Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Is Osama in Pakistan ? writes K. Hassan
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Musharraf may not know, but Osama’s in Pakistan ........
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: Gary Schroen, the CIA officer who has just published a book on his exploits in Afghanistan, says Osama Bin Laden is in Pakistan but President Pervez Musharraf may not know it and may not even want to know.According to the CIA veteran, “I can only speculate, but it is based on almost 20 years of dealing with the Pakistani military and ISI officers. I think at some level, probably the colonel level, there are officers probably in ISI who know where Bin Laden is at.”A report by CNN says Schroen, after being shipped to Afghanistan following 9/11, was asked by his boss Cofer Black that he wanted “Bin Laden’s head shipped back in a box filled with dry ice.” Schroen’s book ‘First In: an insider’s account of how the CIA spearheaded the war on terror in Afghanistan’ has been described as “riveting.” He claims to have developed two plans to capture or kill Bin Laden, once in 1998 and then a year later. Both were turned down by CIA and the White House.Schroen’s Afghan mission was codenamed ‘Jawbreaker’ and met rapid success in helping to topple the Taliban, using cash, contacts and air strikes coordinated by the CIA and US Special Forces. When Tora Bora was attacked, Bin Laden fled to Pakistan. Asked where Bin Laden is today, Schroen said, “He’s hiding in Pakistan in the northern tribal areas above Peshawar - an area that is rugged, hilly, heavily forested. The US government and the US military are not authorised by the Musharraf government to enter there unilaterally.”The former CIA operative is of the view that instead of going into the area north of Peshawar, Pakistani forces made the mistake of going into South Waziristan. The campaign was a failure. “They did get clobbered heavily,” Schroen says of the Pakistani forces. “I think they knew that Bin Laden wasn’t there, and therefore they would be able to arrest a few Al Qaeda operatives and make us happy.”According to CNN, Schroen believes Musharraf not only doesn’t know where Bin Laden is, but he doesn’t want to know, afraid of the internal political consequences of finding him. That’s because, Schroen thinks, Pakistan’s northern tribal areas would explode upon news of the death or capture of Bin Laden. “I think the philosophy of the Taliban, this fundamentalist view, is popular there. So Bin Laden, I think, strikes them as heroic. He fought a jihad against the Russians, and he’s bloodied America’s nose time and again.” He believes that regardless of how much reward money America offers, Bin Laden would not be captured and handed in. “As long as he stays in place, it is going to be almost impossible to find him.”Schroen’s view is at odds with information found in documents released under the Freedom of Information Act to Associated Press, according to which, a large number of Al Qaeda, Taliban and other suspects, many of them innocent, were sold to the Americans by Pakistanis and Afghans for cash.Another key job for the United States, Schroen says, is to figure out a way to find the right incentive for Musharraf to hunt harder for Al Qaeda’s leaders. One major step is for the Pakistani President to get more answers from inside his own military and intelligence establishment. “A man of that caliber (Bin Laden) could not be hidden out for that many years without word getting out in the community. So, I think some people probably know within ISI and the military,” says Schroen.
Musharraf may not know, but Osama’s in Pakistan ........
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: Gary Schroen, the CIA officer who has just published a book on his exploits in Afghanistan, says Osama Bin Laden is in Pakistan but President Pervez Musharraf may not know it and may not even want to know.According to the CIA veteran, “I can only speculate, but it is based on almost 20 years of dealing with the Pakistani military and ISI officers. I think at some level, probably the colonel level, there are officers probably in ISI who know where Bin Laden is at.”A report by CNN says Schroen, after being shipped to Afghanistan following 9/11, was asked by his boss Cofer Black that he wanted “Bin Laden’s head shipped back in a box filled with dry ice.” Schroen’s book ‘First In: an insider’s account of how the CIA spearheaded the war on terror in Afghanistan’ has been described as “riveting.” He claims to have developed two plans to capture or kill Bin Laden, once in 1998 and then a year later. Both were turned down by CIA and the White House.Schroen’s Afghan mission was codenamed ‘Jawbreaker’ and met rapid success in helping to topple the Taliban, using cash, contacts and air strikes coordinated by the CIA and US Special Forces. When Tora Bora was attacked, Bin Laden fled to Pakistan. Asked where Bin Laden is today, Schroen said, “He’s hiding in Pakistan in the northern tribal areas above Peshawar - an area that is rugged, hilly, heavily forested. The US government and the US military are not authorised by the Musharraf government to enter there unilaterally.”The former CIA operative is of the view that instead of going into the area north of Peshawar, Pakistani forces made the mistake of going into South Waziristan. The campaign was a failure. “They did get clobbered heavily,” Schroen says of the Pakistani forces. “I think they knew that Bin Laden wasn’t there, and therefore they would be able to arrest a few Al Qaeda operatives and make us happy.”According to CNN, Schroen believes Musharraf not only doesn’t know where Bin Laden is, but he doesn’t want to know, afraid of the internal political consequences of finding him. That’s because, Schroen thinks, Pakistan’s northern tribal areas would explode upon news of the death or capture of Bin Laden. “I think the philosophy of the Taliban, this fundamentalist view, is popular there. So Bin Laden, I think, strikes them as heroic. He fought a jihad against the Russians, and he’s bloodied America’s nose time and again.” He believes that regardless of how much reward money America offers, Bin Laden would not be captured and handed in. “As long as he stays in place, it is going to be almost impossible to find him.”Schroen’s view is at odds with information found in documents released under the Freedom of Information Act to Associated Press, according to which, a large number of Al Qaeda, Taliban and other suspects, many of them innocent, were sold to the Americans by Pakistanis and Afghans for cash.Another key job for the United States, Schroen says, is to figure out a way to find the right incentive for Musharraf to hunt harder for Al Qaeda’s leaders. One major step is for the Pakistani President to get more answers from inside his own military and intelligence establishment. “A man of that caliber (Bin Laden) could not be hidden out for that many years without word getting out in the community. So, I think some people probably know within ISI and the military,” says Schroen.
