study economics at the University of Maryland. After finishing her Masters of Arts degree, she first went to work for the federal government as an economic analyst at the CIA. From there she went to Islamabad, Pakistan, where she joined the Foreign Service and worked on detail to USAID as an economic/financial analyst.
Upon returning to Washington in 1978, Ms. Raphel worked in the State Department in several capacities -- Economist in the Office of Investment Affairs, Economic Officer on the Israel Desk, Staff Aide for the Assistant Secretary for the Near East and South Asian Affairs, and Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs. In 1984 she was posted to London where she served in the U.S. Embassy as a Political Officer covering Middle East, South Asia, African and East Asian issues. She moved to South Africa in 1988 as Counselor for Political-Affairs at the U.S. Embassy. From August 1991 until August 1993, Ms. Raphel was the Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India.
Ms. Raphel is married to Leonard Ashton. They have two young daughters.
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No need to read any further. Forgone Conclusion - already drawn!
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