Thread: Pakistan doctor jailed for treason for helping the CIA find bin Laden

Originally Posted by Firestorm

Among the community of nations, Pakistan today stands out on one hand as a petty thug brandishing a dangerous weapon, and at other times as a concubine, sleeping with anyone willing to pay for her expensive tastes.

Stealing that

“America needs Pakistan more than Pakistan needs America … Pakistan is the pivot of the world, as we are placed [on] the frontier on which the future position of the world revolves.” Bourke-White wrote. Jinnah leaned toward her, dropped his voice to a confidential note, and wagged his finger. “Russia,” he said, “is not so very far away.” The Cold War had barely begun and here was the founder of Pakistan trying to benefit from the impending clash between the USSR and USA.

A long standing testament to how they make themselves useful -- for a price.

Fear is a great inducement to get paid. Want money, go scare the americans, want yet more, add the jews & oil sheiks to the list.

Is there any reason they will not continue to do so into the future, lets see but they'll find their niche, that is sure.

For 65 years the U.S. has succumbed to Pakistan — until now

Err no, US cut them off from 91-98, Pressler amendment. HW cut them off, Clinton reinstated it.

Stung by the humiliation of being caught in the act of providing a safe haven to the world’s number one terrorist, the Pakistani military took its revenge by imprisoning Dr. Afridi and shutting down the supply routes to NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Yet another article to conflate two seperate issues.

Shamelessly, Pakistan is also demanding a U.S. apology.

Because of the border incident. They'll never get it but keeps the folks at home off their backs.

The time has come for Canada, the U.S. and the West to draw a line in the sand. If Pakistan is unwilling to free Dr. Afridi and arrest the al-Qaeida leader Ayman Zawahiri, then we should cut all aid to Islamabad.

Sounds like a sweet deal for billions into the future

What did it cost Pakistan, sweet FA.

The U.S., U.K. and Canada should ban the entry of all Pakistani military officers, serving or retired, as well as their families and children. The thousands of Pakistan civil and military officials who have descended on America and Canada should be asked to leave immediately.

The author must realise that these people are all passport holders of the countries concerned.

Somehow doing an Idi Amin or what Kuwait did to Palestianians post the first gulf war does not get done in the west.

Hit them where it hurts the country’s top brass and the establishment will buckle. If we don’t, a thousand AQ Khans will bloom

lol, now the author's jumped into proliferation issues.

Tarek Fatah says it like it is. He knows exactly how to push the Pakistani establishment's buttons.

He's good at talking out his side

I don't see why you consider the imprisonment of Dr Afridi and shutting down the supply corridor as seperate. The US is an ally fighting a 'common enemy' in Afghanistan. It managed to kill the leader of enemy column in Pakistan with Dr Afridis help. Does Pakistan have the same enemy as the US and the rest of us? Then why are they doing either?

Originally Posted by snapper

I don't see why you consider the imprisonment of Dr Afridi and shutting down the supply corridor as seperate.

The supply lines were not shut down after OBL, they got shut down as a result of the border incident which still remains to be resolved. That's the only point i'm making here.

Originally Posted by snapper

The US is an ally fighting a 'common enemy' in Afghanistan. It managed to kill the leader of enemy column in Pakistan with Dr Afridis help. Does Pakistan have the same enemy as the US and the rest of us? Then why are they doing either?

As far as OBL & Afridi are concerned i agree. Pari has made that point very clear.

The thing that gets me is that the Pakistani's had to be aware of the implications yet they still went ahead and did it. In fact the witch hunt started within a month of OBL, that's how we found out that the ISI played no role in getting OBL. Its being going on ever since.

What were/are they thinking.

Nothing has being done to those that helped OBL.

They are both obstruction of an 'ally'.

Originally Posted by Double Edge

The supply lines were not shut down after OBL, they got shut down as a result of the border incident which still remains to be resolved. That's the only point i'm making here.

Was it first such incident?

The thing that gets me is that the Pakistani's had to be aware of the implications yet they still went ahead and did it. In fact the witch hunt started within a month of OBL, that's how we found out that the ISI played no role in getting OBL. Its being going on ever since.

TBH, no matter how wrong they were, they have every right to be major pissed. They are one of the major non-nato allies, yet they got hit without prior notice. Or the international law doesn't apply because OBL was the target?

I still have doubts that the top of the PA and GoP actually knew OBL is in Pakistan and the exact location. Not so sure about the head of ISI. Who should be replaced in any case (if not already).

What were/are they thinking.

Who? In many posts here on WAB I have read that there are 3 powers in Pakistan: civilian, military and ISI, who more often then not have bills to settle between each other.

Nothing has being done to those that helped OBL.

"Those" have names?

Originally Posted by Doktor

"Those" have names?

Yep they call themselves the ISI.

Originally Posted by snapper

Yep they call themselves the ISI.

Well, then, send MIB

"WASHINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - The United States has sent a handful of military officials back into northwestern Pakistan in a sign the two nations may be able to achieve some low-level military cooperation despite a string of confrontations that have left Washington's relations with Islamabad in crisis.

Two U.S. officers have been sent in the last few weeks to the city of Peshawar, close to the border with Afghanistan, a U.S. official said, restoring after a months-long absence a U.S. military presence in an unstable region home to militants fueling violence across the border.

The officers will seek to foster communications between Western troops in Afghanistan and Pakistani soldiers as NATO struggles to clamp down on militants who threaten its battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The number of American military in that key region dropped to zero after U.S. aircraft killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in late November. NATO labeled the border incident an accident but it enraged Pakistanis and sent already tense ties with the United States into a tailspin.

"I wouldn't call this a watershed moment (but) it's not insignificant that this is happening," the U.S. official said on condition of anonymity."

UPDATE 1-U.S. military trickles back into Western Pakistan - AlertNet

Originally Posted by Doktor

Well, then, send MIB

MIB , ahhh yes , 1 RTR the original men in black .

Originally Posted by snapper

Between the OBL raid and Dr Afridi's arrest 20 days elapsed so had the US considered him to be at risk from Pakistani authorities he would have been withdrawn. Yet he remained... and not to serve any future role in the OBL mission. You can be sure that other CIA staff were in and around the area before and possibly during the raid but were withdrawn after it's completion. Why did this Dr remain? The chances are that he didn't even know that he was working for the CIA.

Sounds like he knew who his bosses were & chose to stay for his own reasons as yet unclear.

A PAKISTANI doctor jailed for 33 years for helping the CIA track down Osama bin Laden through a bogus polio vaccination campaign apparently refused a US offer of asylum for himself and his family.

The US government has faced heavy criticism for its handling of the issue since Shakil Afridi was found guilty last week of treason in a tribal court and sentenced to more than three decades' imprisonment.

But the controversial issue became even murkier yesterday when a copy of the formerly secret judgment obtained by local media allegedly revealed he was actually found guilty of conspiring with Islamist militants, and not of treason.

US officials claimed yesterday they offered to resettle Dr Afridi and his family around the time of last year's May 2 Navy SEAL raid on the residential Abbottabad compound where the al-Qa'ida chief had been living for more than five years with his extended family and several trusted couriers.

Dr Afridi refused for reasons that remained unclear, two officials, who asked not to be named, told Reuters yesterday. The White House has refused to comment.

"Before he was arrested, Dr Afridi was offered opportunities to leave Pakistan with his family but he turned those down," one US official said.

"Some may question why he did this but no one, including the doctor, could have foreseen that Pakistan would punish so severely someone whose work benefited the country so much."

Another official said Dr Afridi might have turned down the resettlement offer in the mistaken belief he would be publicly praised for helping track down the terror chief

Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian

Being offered an out does not, and should not be taken, to imply that he knew who he who he was working for. Let us assume that his end-of-the-line-employers were the CIA. They do not generaly 'announce themselves'; no intelligence service does. A doctor works for a charity etc... Now perhaps he has 'volunteered' for the charity under instructions but where would the instructions come from? You specificaly do NOT want his connection to the first principal (end of the line) known - for his own safety. It goes through chains that CANNOT be traced back. That's the way it works.

An international charity itself could, of course, offer someone an 'out'; go work in an office in the US. The US government would have no objection as they would know who the end of the line purchaser of his information was. For him though being an offered an 'out' in the US may well have been the first dawning of the truth, that he had in fact ever helped a covert US operation, which again we cannot say with surety.

Originally Posted by snapper

Being offered an out does not, and should not be taken, to imply that he knew who he who he was working for. Let us assume that his end-of-the-line-employers were the CIA. They do not generaly 'announce themselves'; no intelligence service does. A doctor works for a charity etc... Now perhaps he has 'volunteered' for the charity under instructions but where would the instructions come from? You specificaly do NOT want his connection to the first principal (end of the line) known - for his own safety. It goes through chains that CANNOT be traced back. That's the way it works.

An international charity itself could, of course, offer someone an 'out'; go work in an office in the US. The US government would have no objection as they would know who the end of the line purchaser of his information was. For him though being an offered an 'out' in the US may well have been the first dawning of the truth, that he had in fact ever helped a covert US operation, which again we cannot say with surety.

Read the article again. The clear implication in what the US Govt spokesman is saying is that he knew he was helping out the US Govt catch Bin Laden. Specifically which agency he thought he was helping is irrelevant - he knew it was the US Govt. Perhaps he was foolish enough to think that because Pakistan & the US are nominal allies & Bin Laden nominally an enemy of Pakistan that he would recieve congratulation. Who knows. If you really want to spend time & effort speculation about the many & varied ways he might not have known then go for it. The truth, as usual, appears to be the simplest explanation.