15-06-2011, 01:09 PM
Pakistanis arrest five CIA informants
Sources helped find bin Laden, US officials say
By Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti
New York Times / June 15, 2011
WASHINGTON Pakistan's top military spy agency has arrested some of the Pakistani informants who fed information to the Central Intelligence Agency in the months leading up to the raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden, according to US officials.
Pakistan's detention of five CIA informants, including a Pakistani army major who officials said copied the license plates of cars visiting bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, is the latest evidence of the fractured relationship between the United States and Pakistan. It comes as the Obama administration is seeking Pakistan's support in brokering an endgame in the war in Afghanistan.
At a closed briefing last week, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee asked Michael J. Morell, the deputy CIA director, to rate Pakistan's cooperation with the United States on counterterrorism operations, on a scale of 1 to 10.
"Three,'' Morell replied, according to officials familiar with the exchange.
The fate of the CIA informants arrested in Pakistan is unclear, but US officials said that CIA director Leon E. Panetta raised the issue when he traveled to Islamabad last week to meet with Pakistani military and intelligence officers.
Some in Washington see the arrests as illustrative of the disconnect between Pakistani and US priorities at a time when they are supposed to be allies in the fight against Al Qaeda instead of hunting down the support network that allowed bin Laden to live comfortably for years, the Pakistani authorities are arresting those who assisted in the raid.
The bin Laden raid and recent attacks by militants in Pakistan have been blows to the country's military, a revered institution. Some officials and outside specialists said the military is mired in its worst crisis of confidence in decades.
US officials cautioned that Morell's comments about Pakistani support was a snapshot of the current relationship and did not represent the administration's overall assessment.
"We have a strong relationship with our Pakistani counterparts and work through issues when they arise,'' said Marie E. Harf, a CIA spokeswoman. "Director Panetta had productive meetings last week in Islamabad. It's a crucial partnership.''
Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, said in a brief interview that the CIA and the Pakistani spy agency "are working out mutually agreeable terms for their cooperation in fighting the menace of terrorism. It is not appropriate for us to get into the details at this stage.''
Over the past several weeks the Pakistani military has been distancing itself from US intelligence and counterterrorism operations against militant groups in Pakistan. This has angered many in Washington who believe that bin Laden's death has shaken Al Qaeda and that there is now an opportunity to further weaken the terrorist organization.
But in recent months, dating approximately to when a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis on a street in the eastern city of Lahore in January, US officials said that Pakistani spies from the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, known as the ISI, have been generally unwilling to carry out surveillance operations for the CIA. The Pakistanis have also threatened to further restrict the drone flights.
It is the future of the drone program that is a particular worry for the CIA. US officials said that during his meetings in Pakistan last week, Panetta was particularly forceful about trying to get Pakistani officials to allow armed drones to fly over even wider areas in the northwest tribal regions.
The CIA is already preparing for the worst: relocating some of the drones from Pakistan to a base in Afghanistan, where they can take off and fly east across the mountains and into the tribal areas, where terrorist groups find safe haven.
Sources helped find bin Laden, US officials say
By Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti
New York Times / June 15, 2011
WASHINGTON Pakistan's top military spy agency has arrested some of the Pakistani informants who fed information to the Central Intelligence Agency in the months leading up to the raid that led to the death of Osama bin Laden, according to US officials.
Pakistan's detention of five CIA informants, including a Pakistani army major who officials said copied the license plates of cars visiting bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, is the latest evidence of the fractured relationship between the United States and Pakistan. It comes as the Obama administration is seeking Pakistan's support in brokering an endgame in the war in Afghanistan.
At a closed briefing last week, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee asked Michael J. Morell, the deputy CIA director, to rate Pakistan's cooperation with the United States on counterterrorism operations, on a scale of 1 to 10.
"Three,'' Morell replied, according to officials familiar with the exchange.
The fate of the CIA informants arrested in Pakistan is unclear, but US officials said that CIA director Leon E. Panetta raised the issue when he traveled to Islamabad last week to meet with Pakistani military and intelligence officers.
Some in Washington see the arrests as illustrative of the disconnect between Pakistani and US priorities at a time when they are supposed to be allies in the fight against Al Qaeda instead of hunting down the support network that allowed bin Laden to live comfortably for years, the Pakistani authorities are arresting those who assisted in the raid.
The bin Laden raid and recent attacks by militants in Pakistan have been blows to the country's military, a revered institution. Some officials and outside specialists said the military is mired in its worst crisis of confidence in decades.
US officials cautioned that Morell's comments about Pakistani support was a snapshot of the current relationship and did not represent the administration's overall assessment.
"We have a strong relationship with our Pakistani counterparts and work through issues when they arise,'' said Marie E. Harf, a CIA spokeswoman. "Director Panetta had productive meetings last week in Islamabad. It's a crucial partnership.''
Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, said in a brief interview that the CIA and the Pakistani spy agency "are working out mutually agreeable terms for their cooperation in fighting the menace of terrorism. It is not appropriate for us to get into the details at this stage.''
Over the past several weeks the Pakistani military has been distancing itself from US intelligence and counterterrorism operations against militant groups in Pakistan. This has angered many in Washington who believe that bin Laden's death has shaken Al Qaeda and that there is now an opportunity to further weaken the terrorist organization.
But in recent months, dating approximately to when a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis on a street in the eastern city of Lahore in January, US officials said that Pakistani spies from the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, known as the ISI, have been generally unwilling to carry out surveillance operations for the CIA. The Pakistanis have also threatened to further restrict the drone flights.
It is the future of the drone program that is a particular worry for the CIA. US officials said that during his meetings in Pakistan last week, Panetta was particularly forceful about trying to get Pakistani officials to allow armed drones to fly over even wider areas in the northwest tribal regions.
The CIA is already preparing for the worst: relocating some of the drones from Pakistan to a base in Afghanistan, where they can take off and fly east across the mountains and into the tribal areas, where terrorist groups find safe haven.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass