http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704569404576298433471341062.ht ml?mod=fox_australian
Pakistan Silent on Bin Laden Mission Role By TOM WRIGHT <http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html?KEYWORDS=TOM+WRIGHT&bylinesearch=tru e> Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the strike Monday that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan was conducted by U.S. forces and made no mention of Pakistan involvement, in a move likely meant to deflect domestic criticism that it took part or was aware of the action. The statement said that U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari Monday "on the successful U.S. operation which resulted in killing of Osama bin Laden." The statement also said that Pakistan has "extremely effective intelligence sharing arrangements with several intelligence agencies including that of the U.S." but didn't say whether Pakistan intelligence had helped pinpoint the whereabouts of the al Qaeda leader. Earlier Monday, an official with the Inter-Services Intelligence military spy agency said the attack on a compound outside the town of Abbottabad where Mr. bin Laden was staying was a joint operation involving Pakistani helicopters, one of which crashed during the firefight with Mr. bin Laden's bodyguards. Abbottabad is far from the border with Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are stationed, and the attack on Mr. bin Laden's compound would have likely needed Pakistan involvement of some kind, said Talat Masood, a former Pakistani army general. Military officials declined to comment, referring questions to the foreign ministry. Pakistan's military may be keen to avoid a backlash from hard-line Islamists who see Mr. bin Laden as a hero. The foreign ministry pointed out that many Pakistanis had died in the war between al Qaeda, the Pakistan Taliban and the Pakistan military, which has raged for three years on the borders with Afghanistan and in the big cities of the nation. "Al Qaeda had declared war on Pakistan," the ministry's statement said. "Scores of al-Qaeda sponsored terrorist attacks resulted in deaths of thousands of innocent Pakistani men, women and children. Almost 30,000 Pakistani civilians lost their lives in terrorist attacks in the last few years. More than 5,000 Pakistani security and armed forces officials have been martyred in Pakistan's campaign against ql-Qaeda, other terrorist organizations and affiliates. "It is Pakistan's stated policy that it will not allow its soil to be used in terrorist attacks against any country. Pakistan's political leadership, parliament, state institutions and the whole nation are fully united in their resolve to eliminate terrorism." <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704569404576298433471341062.h tml?mod=fox_australian> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, discuss-os...@yahoogroups.com. -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor biso...@intellnet.org http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: osint-subscr...@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: osint-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtmlYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: osint-dig...@yahoogroups.com osint-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: osint-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
