Tensions Rise as U.S. Officials Press Pakistan for Answers

WASHINGTON — Tensions between the American and Pakistani governments intensified sharply on Tuesday as senior Obama administration officials demanded answers to how Obama bin Laden managed to hide in Pakistan, and the Pakistani government issued a defiant statement calling the raid that killed the Al Qaeda leader “an unauthorized unilateral action.”

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John O. Brennan, the top White House counterterrorism adviser, said there were many questions about how the sprawling compound “was able to be there for so many years with Bin Laden resident there and it didn’t come to the attention of the local authorities.”

“We need to understand what sort of support network that Bin Laden might have had in place,” Mr. Brennan said during an interview with ABC on Tuesday.

The suspicions have intensified efforts by some members of Congress to scale back American aid to Pakistan, or cut it entirely, as lawmakers described Pakistan as a duplicitous ally undeserving of the billions of dollars it receives each year from Washington.

Still, Obama administration officials and some members of Congress seemed determined to avoid the kind of break in relations that would jeopardize the counterterrorism network the C.I.A. has carefully constructed over the last few years in Pakistan, and as the administration tries to end the war in Afghanistan, a conflict where Pakistan is a necessary, if difficult, partner.

On Monday, the Obama administration’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan landed in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, and delivered what American officials described as a stern message to senior Pakistani military and intelligence leaders. The envoy, Marc Grossman, told them that patience in Congress was wearing thin, officials familiar with the discussions said.

Officials in Washington said they hoped to learn far more about the network that Bin Laden tapped for support by examining the trove of computer files and documents that members of the Navy Seals grabbed during Monday’s raid.

Top Pakistani officials have vehemently denied that Islamabad tried to harbor Bin Laden, and American officials said that at this point there was no hard evidence that any Pakistani officials visited the compound in Abbottabad, or had any direct contacts with Bin Laden.

Even as they pledged support for the United States’ deeply strained alliance with Pakistan, several top American officials said it was difficult to believe that Bin Laden could have spent years in a town populated by current and former Pakistani military officers — with a Pakistani military academy close by — without the complicity of some in the country’s government.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who is chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, acknowledged that she had no evidence that Pakistan’s government knew where Bin Laden was hiding, but said the government had much to answer for.

“If they didn’t know, why didn’t they know? Why didn’t they pay more attention to it? Was it just benign indifference, or was it indifference with a motive,” she said.

A civilian official in the Pakistani government said he did not know if the Pakistani spy agency, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, helped Bin Laden hide or was simply unaware of his presence in Abbottabad. Either way, he said, the successful American raid was an international humiliation for the agency.

“I’m not denying the possibility,” the official said, referring to the ISI sheltering Bin Laden. “At worst, it’s that. At best, it’s total incompetence.”

He said he hoped the raid would lead Pakistanis — particularly military and ISI leaders — to recognize the deep credibility problem their county now faces internationally.

In his meetings in Islamabad, Mr. Grossman told Pakistani leaders they needed to take steps to stanch the tide of anger in Washington about Pakistan’s behavior, according to Obama administration officials familiar with the meetings.

In public, Mr. Grossman was more diplomatic, telling reporters in Islamabad on Tuesday that the United States was committed to its alliance with Pakistan and that Pakistan was “determined to curb terrorism.”

A senior Pakistani general on Tuesday repeated his government’s formal denials that the military or the ISI knew of Bin Laden’s location. Instead, he acknowledged a major intelligence lapse by the Pakistani police and security forces.

“To me, it’s a big embarrassment that the bastard was in this compound near the academy,” said the Pakistani officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Clearly, the U.S. had better intelligence than we did about what was inside that compound.”

The general said Pakistan and the United States had cooperated in other counterterrorism operations in the Abbottabad area in recent weeks, notably a C.I.A. tip that led to Pakistan’s recent arrest of Umar Patek, one of the main Indonesian suspects in the 2002 Bali bombing.

The Pakistani government statement went further, saying that the ISI had “been sharing information with C.I.A. and other friendly intelligence agencies” about the Bin Laden compound since 2009.

Several American officials said they were puzzled about the statement, pointing out that the C.I.A. did not know about the compound until last August.

The raid has fueled anti-Pakistan sentiment in Congress, yet it is unclear — perhaps even unlikely — that there would be enough support to cut aid to Pakistan.

Speaker John A. Boehner, who just returned from a congressional visit to Pakistan and Afghanistan, said that any discussion about cutting aid or decreasing engagement with Pakistan in the aftermath of the Bin Laden strike was premature and that he would strongly oppose any such move.

“We both benefit from having a strong bilateral relationship, and I think we need to use this moment to strengthen the ties between our two countries,” Mr. Boehner told reporters. “This is not a time to back away from Pakistan.”

Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat and majority leader, also expressed reluctance about limiting aid to Pakistan, saying the country has been an anti-terror partner of the United States. “They’ve lost thousands and thousands of their soldiers fighting terrorists,” he said. “Now, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have more oversight, and I’m willing to do that.”

In Brussels on Tuesday, the national intelligence officer for South Asia, Neil H. Joeck, spoke about Pakistan at a closed meeting of ambassadors to NATO. According to people present for his presentation, which was based on a December 2010 National Intelligence Estimate on Pakistan, Mr. Joeck said American officials had little expectation that the Pakistani government would mount a serious campaign to wipe out Al Qaeda or Taliban safe havens in the most contested border areas of the country.

“He said there were simply too many ongoing suspicions of the U.S.,” said one foreign official.

If the Pakistanis admit to any involvement (which they did not have) then the various terror cells there would turn their attention to government institutions rather than trying to get at the U.S  Embassy or the British. So this suits them perfectly ie.   America has clearly stated that they did not inform the Pakistanis at all, because they did not trust them.

The political environment in Pakistan  is made up of army leadership, intelligence agency leadership and some senior civil servants, and they run Pakistan, whether through so-called democratic governments or military governments, and those people have connections with extremists, because it suits their interests so now it is easier to understand why they were not involved.   They will not say anything about this, the U.S will not get any answers and the U.S cannot afford to pull out with their aid, so the Pakistani government has nothing to lose, they will just bide their time until this blows over. Their obvious uneasy relationship will only be  a bit uneasier but there will still be a relationship between both countries because both are mutual beneficiaries . Bin Laden’s killing is said to be only a political symbol that will help President Obama build up his credentials and wont change Islamic radicals in their pursuit as Bin Laden has already achieved what he set out to achieve which was to globalize Islam .

It was said that Bin Laden cowardly used one of his wives as a human shield but in Pakistan it is being said that she herself acted as a shield to protect him.  It was highly unlikely that Bin Laden would have lived in a cave, as he did have kidney disease and was treated at home by his wife who was a nurse . Dialysis machine and functioning equipment all under the million dollar roof…………Met signing out…

 

He was neither cross , angry nor miserable, instead it was a mature Rodney Price, his Bounty Killer persona left somewhere outside the venue, who entertained at Paradise Park, Westmoreland for the 2011 staging of Western Consciousness early Sunday morning.

It was a man transformed, except for his trademark full black outfit.

 

“A long time me a sing good songs but it’s like them like when me get cross, angry and miserable,” Price stated to the hundreds of screaming, whistle blowing fans. Churning out hits such as Down ina the ghetto, Poor People Fed Up, Mi Caan Believe Mi Eyes, Living Dangerously, Sufferer, Ready fi dem, and Stronger.

Breaking from his breathtaking performance Price encourged parents to send their children to not only regular school, but Sunday school as well, stating that children should be accessible to the Almighty, a well as have a solid education. After delivering a host of other conscious hits Price exited the stage near 5:00am after a performance that will be on the lips of many days or even weeks.

Even Beenie Man who climaxed the show had to congratulate Price for his strong performance making mention that both he (Beenie Man) and Bounty Killer had performed for free.

Another headliner of the night was Tanya Stephens. Stephens who says that she was celebrating the ‘un-celibacy’ of Rastas spitted out the lyrics to singles including as Take Him Back, You Nuh Ready Fi Dis Yet, After You, and Ninja Bike. Declaring her love for men, the versatile lyricist also delivered Its a Pity and These Streets saying that there is no truth to the rumour that she dislikes men.

The ‘Fire Burning’ rasta as expected was in a no nonsense mood as he ‘bun a fire’ on homosexuals and rapists. Throughout his 15-minute stay on stage Lutan spit lyrics to singles including Justice, Healthy Lifestyle and Africa.

D’Angel, Turbulence, Freddie McGregor, and Hero was also well received by the Western Consciousness audience. Other performers included the Dubtonic Kru, Harry Toddler and Hezron to name a few.

The show in his 23rd staging promoted by Worrel King lived up to its name except for a few minor problems including a long delay in the wee hours of Sunday morning as a band change was to be. The Sane band also provided excellent backing services and the MCs for the night were DJ Linkage of Linkage Radio in New York and Denise ‘Ises’ Miller.

(CBS/AP)WASHINGTON – Osama bin Laden was shot above his left eye and the bullet blew away part of his skull, a U.S. official says. He was also shot in the chest. 

The precision kill shot was delivered by a member of the Navy’s elite SEAL Team Six during a pre-dawn raid Monday on bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan.

 

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

 

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Photos of bin Laden’s injuries were transmitted to Washington as proof that the mission was a success.

 

The administration is still weighing whether to release photos of bin Laden’s corpse and video of his swift burial at sea. Officials were reluctant to inflame Islamic sentiment by showing graphic images of the body. But they were also eager to address the mythology already building in Pakistan and beyond that bin Laden was somehow still alive.

 

The only information about what occurred inside the compound has come from American officials, much of it provided under condition of anonymity.

 

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They said SEALs dropped down ropes from helicopters, killed bin Laden aides and made their way to the main building. Mr. Obama and his national security team monitored the strike, watching and listening nervously and in near silence from the Situation Room as it all unfolded.

 

“The minutes passed like days,” White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said.

 

As the information from the operation flowed in, the president said, “We got him.”

 

The hunt for bin Laden that ended Monday morning in Pakistan began years ago, when captured al Qaeda operatives first revealed the existence of bin Laden’s most trusted courier. Some of the leads to the courier came out of the CIA’s secret prisons, where high level al Qaeda captives were waterboarded.

 

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CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the courier was described as a protege of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, and the man who delivered bin Laden’s orders to al Qaeda operatives in the field. In fact, current and former U.S. officials said that Mohammed gave intelligence officials the courier’s name. The CIA got similar information from Mohammed’s successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi. Both were subjected to harsh interrogation tactics inside CIA prisons in Poland and Romania.

 

It was about four years ago that U.S. intelligence finally determined the courier’s real name: Maulawi Abd al-Khaliq Jan. Take a look at it. It cost bin Laden his life.

 

 

Key to the hunt was identifying the cell phone number of the courier and placing it under surveillance. In 2010, the U.S. intercepted a call to the courier in which he was asked where he had been. He responded that he was back with the people he had been with before. The caller then said, “May God facilitate you” – the implication being that courier was back with bin Laden and his family.

 

The courier did not make it easy to locate the compound, however, since every time he approached the compound, he turned off his phone. He did this more than 90 minutes out and removed the battery, so he went totally dark and would leave it off when he was in the compound. When he left the compound, he would wait 90 minutes and turn it back on. Analysts would therefore keep seeing this pop up in places all over Pakistan but nowhere near to Abbattabod. This is why it took so long to find the compound after they had the name and the cell phone number for the courier.

 

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It took another two years after identifying the courier to find out what part of Pakistan Maulawi Jan operated in. Then, last August, the CIA discovered his residence. Officials said they were shocked by what they saw – the specially constructed $1 million compound with walls as high as 18 feet topped with barbed wire.

 

The residents of the compound burned their trash instead of putting it out for collection and there was no telephone or internet service. Three families lived there: the courier’s family, his brother’s family, and a third family about the size of bin Laden’s. It was a convincing but circumstantial case.

 

Once U.S. had located the compound where the courier lived, they put it under surveillance and noticed that every day a tall man emerged from the main house and walked for an hour around the courtyard. Imagery indicated that the man was between 5’8″ and 6’5″, but the photos were not good enough to make a positive identification. They were images from satellites and not drones, since location was too risky to deploy the unmanned aircraft.

 

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By mid-February, intelligence from multiple sources was clear enough that Mr. Obama wanted to “pursue an aggressive course of action,” a senior administration official said. Over the next two and a half months, Mr. Obama led five meetings of the National Security Council focused solely on whether bin Laden was in that compound and, if so, how to get him, the official said.

 

U.S. counterterrorism officials considered bombing the place, an option that was discarded by the White House as too risky, particularly if it turned out bin Laden was not there.

 

Instead, Obama signed an order on Friday for the team of SEALs to chopper onto the compound under the cover of darkness.

 

In addition to bin Laden, one of his sons, Khalid, was killed in the raid, Brennan said. Bin Laden’s wife was shot in the calf but survived, a U.S. official said. Also killed were the courier and his brother, and an unidentified woman, officials said.

 

Some people found at the compound were left behind when the SEALs withdrew and were turned over to Pakistani authorities who quickly took over control of the site, officials said. They identified the trusted courier as Kuwaiti-born Sheikh Abu Ahmed, who had been known under the name Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.

 

Twenty-three children and nine women were in the compound at the time of the assault and were turned over to Pakistani authorities, said a U.S. official who requested anonymity to discuss an intelligence matter.

 

Within 40 minutes, the operation was over, and the SEALs flew out — minus one helicopter, which had malfunctioned and had to be destroyed. Bin Laden’s remains were flown to the USS Carl Vinson, then lowered into the North Arabian Sea.

 

Bin Laden’s death came 15 years after he declared war on the United States. Al Qaeda was also blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled.