The CIA-ISI axis: India should have no illusions of US support

By C. Uday Bhaskar: India is maintaining politico-diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to comply with its international obligations apropos the Mumbai terror attack of Nov 26. Home Minister P. Chidambaram would visit the US in the course of this week with a detailed dossier that would include “irrefutable evidence” about the involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists in the Mumbai attacks.

(Well, apparently Morgan Spurlock isn't the only one not looking for Osama Bin Laden. The guy is probably dead anyhow. Bush and Musharraf seem to be of one mind on this one. -rep.)

Musharraf: Pakistan isn't hunting Osama

PARIS - Pervez Musharraf says he still gets the question a lot: When will Osama bin Laden and his top deputy be caught? The Pakistani president insists it's more important for his 100,000 troops on the Afghan border to root out the Taliban than search for al-Qaida leaders.

That bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri are still at large "doesn't mean much," the former general said Tuesday on the second day of a swing through Europe. He suggested they are far less a threat to his regime than Taliban-linked militants entrenched in Pakistan's west.

Bin Laden and al-Zawahri are believed to be hiding somewhere in the lawless tribal areas along Afghanistan's frontier with Pakistan.

"The 100,000 troops that we are using ... are not going around trying to locate Osama bin Laden and Zawahri, frankly," Musharraf told a conference at the French Institute for International Relations. "They are operating against terrorists, and in the process, if we get them, we will deal with them certainly." ...

Continued...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080122/ap_on_re_eu/europe_musharraf;_ylt=Ag392cwd82kZ7R9Lff7Epkqs0NUE

This is nervous breakdown material for Bushbots.

WASHINGTON, July 7 — A secret military operation in early 2005 to capture senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas was aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according to intelligence and military officials.

The target was a meeting of Qaeda leaders that intelligence officials thought included Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s top deputy and the man believed to run the terrorist group’s operations.

But the mission was called off after Donald H. Rumsfeld, then the defense secretary, rejected an 11th-hour appeal by Porter J. Goss, then the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, officials said. Members of a Navy Seals unit in parachute gear had already boarded C-130 cargo planes in Afghanistan when the mission was canceled, said a former senior intelligence official involved in the planning.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/washington/08intel.html?hp

Robert Scheer wrote about it at Huffpost:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/bushs-pakistan-paradox_b_55755.html

I think it's interesting that Musharraf is no longer the ally in the "War On Terror" that he used to be. I also think it's interesting how the United States can arbitrarily decide to do what it wants with Pakistan's leadership. I also think it's interesting that Musharraf came out with this interesting tidbit just 6 months ago:

"It is believed in some quarters that while Omar Sheikh was at the LSE he was recruited by the British intelligence agency MI6. It is said that MI6 persuaded him to take an active part in demonstrations against Serbian aggression in Bosnia and even sent him to Kosovo to join the jihad. At some point he probably became a rogue or double agent." - Jon

Source: theaustralian.news.com

Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent
March 14, 2007

THE US has indicated for the first time that it might be willing to back plans by elite echelons of the military in Islamabad to oust Pervez Musharraf from power, as the Pakistani President was beset by major new difficulties over his attempts to sack the country's chief justice.

Parade Magazine is a (mostly) generic fluff publication that is inserted into many weekend newspapers. Each issue contains a Q&A section that is moderated by Walter Scott (who also provides the answers). Most of the questions revolve around Hollywood celebrities, but there is an occasional question that deals with other issues, including politics. The January 28, 2007, issue contains the following:

Q: With the Taliban making a comeback in Afghanistan, how much help can we expect from President Musharraf, our Pakistani ally? -- T.D. of Boston Mass.

A: Not much. Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence has been secretly training and equipping the Taliban. And experts say that agency doesn't make a move without Musharraf's knowledge and approval.

It's possible that I'm a bit behind the times, but I consider that to be quite an exposé for a mainstream-media publication.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=110171&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23

Published: Friday, 29 September, 2006, 01:06 PM Doha Time

LONDON: Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf has disclosed that Omar Sheikh, who kidnapped and murdered American journalist Daniel Pearl and is now facing death penalty, was actually the British secret Agency MI6’s agent and had executed certain missions on their behest before coming to Pakistan and visiting Afghanistan to meet Osama and Mullah Omar.

General Musharraf’s book has also given a new twist to the whole drama of kidnapping and murder of American journalist as many believe here British national Omar Sheikh might use Musharraf’s memoir to plea his innocence after, quite surprisingly, Musharraf tried to give a clean chit to Omar despite his role in kidnapping which is punishable with death in Pakistan.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2036947.cms

'9/11 planner had role in Pearl plot'
[ 28 Sep, 2006 2102hrs ISTAP ]

ISLAMABAD: The top Al Qaida operative accused of masterminding 9/11 either killed or took part in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, Pakistan's president has alleged for the first time.

General Musharraf's claim, made in his memoirs, could be used to try to clear one of Pearl's four convicted killers, who is appealing his death sentence, the prisoner's lawyer said on Wednesday.

Musharraf accused Khalid Sheikh Mohammed of taking part in the killing. "The man who may have actually killed Pearl or at least participated in his butchery, we eventually discovered, was none other than Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Al Qaida's No. 3," Musharraf wrote in In The Line of Fire.

Rohan Gunaratna, head of terrorism research at Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, said it has long been understood that it was Mohammed, who killed Pearl to prove to the West after September11 that Al Qaida was still bent on killing Americans.