BanglaBhoot
RETIRED TTA
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2007
- Messages
- 8,839
- Reaction score
- 5
- Country
- Location
From R. VasudevanReporting from New Delhi
New Delhi, 04 May (Asiantribune.com):
One of the most well-kept secrets of the Obama mission to target and kill Al Qaeda chief Osama binLaden had its moments of apprehension too.
US President Obama and his national security team spent tense moments in the White House Situation Room on Sunday worrying among other things that Pakistan would mistake the Osama-specific American commando raid on Abbottabad for an Indian attack.
In fact, a top US official disclosed in a briefing on Monday that the Pakistanis even scrambled their jets when they realized something was afoot in Abbottabad, but the US commandos finished their operation in 40 minutes and were out of there before the Pakistanis acted.
''The Pakistanis were reacting to an incident that they knew was taking place in Abbottabad. Therefore, they were scrambling some of their assets,'' US counterterrorism czar John Brennan revealed while providing some operational details of the mission. It was not clear if the ''assets'' Brennan referred to included just fighter jets or other options ranging from anti-aircraft fire to missiles.
Brennan disclosed that the US was ''concerned that if the Pakistanis decided to scramble jets or whatever else... They had no idea about who might have been in there, whether it be US or somebody else,'' in what was an implicit reference to India. ''So we were watching and making sure that our people and our aircraft were able to get out of Pakistani airspace. And thankfully, there was no engagement with Pakistani forces," he added.
Washington did not keep any country, including India and much less Pakistan, in the loop about the operation. Brennan also addressed one of the key questions that arose from the episode: Why didn't the US use a Drone attack, as it does in Waziristan, instead of opting for a more dangerous commando ingress deep inside Pakistan and so close to its capital?
The answer it turns out is that President Obama wanted to be absolutely sure it was Osama bin Laden they were getting. A Drone attack or a heavy duty bombing raid would have reduced the compound to rubble, but there would be no way of knowing if it was bin Laden who died in the attack. Such a raid would also give Pakistan a chance to cover up its tracks.
Besides, Brennan said, the US had even hoped to capture bin Laden alive if possible. ''If we had the opportunity to take bin Laden alive, if he didn't present any threat, the individuals involved were able and prepared to do that. We had discussed that extensively in a number of meetings in the White House and with the President,'' Brennan said. ''The concern was that bin Laden would oppose any type of capture operation. Indeed, he did. He, therefore, was killed in that firefight.''
Author Salman Rushdie, target of extremists for many years, led the way in demanding that Pakistan be declared a terrorist state, as the dodgy US ally is coming under fire from across the American political spectrum for its fostering of terrorism and using it as a policy option.
Osama bin Laden has given way to Pakistan as the trending topic in US political and media discourse as the country's flirtation with terrorism is being exposed ruthlessly. Across the country, in television debates and radio shows, in print op-eds and online analyses, demand is growing to cut all aid to a country that is variously referred to as "Terroristan" and "Paranoidistan."
"In the aftermath of the raid on Abbottabad, all the big questions need to be answered by Pakistan. The old flim-flam ("Who, us? We knew nothing!") just isn't going to wash," Rushdie said in a commentary on Monday. "If it does not provide those answers, perhaps the time has come to declare it a terrorist state and expel it from the comity of nations."
Few analysts lent any credence to Pakistan's plea that it was unaware that Osama bin Laden was "hiding in plain sight" just down the road from a military academy in a Pakistani cantonment. US counterterrorism czar John Brennan almost sneered at the idea, suggesting it was scarcely believable that bin Laden could have lived there for five years without support.
Obama was worried Pak may think it was an Indian attack | Asian Tribune
New Delhi, 04 May (Asiantribune.com):
One of the most well-kept secrets of the Obama mission to target and kill Al Qaeda chief Osama binLaden had its moments of apprehension too.
US President Obama and his national security team spent tense moments in the White House Situation Room on Sunday worrying among other things that Pakistan would mistake the Osama-specific American commando raid on Abbottabad for an Indian attack.
In fact, a top US official disclosed in a briefing on Monday that the Pakistanis even scrambled their jets when they realized something was afoot in Abbottabad, but the US commandos finished their operation in 40 minutes and were out of there before the Pakistanis acted.
''The Pakistanis were reacting to an incident that they knew was taking place in Abbottabad. Therefore, they were scrambling some of their assets,'' US counterterrorism czar John Brennan revealed while providing some operational details of the mission. It was not clear if the ''assets'' Brennan referred to included just fighter jets or other options ranging from anti-aircraft fire to missiles.
Brennan disclosed that the US was ''concerned that if the Pakistanis decided to scramble jets or whatever else... They had no idea about who might have been in there, whether it be US or somebody else,'' in what was an implicit reference to India. ''So we were watching and making sure that our people and our aircraft were able to get out of Pakistani airspace. And thankfully, there was no engagement with Pakistani forces," he added.
Washington did not keep any country, including India and much less Pakistan, in the loop about the operation. Brennan also addressed one of the key questions that arose from the episode: Why didn't the US use a Drone attack, as it does in Waziristan, instead of opting for a more dangerous commando ingress deep inside Pakistan and so close to its capital?
The answer it turns out is that President Obama wanted to be absolutely sure it was Osama bin Laden they were getting. A Drone attack or a heavy duty bombing raid would have reduced the compound to rubble, but there would be no way of knowing if it was bin Laden who died in the attack. Such a raid would also give Pakistan a chance to cover up its tracks.
Besides, Brennan said, the US had even hoped to capture bin Laden alive if possible. ''If we had the opportunity to take bin Laden alive, if he didn't present any threat, the individuals involved were able and prepared to do that. We had discussed that extensively in a number of meetings in the White House and with the President,'' Brennan said. ''The concern was that bin Laden would oppose any type of capture operation. Indeed, he did. He, therefore, was killed in that firefight.''
Author Salman Rushdie, target of extremists for many years, led the way in demanding that Pakistan be declared a terrorist state, as the dodgy US ally is coming under fire from across the American political spectrum for its fostering of terrorism and using it as a policy option.
Osama bin Laden has given way to Pakistan as the trending topic in US political and media discourse as the country's flirtation with terrorism is being exposed ruthlessly. Across the country, in television debates and radio shows, in print op-eds and online analyses, demand is growing to cut all aid to a country that is variously referred to as "Terroristan" and "Paranoidistan."
"In the aftermath of the raid on Abbottabad, all the big questions need to be answered by Pakistan. The old flim-flam ("Who, us? We knew nothing!") just isn't going to wash," Rushdie said in a commentary on Monday. "If it does not provide those answers, perhaps the time has come to declare it a terrorist state and expel it from the comity of nations."
Few analysts lent any credence to Pakistan's plea that it was unaware that Osama bin Laden was "hiding in plain sight" just down the road from a military academy in a Pakistani cantonment. US counterterrorism czar John Brennan almost sneered at the idea, suggesting it was scarcely believable that bin Laden could have lived there for five years without support.
Obama was worried Pak may think it was an Indian attack | Asian Tribune
