harboring miss daisy, … , who resides with the fishes.
update:
watch this video at "msnbc", www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42875159[insert key stroke for "number" here]42875159 , for confirmation of my remarks about the nature of the fire fight in which bin lade was killed. this fight was "heard," just a mere "100's" of yards away from this fight. yet the paki military did not intervene, did not investigate, they did not "serve and protect" osama bin laden. i conclude the military did not harbor bin laden. note: you will have to insert the missing key stroke manually on you "command line," as i cannot enter the "number" key w/ a disabled keyboard. my apologies for the "inconvenience."
end update.
much has been made of the fact that osama bin laden was found residing about 35 miles north of the pakistani capital in a town called abbottabad, home of many retired military officers and of the pakistani military academy. the suggestion is that the paki’s must have known of his presence, and that the military were actively harboring him.
yet we know that the pakistani military did not respond to his aid.
now those who favor a conclusion that osama was being protected point to the fact that he lived mere q”100’s” of yards from the military academy, when cadets would live, train and study and where ancillary military personnel would be to service and protect them. but, that fact cuts several different ways, when considered.
consider if you will, that the assault on obama’s compound last about 40 minutes, which is protracted battle. during that time witnesses describe large explosions, small arms fire, and the noise of helicopters. i walk to a shooting range near my house almost every day, and i am familiar with small arms fire heard over distance, and i can assure you that the noise of ak-47’s and m-4 carbines on full auto would be unmistakably heard as combat, especially within about 800 yards distance. i doubt much disturbs the pakistani night, … , but, this combat would have.
yet the pakistani military did not respond to aid obama out of religious fervor and or political enthusiasm, and the proof is absolute: they did not respond at all.
perhaps the pakistani military authorities considered the size of the engagement, and decided that they would not intervene or try to broker an end to the battle because they decided that the americans would truck with no interference: you think that they didn’t send somebody out to take a look see at a 40 minute firefight mere ”100’s” of yards from their campus/base? you think they are not interested in such things in a military town.
well, this scenario does not admit of much political enthusiasm or religious fervor either, does it?
maybe the military had simply decided at this point that osama was becoming a political liability, not worth the risk of incurring western wrath should it be learned that he had been harbored, with knowledge, in abbottabad for some years, and they simply decided that the filthy lucre supporting his stay were not worth it, and just gave him up. threw him under the bus, as it were.
well, this also doesn’t imply much islamic zeal either, does it?
considered in this manner, i don’t see in my own mind much reason to support a conclusion that the pakistani’s would have harbored osama for political or religious reasons, not even in consideration that he was a fellow muslim. i especially do not see this, for two reasons: 1.) al queda and the taliban have taken a tremendous toll on the pakistani military, and stung them really badly with any number of brazen and bloody attacks, and 2.) the pakistani military has killed and captured about as many talibani and al queda operatives and soldiers as anyone, including some of our own most valuable intelligence assets.
and, if the basic explanations of religious zeal and political enthusiasm do not apply, there exists very little reason to explain why the pakistani military would harbor him.
oh, yes, there is the matter of corruption, bribery and the allure of money and perhaps involvement in the afghani drug traffic.
how much reward did the united states offer for the apprehension of osama bin laden? well, just googling the matter quickly i come up with sums ranging from $25 to $50 million dollars, and were somebody possessed of information potentially leading to his capture, i am sure that they could have negotiated some additional perks, perhaps in jet plains, perhaps in small arms, or perhaps in cruise missile technology.
it just didn’t work out that way, did it?
for these reasons, i just don’t see that any plausible rationale underpins any accusations that the pakistani military harbored osama bin laden. put simply and clearly, were they to have done so, it would have been for money, or for political and religious reasons. and the financial rationale wilts before the money offered by the united states, and the other material benefits which would/could have been supplied to the paki military. and, it does not appear to me that the pakistani military were motivated by either religious zeal and conviction to harbor him, or by strictly political considerations, because, had they been, they would have come to his aid.
and, they did not. which fact also suggests very cogently, were any of the factors i have dismissed as a basis for harboring osama at all extent in actual fact, they would have in fact responded in his aid, had they known that it was osama bin laden under attack.
they did not know he was under attack, because they did not know he was there, if you assume any tendency or proclivity of the abbottabad military in defending him, contrary to my analysis.
oh, yes, i place a lot of dependence & reliance in my thought, on the simple fact they did not respond in his aid.
my further guess is, shortly before this went down, the u.s. military called the pakistani military, and civil police authorities up on secure land lines, or the radio, and said simply, butt out, this is our op, and we will not be interfered with. this is the only plausible explanation for why the paki’s did not appear on seen.
you can bet that they had their boots laced within seconds of the first loud booms. and, you know by now what i am gonna say about this, should it ever be substantiated. i will use the word over, and assert that it substantiates previous argument.
john jay 05.03.2011
p.s. now, does my argument preclude any suggestion that the pakistani intelligence serve harbored osama right under the nose of the military. had they done so, it would have been deliciously fiendish of them to have done so, pretty diabolical as a matter of fact. and, the paki’s are a subtle lot.
the same arguments tend to cut in my favor considering the intel types, although it is known that they have worked some questionable deals with fundamentalist groups both in pakistan and in afghanistan, and they are recognized to be an almost sovereign power/authority in their own right as they have successfully resisted military and civilian retaliation for their misdeeds.
but, i think the same rationales apply.
and, i think behavior supports that assumptions, as paki intel has given us a lot of our intelligence assets, as mentioned above. the intel branches of the paki circus are not above cutting deals against u.s. interest if they consider it in their own interests, but i do not think they act from the same religious zeal or political conviction as al queda or the taliban.
and, before you make an outright condemnation of pakistani intelligence for these proclivities, consider that this sort of double dealing was not above the likes of winston churchill on occasion, where the interests of great britain were to be served. nothing personal, just politics.
is it possible that osama bin laden was harbored in abbottabad by private persons? yes, it is not only plausible that persons motivated by religious zeal and belief, and possessed of a political persuasion similar to osama’s aided and abetted his secret presence there, but it would have been absolutely necessary.
there is the relatively straightforward matter of medicines for his diabetes, and the provision for and chandlering of his considerable staff. yes, he was harbored in pakistan by pakistani’s, who admired his world view and goals, and who admired his terror battle against the west.
but, i tend to view such persons as tending to be private persons. i do not exclude the possibility that certain individual military and intelligence officers were complicit in this to the extent they could be surreptitiously helpful to osama, but, i exclude in my own mind that this was the general policy of either the military, or the pakistani intelligence service.
hey, we have had rogue officers, and spies, and turncoats in our own services. not often, but occasionally and they do great damage to our interests. i see no reason why it should not be so for the government of pakistan.
but, for the reasons discussed above, i do not see it as policy in the command structure of either the military or the intelligence services of pakistan.
they did not respond in his aid, did they?
Comments