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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A tsunami of lies

Those who feel overwhelmed by the tsunami of lies which has come roaring from the governments of the USA and Pakistan following the OBL drama in Abbottabad should not despair. Help is at hand!


FIRST, let us go back to an earlier blog, Anne Patterson, Queen of Pakistan , at the end of which there is a quote from Roedad Khan, a retired senior civil servant who had worked closely with several Pakistani rulers:


The independence of Pakistan is a myth. Pakistan is no longer a free country. Today it is not just a “rentier state”, not just a client state. It is a slave state with a puppet government set up by Washington.


Bear these words in mind as you read on.


SECOND, today the British newspaper The Guardian has published a stunning report by its Pakistan correspondent, Declan Walsh, a first rate journalist with extensive contacts. You can read the full report here .


Briefly, what Walsh is saying is that some 10 years ago the USA and Pakistan had signed a secret agreement - a humiliating sell-out by the dictator Musharraf - under which the Americans had been given a free hand to launch raids into Pakistani territory in the event of the Al-Qaeda leadership being spotted in Pakistan. The term "leadership" included Osama himself, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and whoever happened to be the Al-Qaeda No. 3. If such a raid did take place, "Pakistan would vociferously protest against the incursion"! Later, in 2008, when Musharraf was still president but a PPP civilian government had been formed, this dirty deal was renewed. By then Ashfaq Kayani was the Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan's army and he would have been fully in the picture.


So, the "bravery" and "courage" of US Navy Seals is little more than a myth which has been created by the US publicity machine. The truth is that the Pakistanis knew what was taking place and they looked the other way, which made it an easy, risk-free operation for the Americans. Indeed, shortly after midnight on 1 May, men of Pakistan army had gone round knocking on the doors of people living in the vicinity of the run-down house occupied by Osama, warning them to stay indoors. 


The Pakistan Prime Minister, Yusuf Gilani


This slippery, chameleon-like individual is an expert at saying contradictory things to different people and reversing his own statements without batting an eyelid. Following the US raid into Pakistan, which humiliated and stunned the Pakistani nation, this man strutted around smugly, justifying the USA's seemingly illegal action and violation of Pakistan's sovereignty. He declared that the operation was "conducted in accordance with the declared US policy"! People wondered what was Pakistan's declared policy when international laws are broken and the honour of the country is trampled underfoot. Thanks to Declan Walsh, we now know the answer.


The reaction to Gilani's idiotic statements was a rising crescendo of demands for him and Zardari, the president, to resign. Eventually, a week after the event, General Kayani was able to knock some sense into this two-headed monster, and Gilani stood up before Pakistan's National Assembly on 9 May, "to take the nation into confidence". This calculating man, who seems devoid of common sense, chose to deliver his lies in English for foreign consumption! The Pakistani nation understood only that some sort of trick was being played on it and Gilani was up to his old tricks which had been fully disclosed by Wikileaks (see "Anne Patterson, Queen of Pakistan" for full details). In a nutshell: for domestic consumption, publicly issue loud warnings to the USA but, privately, tell the Americans not to worry and go ahead with whatever they planned to do.


Ashfaq Kayani's opportunity to emerge as a hero


In 2008 General Kayani would have been aware of the humiliating terms of the deal that Musharraf-Zardari-Gilani had entered into with the Americans. He can claim that his hands were tied by that deal and he could not have stopped the American violation of Pakistani airspace. Many people think highly of him, some even consider him to be a man of honour. If he is that, then he needs to divulge the terms of the secret deal to the nation and seek a consensus on the type of working relationship Pakistan should have with the USA. Musharraf had heaped humiliation upon humiliation upon Pakistan. Does Kayani have it in him to redress the wrongs of the past and end the lopsided, demeaning relationship with the USA?


Kayani can seize this opportunity and emerge as a hero or he can sink into oblivion. 


Is Osama really dead?


A lot of people - I among them - had believed that he had already died as a result of kidney failure. In view of developments over the past week, I now think that the sick Osama had survived somehow. Pakistan's ISI had handed over significant pieces of information to the American CIA, which eventually led them to Osama's hideout. The way the Americans have humiliated Pakistan and hogged all the plaudits for themselves has been an unedifying, disgusting spectacle. 


I agree with the Pakistani journalist Saleem Safi, who writes for Jang newspaper, that Osama has probably been abducted by the US raid party and he is being held in secret for questioning. If he is waterboarded and tortured, no one will know since the world has been led to believe that he is already dead. 


Tailpiece (added 12May)


This blog post has attracted abusive comments, which will not be published.  If people wish to post here an essential requirement is to avoid abuse. The opinions expressed should be well argued and backed up with identifiable sources of information. You should also be aware that a citizen of Pakistan is called Pakistani, and there is no acceptable abbreviation. If you insist on using an abusive term then your comment will not be published.


One person says that I have erred in saying that prior to the helicopter attack men of the Pakistan army had spread out in the neighbourhood, warning people to stay indoors. My recollection is that this is what the unfolding story on The Daily Telegraph’s website said, which I was following. I tried to look up a record of the commentary at the newspaper’s website but it no longer seems to be there.  The BBC website, however, has kept a record of the developments in the aftermath of Bin Laden’s assassination.  Relevant extracts are given below, the link to the report is:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13257330

“Early reports suggested that residents had been commanded in Pashto - not the common language of the area - to turn off their lights, and that the order may have come from Pakistani security forces.
But residents told BBC reporters that Pakistani forces had not arrived on the scene until after the raid was finished, and that US personnel involved in the raid may have warned residents off in rudimentary Pashto.
A senior official at the Pakistani foreign ministry, Salman Bashir, said Pakistan was only alerted to the raid when one of the US helicopters crashed.
But a Pakistani intelligence official has also told the BBC off the record that the US did inform Pakistan that a raid was under way against an unidentified "high value" target, once their helicopters entered Pakistani air space.
This led to the scrambled Pakistani jets being called back in, the official said.”
Make of it what you will. Most people would consider this a roundabout way of saying that Pakistan knew what was going on.

20 comments:

Sakib Ahmad said...

In response to comments on this post I have added a Tailpiece at the end of the post. This explains why those comments have not been published.

It is pointless venting your anger at this blog. If you think the Guardian's Declan Walsh has written a bad report then you should complain to the Guardian and/or send your angry e-mails to Declan.

Samson Simon said...

This is my analysis as based on my OPED, 'Pakistan's Long War has Begun' which you could reproduce here.
2009-2010 had been remarkable years of Pakistan’s fight against militancy. During this time, joint intelligence operations led by Pakistani had resulted in elimination of numerous prized targets both from TTP and Al Qaida...With huge funds to play around, CIA could now buy off anyone including Al Qaida agents whose data Pakistan had shared with USA. They put tags on many such targets and monitored all their movements and places of visit. ..I am also aware of the safety layers in US military procedures and purely on technical grounds feel that this operation was carried out by at least four or even more helicopters including transport versions, with credible fool proof backups all along. Simply put, the operation had a sizable operational and logistical trail.
There is also the case of over 22,000 missing containers. Even if a mere hundred of them carried military hardware and knocked down helicopters, where has all the cargo gone and has anyone noticed it. The theory gets credence from a fact that in one of the ambushes, a container had a complete disassembled Blackhawk helicopter of the type used in Kakul.

Sakib Ahmad said...

Brigadier (retd) Samson Simon Sharaf wrote a detailed article in The Nation on 8 May in which he gave his views on the American assault in Abbottabad. He has given a brief summary in the comment above. Detailed extracts from his article are given below. These show with great clarity the CIA’s duplicitous relationship with Pakistan’s ISI, and the treachery of Pakistanis in influential positions who freely issued visas, without any checks whatsoever, to CIA-sponsored Americans. This resulted in the CIA establishing a spy network of its own in Pakistan. In the immediate future the ISI faces the task of dismantling the structure that the CIA has built up in Pakistan.

Following the Abbottabad humiliation, Pakistan faces a new wave of terrorism launched by the CIA-created Pakistan Taliban (TTP). In the first such attack, and in the drone strike by the Americans, some 100 Pakistani lives have been destroyed. In the current grave situation it is important to listen to sane voices such as Brigadier Sharaf’s:

“For Pakistanis, this is not a time to feel embarrassed and to hang heads in shame over the simplicity and quickness of the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. It is rather a time for a long overdue bugle cry that Pakistan is at war. 1/5 was not Pakistan’s day inasmuch as 9/11 exposed the vulnerabilities in USA’s Homeland Security.

Writing in The Nation in December 2009, I had assessed the next 18 months and beyond as crucial for Pakistan and reiterated that “Pakistan must reassert itself”. Between the 14th and 17th months, we have witnessed the Raymond Davis case, a drone attack on a peaceful jirga, a full-fledged conventional multi-directional night attack on a border outpost in Dir, a border skirmish at Angoor Adda and now the operation to kill Osama bin laden.

Writing an article, “Pakistan: A Rudderless State”, earlier in The Nation in November 2010, I had cautioned the security planners of Pakistan to beware of the Cold Start type operations from across the Durand Line. I had also written about the heavily fortified US and ISAF citadels in Afghanistan that would be used as pivots of such operations against Pakistan.

2009-2010 had been remarkable years of Pakistan’s fight against militancy. During this time, joint intelligence operations led by Pakistan had resulted in the elimination of numerous prized targets both from TTP and Al-Qaeda. The efficiency of information gathering was such that many high value targets deemed missing and believed to be killed had been brought back into focus and neutralised, some amongst them US nationals. But by mid-2010, this cooperation began to wane due to the direct influx of the CIA agents into Pakistan. Since this influx was not a part of the working agreements between the ISI and CIA, Pakistan’s security establishment felt that they were being stabbed in the back.

Counter security efforts, on part of Pakistan, identified hundreds of locations in the country in which the US agents had located themselves inside Pakistan covertly. Some of these locations were heavily fortified. Pakistan was able to force the closure of some of these locations, but not all. With huge funds to play around, the CIA could now buy off anyone, including Al-Qaeda agents whose data Pakistan had shared with the USA. They put tags on many such targets and monitored all their movements and places of visit. Consequently, what they have been able to track with their superior technical resources and heavy monetary disbursements is a trail of redoubts within Pakistan, where the militants have contacts and hiding places.”

..... continued in part 2 below

Sakib Ahmad said...

.... part 2:

"“There is definitely a trove of very important information that the US has extracted from shared sources and double crossing. One such is the hideout of Osama bin Laden, his courier trails and much more. The biggest vulnerability that Pakistan faces is that some of its own assets within this Al-Qaeda trail may have been exposed, or double crossed and could be used to blackmail Pakistan into coercion.

I have followed the information about the Kakul raid on a real timeline with startling conclusions. According to information available on twitter and TV channels, the explosion and helicopter crash were successively reported before midnight on May 1, 2011. The call to President Asif Zardari came well past midnight implying that it was made much after the operation had been completed. I am also sure that Zardari was told by President Barack Obama to ask the PAF not to interfere in the flight path of the US aircraft. Concurrently, by the time the air force scrambled, the US troops were well outside Pakistan’s air space.

As an operational planner, I am wary of the fact that Pakistan’s surveillance system on the Western front did not respond. The systems are deployed in layers in multiple redundancies to ensure that some elements of information do manage to beep through. The electronic systems are reinforced with human resources wherein even a section commander in a border post is trained to immediately report a violation or an activity in real time. Why such a credible system was forced into passivity should be the subject of an inquiry and a story of the future. Surprisingly, much credible chatter emanated when the US helicopters made the exit.

I am also aware of the safety layers in US military procedures and purely on technical grounds feel that this operation was carried out by at least four or even more helicopters, including transport versions, with credible fool proof backups all along. Simply put, the operation had a sizable operational and logistical trail.

Already information is available that the operation had ground intelligence and pathfinder support from US assets very close to the target area. Does this also imply that there was some sort of complicity by Pakistan to facilitate such an operation? Does this mean that the US helicopters did not enter Pakistan’s air space on the day of the raid and were pre-positioned for such an operation? However, what can be concluded with accuracy is that the CIA agents have penetrated every nook and corner of Pakistan under the eyes of its counter intelligence, a fact that will be vindicated in the near future.

The reaction of Pakistan’s defence forces to the raid was slow in coming. Complicity at the cost of such a disgrace appears a bad bargain and unrealistic. The army and air force cannot absolve themselves. The reaction of the ISI that will never become public is perhaps that of betrayal by the US. Many of its intelligence assets that it had shared with the CIA have now double crossed and as an independent risk and security analyst on South Asia says made Al-Qaeda richer."

.... continued in part 3

Sakib Ahmad said...

..... part 3:

"My analysis leads me to conclude that some levels of selective complicity existed, and it is this that combined with pre-positioning of US assets inside Pakistan. Foreign aircraft have operated in Pakistan with impunity during the 2005 earthquake, 2010 floods, training missions, etc. It is nigh possible that these flights were also used to dump hardware at secret locations that could subsequently become pivots for such operations. Troops for such operations could move into Pakistan under the garb of training, diplomatic staff and travellers coming to Pakistan from the USA or Europe, and local recruitments. Remember that some US soldiers as reported by the media spoke fluent Urdu in a Pakistani accent. Then there is also the much hyped issue of CIA contractors in Pakistan. Many of them have since returned, but not before completing the groundwork for an effective CIA presence in Pakistan all through the long war.

The retired CGS of GHQ, Lt Gen (retd) Shahid Aziz had once claimed that he himself had reported evidence of USA’s amphibious landing on the Balochistan Coast with the trails leading to interior Balochistan. If these landings indeed took place, where did these forces ultimately go, or where did they dump and move their cargo?

There is also the case of over 22,000 missing containers. Even if a mere hundred of them carried military hardware and knocked down helicopters, where has all the cargo gone and has anyone noticed it? The theory gets credence from the fact that in one of the ambushes, a container had a complete disassembled Blackhawk helicopter of the type used in Kakul.

My hypothesis is that from 2010 onwards, USA had built up a considerable covert military presence in Pakistan facilitated through visas bypassing the standing operating procedures, indiscriminate entry of containers into Pakistan, holding back of scanning equipment to scan these containers and bribes offered by the container operators from Karachi to the Afghan border."

Pakistan's Nemesis said...

Mr. Blogger, you simply don't have the guts to publish comments, abusive or otherwise. Your comments make more sense than the post itself.

Noor said...

My head is spinning from the avalanche of lies-dressed-up-as-truth. 9/11 showed the world that if you shamelessly repeat a lie often enough it will be accepted as truth. The US publicity machine is using that trick to force the world to accept its version of what happened in Abbotabad in the early hours of 2 May.

In an article published yesterday, Mirza Aslam Beg, a former Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army, has categorically said that “ the 2/5 episode was a hoax and a big lie, the same as the 9/11 episode was a big lie”. He goes on to say:

“Osama’s look-alike prisoner from Bagram was picked up and brought to Abbottabad and killed in cold blood in front of his family members, who were living there. In fact, OBL had been killed in Afghanistan some time back and his body may still be lying in a mortuary in Afghanistan. ……... His body was dumped into the sea to hide the crime committed in such a clumsy manner. The 2/5 episode was the finale of the 9/11 lies and was meant to achieve three main objectives:
i With the mission accomplished, Obama was to gain political advantage in the forthcoming elections;
i To find an excuse for the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
i To defame the Pakistan government, its armed forces and the ISI.

On all the three counts, the US President has gained and Pakistan now is reeling under pressure, blaming its own armed forces and the ISI for the failure to safeguard territorial sovereignty”

I have no idea why he says this and what his sources of information are. My point is Obama and his team are saying all sorts of things without providing any proof. Why should we believe people who have repeatedly been proved to be liars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Could General Beg be right? If only he would provide some convincing evidence!

Irfan said...

@Noor

The truth of the matter is that Mirza Aslam Beg has no sources or proof of anything, it is just speculation on his part as provides not a scrap of proof.

What about his wives? They have confirmed Osama was killed by US Navy SEALS. And what about Al-Qaeda? They, too, have confirmed his death. Some have speculated Osama died from kidney failure years ago, but no one could confirm his death. Given that he is head of Al-Qaeda, wouldn't the organization make an announcement of some kind? And what about all the videos and audio tapes that aired on Al-Jazeera?

Mirza Aslam Beg first two points are utter nonsense. True, Obama would gain politically, but why now and not next wear when there would be a maximum political benefit? And the US is already withdrawing from Afghanistan even before the death of Osama. Withdrawals will begin in July. The US is leaving come hell or high water. And the third point, the army and ISI were already defamed, to the United States anyway, well before Osama was killed.

In essence, Mirza Aslam Beg is talking rubbish!

Pakistan's Nemesis said...

@Irfan

Irfan's point for point rebuttal of Noor is brilliant and praiseworthy. This is a slap on the face of conspiracy theorists sitting in Pak and outside. To add to Irfan's points, why had the US to select Abbottabad of all the places? It could have chosen any other garrison town or even a bigger city. According to the Blogger, every nook and corner of Pak is penetrated by the US intelligence. There is no answer to this. The bottom line is Pak is wriggling to get out of this quagmire, it has found itself in. The lies are coming out of the GHQ, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. As the saying goes, Pak has been caught with its pants down.

Lost-in-cyberspace said...

Irfan must be feeling embarrassed at getting support from our nemesis! Did you say 'no', Irfan? Oh!

As the blogger keeps saying, so many Pakistanis have this strange inferiority complex. They get their education from the Americans and their minds become so conditioned that they end up thinking like the Americans and looking down on their own people. Actually, there is no difference between the claims made by Obama and Aslam Beg - in both cases there is a lot of hot air with no evidence.

Obama's wives? They have been interviewed only by the ISI and by the CIA (with ISI present). No one else has seen or heard them. Aslam Beg is saying an Obama lookalike was brought to the compound and killed in cold blood as the wives looked on. The wives have said they have lived in Abbottabad for the past 5-6 years. Did they ever say they lived WITH Osama? Why not let the press talk to the wives, why keep them shut away?

No idea what kind of deal the Pakistani government and ISI are cooking up with the Americans. They may be doing another 'Raymond Davis' right now. Who knows?

I have nothing but contempt for the statements coming from the so-called "al-Qaida". It is no longer a cohesive organisation, only a multitude of splinter groups. These murderous fools know nothing - they are merely tools in the hands of the CIA.

Just before the Abbottabad incident Obama's popularity was rock bottom and he was fast becoming a lame duck president. People laughed as he first produced a short birth certificate, and then a full certificate, to prove that he was American! His popularity has now rocketed sky high and his Republican rival Trump has pulled out. It is obvious, Irfan, that you know nothing about American politics.

Aslam Beg's second point is very important. Osama was the reason that the American government gave for invading Afghanistan. With him "killed" it is so much easier to negotiate with the Taliban and leave Afghanistan. In July there will only be a token withdrawal for political reasons. Petraeus has made it very clear that the Americans will stay for as long as necessary.

You seem to know next to nothing about politics as it is practised in the world today, especially in the USA. Educate yourself, Irfan, and learn to think like a self-respecting Pakistani, not as a yes-man to the Americans. God knows there are enough of those unfortunate specimens of humanity: Zardari, Gilani, Rehman Malik, Haqqani (the ambassador), etc etc.

Irfan said...

@Lost-in-cyberspace said

Anyone who takes Trump, a television celebrity and publicity hound, seriously as a Republican candidate for President of the United States knows a lot about American politics. Thanks for the education, cyberspace, It’s obvious you know what you are talking about.

Sakib Ahmad said...

Sorry to butt in, Irfan. I suppose Trump is no match for such intellectual heavyweights as Ronald Reagan, the "film star", and Dubya Bush! I recall that the US politics also gave us the Californian Governor, Arnold the Muscle man. American show business and American politics aren't a million miles apart, are they?

Seriously, your contribution is valued. It is good to have a diversity of views.

Lost-in-cyberspace said...

Just as Pakistan's political and military leaders conspired with the US over Raymond Davis, they have again shown their servility to the Americans over the lies about Osama. General Beg's view is supported by many people. Here is one by Dr. Steve R. Pieczenik, who was a top government insider under several US administrations:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24622

Pieczenik says categorically that he has knowledge of Osama's death in 2001. And, of course, Osama had nothing to do with 9/11.

The web of lies about the Abbottabad operation is blown to pieces in http://www.veteranstoday.com/

This website seems to receive frequent attacks from CIA hackers. Look for the report of Pakistan's Samaa TV about the loss of a USA helicopter and the deaths of several Americans who were in the helicopter. The blogger was right when he said that men of Pakistan army - collaborating with the Americans? - had warned people to stay indoors.These collaborators then took the dead bodies away.

Pakistan's Nemesis said...

@ Irfan
Steve R. Pieczenik was a psychiatrist (now a psychic case himself) who took pride in calling himself as a maverik trouble maker. Now his dear friend, lost (forever) in cyberspace refers to his views on Osama. So one psychic quotes another psychic quite authoritatively. In any case the loony here, does not like me endorsing your comments. Tell you what, the next question that will be asked is are you a true Pakistani or someone pretending to be a Pakistani. And this will go on and on. What this joker forgets is Al Qaeda and all its partners in crime have mourned the death of Osama, have sworn revenge and appointed a new leader. All these facts eem to have been lost on "Lost" So one can imagine how lost he is in this world.

Sakib Ahmad said...

The Biggest Lies of 21st century exposed here:

http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/05/16/unconfirmed-american-deaths-helicopter-crash-bin-laden-capture-aborted/

http://www.twf.org/News/Y2011/0506-OBL.html


Veteranstoday.com looks an excellent website but navigating it is not easy. Perhaps there are CIA hackers doing their best to discourage people from learning the truth?

Anonymous said...

I'm in the same boat! What a Farce! I made a cartoon on this http://fruitforbidden.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/a-deus-ex-machina-to-osamas-story/

Pakistan's Nemesis said...

The recent attack on the Pak naval facility was a revenge attack by the Taliban in response to the killing of bin Laden. Had only a clone of Laden been killed on 2nd May, one wonders whether any AQ-affiliated group would have retaliated in this fashion. There may be more attacks against Pak as promised by these groups.

Sakib Ahmad said...

Are you a totally heartless, inhuman person - a troll planted by the CIA? The Pakistanis - and others such as China and Iran - have woken up to the evil game that the Americans are playing in the Middle East and Asia. The fight-back has begun. Just wait and see.

Irfan said...

@Sakib:

Wait and see what? What will Pakistan, Iran and China do to stop American shenanigans in our neck of the woods. I'm of the opinion that nothing will be done, but I would like your take on it. Please elaborate as much as you can.

Regards

Sakib Ahmad said...

Dear Irfan,

That comment was meant for the enemies of Pakistan, not for you. It contained an element of bluster and wishful thinking! In any case, if you are fighting back against immense odds you wouldn't want your enemies to know your plans.

What I have to say to you is all there in 'part 3' which I released two days ago. You are welcome to leave your comments there. So far I have only received venomous comments which hurl filthy abuse at "Pakis".

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