Pakistan Leaks C.I.A Officer's Name, Angered US

C.I.A Officers Name Leaked In Pakistan Media

By STAFF Writer
May 11, 2011

PAKISTAN NEWS - A top C.I.A spy has been identified by the Pakistani news media, which triggered anger in Central Intelligence Agency, accusing Pakistan to complicated the work of the agency aftermath Osama bin Laden's hunt.

The leak of the agent's identification has opened a row of rifts between C.I.A and the Pakistani spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, or ISI. Pakistan has already stained its relationship with US over the fact that Bin laden hid in the country for years. However, in an address before Parliament, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani strongly denied any knowledge and responsibility for Bin Laden hideout in Abbottabad,

Prime Minister Gilani to boot condemned the United States for its intrusion without consent and called it violation of the country's sovereignty. Further, he added Laden's presence in the country of years actually an intelligence failure of the "whole world". He also denied any involvement of ISI or army with al-Qaeda's chief and dismissed all suspects of American.

The prime minister's statement and consequently leak of C.I.A official's identification signaled a fragile relation between two countries, witnessing lesser transparency and cooperation from Pakistan.

The Pakistan spy agency gave the identity of C.I.A station chief to The Nation, a conservative daily newspaper, popularly known for staunch supporter of ISI. It is believed that the ISI occasionally plants stories in news media and also alleged to pay some top level journalists.

It is unknown that whether the name was deliberately misspelled in the newspaper or not, but it opens the identification. This is the second time when ISI have done this type of deliberate revelation.
Last December, the covered of the station chief was unveiled by the ISI and eventually C.I.A had to leave the country. It is reported that the station chief started receiving death threats and forced to leave the country.

The new station chief has shown reluctance to leave the country. He is considered one of the sharpest and toughest undercover C.I.A officers and the man behind the supervision of the raid against Osama bin Laden.

A few incidents have testified the acrimonious relationship between new station chief and the ISI chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha.

Who Gains Who Loses After Laden's Death

PERSPECTIVE
TUESDAY, May 10, 2011

US President Barack Obama - THUMBS UP

The US President has seen his dismal approvals surge by as much as 15 percent points. More usefully, killing Obama bin Laden has killed off Republicans claims he was a security wimp. But it isn't all politics. Obama has been just as determined as George W. Bush on destroying Al Qaeda.

Indian PM Manmohan Singh - SMALL UP

India gains because Pakistan is down. Sort of. India has been busy pointing out that the Pakistani military is in ca boots with every possible terrorist you can name. But Singh is too focussed on his peace drive to make much of what's happening in Afghanistan. Perhaps Kayani will be more realistic about his country's future - in which case the talks may actually be fruitful.

General Ashfaq Kayani of Pakistan Army - BIG DOWN

There is strong speculation the Pakistani army chief will be told to retire. Otherwise, Kayani was looking good. He had Hamid Karzai over a barrel, Manmohan Singh in a corner. The US was pumping in billions. He could still win Afghanistan but for many Pakistanis he will just bet the soldier who let the country's guard down.

Al Qaeda - BIG DOWN

Given that so many of its affiliates and members had sworn oath of fealty to Bin Laden himself the groups main problem will be keeping everything together. Al Qaeda needs some spectacular evil otherwise it may find itself overtaken by other, younger terror groups. We know one thing: Ayman al Zawahiri, the bookish number two, won't hack it when it comes to street cred.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai - SMALL UP

After the Abbottabad incident, Karzai crowed how it had once again been shown that terrorism wasn't an Afghan phenomenon, it was a Pakistani one. But he still has too few options. He's being forced to seek talks with the Taliban and toe the Pakistani line. Bin Laden's death may help, but his problems are Af and Pak, not Arab.

Taliban - POTENTIAL UP

The Taliban are a cluster of Afghan militant groups. Their friendship with the Arab-dominated Al Qaeda made them the targets of the US military machine. They now have the chance to become bigger than everyone. If they play their cards right they could get the US to begin leaving Afghanistan. If they play them better they could end up ruling Kabul again.

On Bin Laden's Lingering Face

Morgan Meis being characteristically wise, over at The Smart Set:

The most surprising thing about the death of Osama bin Laden was his funeral. Islamic law declares that a person must be buried within 24 hours of death. "We are ensuring that it is handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition," Time reported a U.S. official as saying, "This is something that we take very seriously. And so therefore, this is being handled in an appropriate manner."

Bin Laden was buried at sea, presumably so that there will be no burial site, no country that owns him, no place on Earth could be associated with him ever after. The sea gets him, being the only place capacious enough to take on the burden. There is dignity in having done it this way. Not dignity for him, but dignity for us. It is understandable that people want to celebrate the death of a man who scared us, who was the author of a traumatizing act of violence, who plotted the deaths of thousands and dreamed of the deaths of thousands upon thousands more. But I am not sure that celebrating death ever does anything very good for the one who celebrates.

I shuddered for the souls of the men at Saddam Hussein's execution. The footage is, now, widely available on the Internet. It was captured surreptitiously on a cell phone video camera. Saddam is brought into a dingy room in what looks like a basement. He is bustled toward a noose and begins praying. Some of the people standing below begin to shout. They are calling out, "Muqtada," in reference to Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia religious and political leader. Saddam says the name Muqtada back to them and then asks, "Do you call this courage?" Another person yells at Saddam to go to hell. He replies, "the hell that is Iraq?" Then he goes back to praying. All of a sudden, the trap door beneath Saddam opens and he plummets. He is gone. It is impossible to watch that footage without feeling that Saddam stole his dignity back in those final moments. The people in the room gave Saddam the opportunity to do it. They gave him a moment to be the honorable one in death. It lessened those men, those witnesses. They became small in the face of the ultimate thing, the death of a human being.

The last few days have seen a lot of talk about whether or not it is appropriate to celebrate the killing of Osama bin Laden. I would phrase the question in a different way. What does it do to one human being to celebrate the killing of another human being, whatever the circumstances? What happens inside you, how does it make you feel? Is that something you want to feel? Is it a way you want to be?

By http://www.3quarksdaily.com/

Bin Laden Was Warned That He Should Not Attack Civilians

Filmmaker Warned Bin Laden About Attacking Civilians -- CNN

Cairo (CNN) -- A documentary filmmaker who followed Osama bin Laden's jihad against the Soviets in the mountains of Afghanistan during the 1980s said he once warned the world's most-wanted terrorist against attacking civilians.

Esam Daraz's films and books documented the birth of bin Laden's al Qaeda terror organization, and they ultimately helped cultivate bin Laden's international notoriety and inspire the jihadist movement of the 1980s.

Read more ....

My Comment: bin Laden was a figure who despised Western culture .... to him .... civilians and soldiers were the same target, regardless of all the warnings that was given to him.

Who Was Supporting Bin Laden In Pakistan?

Obama: Bin Laden Had Support In Pakistan, But We Don't Know Who -- USA Today

In his first public comments on Pakistan since the death of Osama bin Laden, President Obama says the al Qaeda leader must have had "some sort of support network" in that country, but he doesn't know whether it included government officials.

"We don't know whether there might have been some people inside of (Pakistan's) government, people outside of government, and that's something that we have to investigate and, more importantly, the Pakistani government has to investigate," Obama told CBS' 60 Minutes.

Read more ....

More News On Who Was Supporting Bin Laden In Pakistan

US says it wants access to 3 bin Laden widows -- Yahoo News/AP
US presses Pakistan on Bin Laden -- BBC
No evidence Pakistan knew of bin Laden's presence, says Donilon -- Herald Sun
U.S. takes heat off Pakistan on bin Laden's hideout -- Yahoo News/Reuters

My Comment: Everyone is in agreement that Bin Laden had a support network in Pakistan. The question is .... who made up that network. Unfortunately .... Pakistan has no interest in finding out. The reason why .... they probably have a fear that it will involve people that will further embarrass and undermine the Pakistan Government.

The Bin Laden Videos -- News Roundup

Videos Demystify The Osama Bin Laden Legend -- CBS News

One of the most revealing videos of Osama bin Laden released by the Pentagon today presents a startling image: A haggard-looking Osama bin Laden huddled in a blanket and ski cap, holding a remote control, watching television news coverage of himself.

The video shows bin Laden sitting alone in a drab, run-down room in front of an old TV connected by a bundle of bare cables to a satellite receiver.

Read more ....

More News On The Bin Laden Videos

Candid videos show rare view of unkempt bin Laden -- Yahoo News/AP
Bin Laden directed Qaeda from Pakistan compound -- Yahoo News/Reuters
US releases seized Osama bin Laden videos -- Yahoo News/AFP
He's coming to get you: The day Osama Bin Laden sat glued watching TV of Barack Obama, the man who had him killed -- The Daily Mail
Pentagon releases videos of bin Laden found at Pakistan home -- Miami Herald/McClatchy News
Pentagon releases Osama Bin Laden tapes -- BBC
Osama Bin Laden Videos Released by Government -- ABC News
Candid videos emerge of Osama bin Laden -- CNN
Bin Laden’s Secret Life in a Diminished, Dark World -- New York Times
Watch Now: New Home Videos from Osama bin Laden Compound Reveal Frail Images of World's Most Wanted Terrorist -- Time
CIA Releases bin Laden Videos, Says He Was Active Terrorist Commander -- Voice of America
The bin Laden videos -- Politico
Watch: Osama’s Blooper Reel, Courtesy of the Navy SEALs -- The Danger Room
Watch: Videos of OBL in Pakistan released by U.S. military -- CBS

Monsters And Brothers - Thoughts on the Death of Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden is dead.

A simple statement.  The new reality. 

Osama bin Laden is dead.  The boogie man is no more. 

Who was Osama bin Laden and how can I react?  Was he a monster as so many believe?

There are several sorts of monsters.  Some live in the dark.  You know the type.  They hide in the closet or under your bed – or in the deepest recesses of your mind – until the lights are turned off.  Then you must protect yourself by pulling the covers up over your head and lying very, very still.  These monsters disappear when you pull the covers away and confront them directly and you find they were nothing more than creations of your own mind.

Not all monsters are imaginary, though.  They are there, obvious, unavoidable, all too visible.  They have names like Aurangzeb, Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot.   They do their deeds openly, for all to see, apparently without conscience or caring.  These are the ones who run roughshod over the values that we as humans treasure, lacking compassion, seemingly finding pleasure tormenting those with whom they share they earth.  On a smaller scale, we call them bullies.  They torment those who are weaker than they, unable to defend themseves. Their deeds are malicious, finding joy in the suffering of others.  They are murderers of the spirits of others and sometimes murderers of the body, as well.    

Then there are the monsters who are invisible, living among us, unseen.  Child molesters and rapists not yet caught, undiscovered  serial murderers, corrupt and dangerous politicians and cops, more that you can add to the list.  These monsters, unlike the first type are real and they know who they are.  I do not know whether they choose to be monsters or are forced by some inner compulsion  to do their evil deeds.

There is another type of monster, the kind that has no idea that s/he is a monster at all.  The next door neighbour who hates Hindus or Christians or Muslims or Sikhs or Jews is a very naive sort of monster. Perhaps the hatred is directed at black people or  brown people or yellow people or pink (white) people.  (Those called “red” are really brown.)  Maybe the prejudice is aimed at girl children and women, or at men.  Then, of course, there are the xenophobes, those who hate foreigners or indeed strangers of any sort.    For my readers specifically of Indian background, I would include caste prejudice in this unsavoury list.  I suspect that more of us are this sort of monster than would care to admit it.  Perhaps, even I sometimes am a naive monster. 

It is possible for the naive monster to act on her/his prejudices and become a full-blown bigot and a genuine, visible monster.

Then there is the monster who so deeply believes in a cause that s/he will do whatever is necessary to realise that cause.  No matter if civilians are killed by accidents (collateral damage) or on purpose (terrorism).   No matter the damage done because the cause is all.  The end justifies the means.  Was Osama bin Laden this sort of monster?

Or was he the worst sort, the most evil who cynically leads others in a cause – perhaps for power and glory – that he himself had ceased to believe in or had never believed in?

I have no way of knowing which of these monsters he was.

Or perhaps he wasn’t a monster at all.  Perhaps he was a soul who got lost in the swirling changing mass of stuff around us that we call the World or Maya. 

Whatever he was I am not sorry he is dead.  He was a scumbag and I think the world is better off without him.  My entire being, however, is repelled at public celebrations of his death.  I understand them.  I myself felt like celebrating when Indira Gandhi was killed.  I did not celebrate, but that might have been simply because circumstances prevented it.   I was wrong then, as people celebrating now are wrong now. 

However evil and vile his deeds, are we just mouthing platitudes when we say all people are children of the same Parent, whatever name you personally use for the Creator?   I have lost a brother.  A brother who did evil deeds, a brother I am glad to be rid of, a brother I did not love, but a brother nevertheless.   It is at times like this that I find it necessary to deeply examine my own beliefs and I find myself not without hypocrisy.  I know that Indira Gandhi is my sister, but I am not yet ready to feel it. 

John Donne’s immortal lines, which I have heard no one quote at this time, come to my mind.

No man is an island entire of itself; every man 
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; 
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe 
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as 
well as a manor of thy friends or of thine 
own were; any man's death diminishes me, 
because I am involved in mankind. 
And therefore never send to know for whom 
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

I must ask myself how does the death of this man, Osama bin Laden, diminish me.  I am not yet able to answer this.

OSAMA BIN LADEN in 1998

Pakistanis Islamists cry 'Death to America' burn US flag in protest

Pakistanis Islamists cry 'Death to America' burn US flag in protest



In Abbottabad, the town where bin Laden was found and killed by US commandos in a shock operation on May 2, police marshalled a rally of about 1000 men who gathered at the downtown bazaar to march after Friday prayers.

Setting fire to tires and blocking a main road, the protesters yelled: "Down, down USA!" and "Terrorist, terrorist, USA terrorist".

Also overnight, Pakistan arrested 40 people in Abbottabad  suspected of having links to bin Laden, FOX News Channel reported, citing a report by the Open Source Centre, a US government-sponsored monitoring site.

The arrests came after a search operation launched yesterday by Pakistani intelligence agencies and police in Abbottabad, the report said, adding that official sources called it the "second phase" of the operation that killed Bin Laden.

A regional leader in Pakistan's main religious party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) mocked Pakistan's powerful army chief of staff, General Ashfaq Kayani.

"You did not fulfil your duty. When they attacked, you were sleeping. Don't be afraid of America, come out of your air-conditioned room," Mohammad Ibrahim Khan told the crowd, waving banners that condemned the raid.

Both the Pakistani and US governments have said Monday's operation was carried out with Islamabad in the dark.

Pakistan's weak civilian government is widely unpopular among the country's population of 170 million, and seen by them as a lackey to the United States.

Widespread anti-Americanism is fuelled by the 10-year war in neighbouring Afghanistan and a CIA drone war targeting al-Qaida and Taliban commanders who live in Pakistan's tribal belt in the northwest.

A US drone attack on Friday targeted a vehicle and a compound in North Waziristan, the region where US officials had said in the past they believed bin Laden was holed up, killing eight militants, including al-Qaida members.

"People become terrorists when they see their loved ones killed in drone attacks," Fazalur Rehman, a labourer, said in the capital Islamabad.

"Pakistanis simply hate Americans."

In the country's biggest city of Karachi, just 500 of the estimated 16 million residents staged a rally to praise bin Laden as "a soldier of Islam", chanting "Down with America" and "Down with US slaves".

"We salute him. We also salute the Taliban who are fighting in Afghanistan and hope the US will be defeated in Afghanistan," said the Karachi head of JI, Mohammad Hussain Mehanti.

In the southwest, hundreds of people gathered in the city of Quetta at the behest of the pro-Taliban Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) political party, where the crowd shouted "Long Live Osama", called for holy war and burnt a US flag.

Hafiz Fazal Bareach, a former federal senator and senior party leader, said the US killing of bin Laden would create thousands of others like him and vowed that "jihad (holy war) will continue against America and its allies."

JI had called for protests across the country to denounce the US operation, but gatherings were not as large as some people had expected.

Smaller-scale rallies took place in other Asian Muslim countries, where Fridays are traditional days of protest after the main weekly prayers.

In Indonesia's Central Java province, about 100 Muslims took an oath to declare themselves ready to die as martyrs to avenge bin Laden's killing.

About 70 Muslims in the Philippine capital Manila tried to march to the US embassy, following a rallying cry from cleric Sheikh Jamil Yahya condemning the US authorities as terrorists, but they were blocked by riot police.

Al Qaeda confirms bin Laden is dead, vows revenge

Al Qaeda has acknowledged that Osama bin Laden is dead, dispelling the doubts of some Muslims over whether the militant group's leader had really been killed by U.S. forces, and vowed to mount more attacks on the West. The announcement on Friday by the Islamist militant organization, which promised to publish a taped message from bin Laden soon, appeared intended to show its followers around the globe that the group had survived as a functioning network.

In a statement online, it said the blood of bin Laden, shot dead by a U.S. commando team in a raid on Monday on his hide-out in a Pakistani town, "is more precious to us and to every Muslim than to be wasted in vain.

"It will remain, with permission from Allah the Almighty, a curse that hunts the Americans and their collaborators and chases them inside and outside their country."

Al Qaeda urged Pakistanis to rise up against their government to "cleanse" the country of what it called the shame brought on it by bin Laden's shooting and of the "filth of the Americans who spread corruption in it."

The statement also warned Americans not to harm bin Laden's corpse and to hand it and those of others killed to their families, though U.S. officials say bin Laden's body has been buried at sea and no others were taken from the compound.

Some Muslims have been skeptical of bin Laden's death, especially as the United States has said it will not release what it called gruesome images of his corpse for fear of inciting more violence.

One survey conducted in Pakistan this week by the British-based YouGov polling organization found that 66 percent of over 1,000 respondents did not think the person killed by U.S. Navy SEALs was bin Laden.

The raid, of which the U.S. administration has declined to give details, has also raised questions about the legality of bin Laden's killing.

He was unarmed when he was shot dead, but President Barack Obama has continued to bask in public approval for the killing, and flew to a military base at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to thank special forces involved in the raid.

"This has been an extraordinary week for our nation," Obama told a jubilant audience of troops. "The terrorist leader who struck our nation on September 11 will never threaten our nation again." But he warned "this continues to be a very tough fight."

U.S.-PAKISTAN TENSIONS

Anger and suspicion between Washington and Islamabad over the raid in Abbottabad, 30 miles from the Pakistani capital, showed no sign of abating.

The New York Times on Saturday quoted Pakistani officials as saying the Obama administration had demanded Pakistan disclose the identities of some of its top intelligence operatives as Washington seeks to find out whether they had contact with bin Laden or his agents before the raid on his compound.

The officials were providing details of what the Times called a tense discussion between Pakistani officials and a U.S. envoy in Pakistan on Monday.

Many in Washington suspect Pakistani authorities had been either grossly incompetent or playing a double game in the hunt for bin Laden and the two countries' supposed partnership against violent Islamists.

One of bin Laden's wives, Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, told Pakistani interrogators the al Qaeda leader had been living for five years in the compound where he was killed, a revelation sure to deepen doubts about Pakistan's military and spy agency, the most organized establishments in a chaotic country.

Pakistani security forces took 15 or 16 people into custody from the Abbottabad compound after U.S. forces removed bin Laden's body, a Pakistani security official said. They included bin Laden's three wives and several children.

In Washington, a U.S. official said U.S. intelligence had established on-the-ground surveillance in Abbottabad before the raid. A phone call last year to a man known as the main courier to Osama bin Laden helped lead the CIA to bin Laden's compound, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.

U.S. officials also said among materials found at bin Laden's hide-out was evidence indicating al Qaeda at one point considered attacking the U.S. rail system on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks later this year.

Officials said evidence analyzed so far indicated bin Laden was still involved in directing al Qaeda's activities, even though he had largely avoided the public spotlight for years.

The fact that bin Laden was found in a garrison town -- his compound was not far from a military academy -- has embarrassed Pakistan and the covert raid has angered its military.

The Pakistani army threatened to halt counterterrorism cooperation with the United States if it conducted any more unilateral raids.

But on Friday, a U.S. drone killed 17 suspected militants in northwest Pakistan, and pressure is building in the U.S. Congress to suspend or at least review U.S. aid to Pakistan.

VIDEO FOOTAGE

Pakistani security officials have alleged that U.S. troops, after landing by helicopter, shot the unarmed al Qaeda leader in cold blood rather than in a firefight, as U.S. officials first suggested.

Amid differing accounts of how much hostile fire the SEALs encountered in the compound, one Pakistani security official said on Friday that U.S. forces should release video footage he said they "must have" of the operation.

U.N. human rights investigators called on the United States to disclose the full facts "to allow an assessment in terms of international human rights law standards.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the relationship with Pakistan was "complex" but pointed to Islamabad's effort against the Taliban and al Qaeda in its own tribal areas and the use of its territory as a U.S. supply route.

"At the same time, there's no question they hedge their bets," said Gates, fielding questions from service members at an Air Force base in North Carolina. "Their view is that we have abandoned them four times in the last 45 years. And they're not sure we're going to stay in the region."

"So we just have to keep working at it, on both sides," he added.

The United States sees Pakistan's influence over the Taliban as key to ending the war in neighboring Afghanistan, and Gates said on Friday the killing of bin Laden "could be a game-changer" in that conflict.

Al-Qaida aspired to attack US train on 11/9/2011

Al-Qaida considered attacking U.S. trains on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, according to an initial look at DVDs, computers and other documents seized at the raid on Osama bin Laden's home.

The information about a possible train plot is the first intelligence revealed from the trove of material found in the attack on bin Laden's compound. Officials said they found what they call "aspirational" items — things al-Qaida operatives were interested in trying to make happen. A government advisory obtained by NBC News and sent Tuesday to the rail industry said that as far back as February 2010, al-Qaida was contemplating "an operation against trains at an unspecified location in the United States on the 10th anniversary" of the 9/11 attacks.

One option, the advisory said, was trying to tip a train by tampering with the rails so that the train would fall off the track at either a valley or on a bridge. Such an attempt would probably only work once, the material in bin Laden's house said, because tilting or tampering with the rails would be spotted, the advisory said. Other material mentions a desire to target big mass-transit hubs, an interest long understood because of the history of al-Qaida attacks on rail targets in Spain, the United Kingdom and India.

read more

The 1980s mujahideen, the Taliban and the shifting idea of jihad: This isn't Jihad

The 1980s mujahideen, the Taliban and the shifting idea of jihad It is not Jihad it is Islam hijacked just like we have with perverted Christianity on our side.

Letter written by Noman Benotman, a former commander in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group who fought beside Osama against Russia! He wrote this 8 months ago but you have to read what a real lover of Islam feels about the betrayal and dishonor Bin Laden has brought to his people and Islam.

The terrorist who said no to Bin Laden:You have lost your way! You are messing around with the DNA of Islam itself. I was impressed when I saw this interview on TV. It is obvious this man was a key high level player before 9/11 and was in on the meeting running up to it. This discussion was about an open letter written by Noman Benotman, a former commander in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and a former associate of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

In al Qaeda strategy meetings in Kandahar in 2000, Benotman warned the al-Qaeda leadership of ‘total failure' to realize their aims and called on bin Laden and al-Zawahiri to abandon violence. As you know they did not and he is out for good reason. He was at the high level meeting running up to 9/11, the Davos or terrorism and said no to Osama you will be defeated, this is not about Islam this is not Jihad.

He comes out now and says no this must stop. We are not winning and I was right. We have betrayed Islam. We are killing the very people and cause we were supposed to be fighting for. Knowing our response to past attacks they thought our response would be 200 missiles or so, so they took the chance. Needless to say they did more damage and killed more people than they thought they would and this is just beginning unless the Islamists quit because we must fight for our lives.

Noman Benotman loves and respects Bin Laden but like Al Zawahiri Al Qaeda number two he does not think Bin Laden is very smart. However, he does not have to be. He got this so called Jihad going and has incited the Islamist rancor he intended. whether he's Dead or alive the battle on. For Islamists this has taken on a life of its own. If indeed Bin Laden is alive as we are led to believe, only he can stop this. In reality he is the greatest enemy of his people.

Bin Laden is solely responsible for all this war death and destruction. He's no frigging hero to Muslims. They should hunt him down themselves and end this! Noman considered himself a freedom fighter and he was. He fought alongside Bin Laden against the Russians but said these wars have nothing to do with Islam. It is purely political and it is time to lay down arms, 100% and end all this senseless violence.

We know this but Noman says Al Qaeda and now Islamists of all stripes offers meaning to those who have none and gives them a cause but has nothing to do with Islam or Jihad. This all boils down to communications and I agree but Islamists are not interested in communicating. They are interested in our destruction. violence is their communication.

Osama stop bring shame on Islam. Stop killing your own people. Stop bring death and destruction on them. You forsook Mullah Omar who invited you into Afghanistan to give you protection. Bin Laden used Afghanistan for his own personal war against the west, the US, and Israel. This is not Islam , this is not Jihad. Restore Muslim integrity, end this now!
An Open Letter to Osama bin Laden -- by Noman Benotman

* Osama Bin Laden is now dead, he has betrayed Islam and defamed and betrayed Muslims and their religion. His personal vendetta against the west will continue fueled by his death and fought by extremists who have nothing else to do. Fighting the west gives them a purpose. If it is to stop Islam must step up and police itself.

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
http://anaverageamericanpatriot.blogspot.com

This "Dead Osama Bin Laden" Photo Is Floating Around [AND IT'S PROBABLY FAKE]

Courtesy of TPM:

Once President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. forces on Sunday, it didn't take long for fake photographs of the terrorist leader's corpse to start circulating. Websites and newspapers fell for them. And so did, apparently, U.S. senators.

Three senators who claimed to have seen a photograph of bin Laden's post-mortem are now backtracking, or flat out admitting that they were duped.

One of the senators is a key decision-maker on national security issues. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), the vice chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, said earlier today that he had seen a photo of a slain bin Laden, describing it in some detail without casting any doubt on its authenticity. But sure enough, he now admits he saw a fake.

"I was shown a picture -- it looked like a picture of bin Laden," Chambliss told TPM. "It appeared to be accurate but it was not."

Chambliss said the photo was electronic and someone -- not a senator or government official -- had shown it to him, but he declined to elaborate.

Jesus, Saxby Chambliss is on the Senate Intelligence Committee, you would think he could tell when he was looking at a fake. Guess not.

You know this means that many of YOU are far more intelligent than some of our Senators, since you were all telling each other both yesterday and today that those photos were fake. 

Go ahead.  Give yourselves those pats on the back. You deserve it.

If you click here you an see how the image was faked.

And of course this is just another indication as to why it was a smart move for the White House to decide against releasing the REAL pictures of the dead Bin Laden. No telling what certain photoshop dabblers would have done with THOSE images.
 
Posted byGryphen

With bin Laden dead, Obama has to turn to the Mideast

Nothing will help the American right wing, the Israeli right wing or Fox News now; the assassination of Osama bin Laden has given U.S. President Barack Obama a decided boost.

Now that bin Laden is dead, Obama is seen not as a geek but as a killer, not as a softy but as a fairly tough leader. The young man has successfully completed his coming-of-age ceremony. Combined with the burgeoning recovery of the economy and the president’s movement toward the political center, bin Laden’s death has turned Obama into a strong and authoritative leader. If he doesn’t make any big mistakes in the coming year, chances are good that he’ll continue living in the White House until 2016.

But Obama insists on making big mistakes. His Middle East policy is inconsistent and incoherent. His guiding principles are obtuse and bizarre. He supported the removal of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak from office but grants immunity to Syria’s Bashar Assad. He went to war to avoid a bloodbath in Libya, but won’t raise a finger to stop the massacres in Syria.

Weak leadership and a lack of moral clarity continue to characterize Obama. Instead of leading the Arab world to a good place, he’s being dragged along with it to a bad one.

One problem is Iran. The Arab spring has caused a situation in which no Sunni power except for Saudi Arabia now stands in the way of the ayatollahs. The revolutions in Arab countries have also improved the economic situation in Tehran by pushing up the price of oil. Improved strategic and economic positioning allow Iran to rush toward a nuclear reactor and erode America’s hegemony in the region.

Turkey poses another problem. In mid-June, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to win reelection in a landslide victory. Right after that, the temporary respite he’s granted himself will end. Encouraged by the scope of his mandate to govern, this ambitious Islamist will try to build a neo-Ottoman Empire. He’ll work with the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Iran to undermine the U.S. foothold in the Middle East.

The third problem is Palestine. As everyone knows, another Black September is in the offing. Palestinian Authority President Mohammed Abbas is provoking Obama by his plan to undermine Israeli stability with the expected international recognition of a Palestinian state and his reconciliation with bin Laden’s supporters in Gaza. If a Hamas-Fatah government leads to PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s disappearance from the scene, the result will be the collapse of American’s peace policy.

The fourth problem, Egypt, is the most severe of all. Egypt is likely to go bankrupt by the end of the year because of the loss of income from tourism, the strengthening of the army’s monopoly and the new government’s inability to be anything other than populist. Mubarak was bad? The White House will be longing for him way before Christmas. The economic growth he created will contract. Poverty will turn into shortages, shortages into despair, despair into protest. The army will not be able to withstand the disappointment and rage.

Egypt will become a black hole.

There are no simple solutions to these four problems, none of which are Obama’s doing. Perhaps he hasn’t offered a genuine answer to any of these strategic problems because he did not understand that when he opened the Pandora’s box of the Middle East, he became responsible for what emerged from it. While Obama exhibited professional determination in taking care of Osama, he was hesitant and amateurish when it came to the fundamental problems of the Middle East.

Egypt is the most pressing problem. Two years ago Obama gave a very impressive speech in Cairo. Three months go he encouraged the revolution there. But now the U.S. president has disappeared. Where is the American plan to rebuild the Egyptian nation? Where is the international initiative to save the Egyptian economy? Where is the effort to do on the banks of the Nile what is being done in Ramallah?

The summer of 2011 is the summer of Barack Hussein Obama. If he does not stabilize the Middle East this summer, a regional avalanche will take place by summer’s end. Obama will bear personal responsibility if the Arab spring turns into a cold and bleak winter.

Read more

Was The Killing Of Osama Bin Laden Legal?

International intrigue.

The use of deadly force against Bin Laden is unlikely to be challenged in an American court. But the White House’s account of the operation suggests it is mindful of legal issues. The al-Qaeda leader is said to have “resisted during the raid” – although it is not clear how he did so, as he is also said to have been unarmed.

Assassinations are banned under both US and international law. Extrajudicial killings are only allowed in an armed conflict.

According to British law professor Philippe Sands QC, of University College London, much will turn on what Pakistan knew and authorised, what the US objectives were, and what happened when they confronted Bin Laden.

Until the facts are established, it is unclear whether the raid and its consequences were legal or not, Mr Sands adds.

The US can certainly argue that it was entitled to take action to protect its citizens against a deadly enemy.

“Even if the use of deadly force was unlawful, international law recognises that there are exceptional circumstances where necessity precludes wrongfulness, and this will be said to be one of those case,” Mr Sands told the BBC.

by dekerivers

Fallout from Bin Laden's Death and What Did Pakistan Know?

Fallout from the death of Osama bin Laden continues to ripple throughout the world. Bin Laden's burial at sea has been criticized, even though that's a far better fate than the nearly 3,000 who were murdered at the World Trade Center. Some criticize that the US was too respectful, while others claim the US was not respectful enough. To me, that says that the US got it right - and I believe that the burial at sea was necessary to eliminate any possibility that his burial site could be treated as a rallying point.

As new details of the raid continue to leak out, the real questions are being pointed in the direction of Pakistan. What did they know and when did they know that bin Laden was living large in their country?

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari submitted an op-ed in the Washington Post today in response to the US mission that killed Osama bin Laden in the town of Abbotabad, just miles from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

Let us be frank. Pakistan has paid an enormous price for its stand against terrorism. More of our soldiers have died than all of NATO’s casualties combined. Two thousand police officers, as many as 30,000 innocent civilians and a generation of social progress for our people have been lost. And for me, justice against bin Laden was not just political; it was also personal, as the terrorists murdered our greatest leader, the mother of my children. Twice he tried to assassinate my wife. In 1989 he poured $50 million into a no-confidence vote to topple her first government. She said that she was bin Laden’s worst nightmare — a democratically elected, progressive, moderate, pluralistic female leader. She was right, and she paid for it with her life.

Some in the U.S. press have suggested that Pakistan lacked vitality in its pursuit of terrorism, or worse yet that we were disingenuous and actually protected the terrorists we claimed to be pursuing. Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it doesn’t reflect fact. Pakistan had as much reason to despise al-Qaeda as any nation. The war on terrorism is as much Pakistan’s war as as it is America’s. And though it may have started with bin Laden, the forces of modernity and moderation remain under serious threat.

My government endorses the words of President Obama and appreciates the credit he gave us Sunday night for the successful operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. We also applaud and endorse the words of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that we must “press forward, bolstering our partnerships, strengthening our networks, investing in a positive vision of peace and progress, and relentlessly pursuing the murderers who target innocent people.” We have not yet won this war, but we now clearly can see the beginning of the end, and the kind of South and Central Asia that lies in our future.

Only hours after bin Laden’s death, the Taliban reacted by blaming the government of Pakistan and calling for retribution against its leaders, and specifically against me as the nation’s president. We will not be intimidated. Pakistan has never been and never will be the hotbed of fanaticism that is often described by the media.

Zardari is in a real tough position right now. He's got to simultaneously defend his country from claims that he was harboring al Qaeda's top dog, claiming that he was providing assistance (unidentified and uncorroborated by US officials who have studiously stated that they shared no aspects of this mission with any other country, including Pakistan), and has to be worried that the Islamists will try to topple his government because of its existing ties with the US (a belief that the government is complicit with the US even if there was no actual). Given the way that Pakistanis love their conspiracy theories (even more than the nutjobs who think Osama wasn't real, wasn't killed, or any permutation thereof), all kinds of speculation is rampant in Pakistan right now over what Pakistan's government knew and when did they know of it.

Fact is, no one really knows what the Pakistani government knew about bin Laden's location, but it is highly suspicious that he was able to live in relative comfort in a compound just yards from the country's military academy and where military personnel go to retire. It is plausible that members of the military or the ISI were complicit in keeping bin Laden's whereabouts hidden but it once again indicates the difficulty of trusting the Pakistani government to reveal key details. Those questions are being asked by members of Congress on both sides of the aisle - and they have good reason to ask those questions. Similar questions are being asked by other countries, including the UK.

Zardari is right to state that his country has been ravaged by Islamic terrorists, particularly Taliban and al Qaeda. Yet, each time the Pakistani government (whether under Zardari or his predecessor, Pervez Musharraf) cracks down, it doesn't go far enough to eliminate the threat. It does just enough - anything more and the Islamists in the Pakistani government (Parliament, military, ISI) would thwart further action.

He further claims that radical Islamist parties make up a small fraction of his government, but that overlooks those other groups that lean towards radicalism and who do not condone crackdowns against the Islamists.

Pakistan barely maintains control over the frontier provinces, which are overrun with Taliban and have hosted al Qaeda for years on end. Efforts to thwart the Taliban have met with mixed success - and the body count among Pakistani soldiers is quite high and

The country can't align itself too greatly with the US for fear of assassinations or coups to install a more Islamist government, but doing nothing allows the Islamists free reign in the frontier provinces.

The question of what Pakistan knew and who knew might be revealed in the treasure trove of intel captured by the special forces team that carried out the mission. They recovered numerous computers, hard drives, thumb drives, and other intel that can be critical to unraveling the logistical network and other contacts, as well as identifying other key members and locations. It could also shed light on other planned or contemplated targets.

Bin Laden's death may also result in a reappraisal of ongoing military operations by the ISAF in Afghanistan, including the possible withdrawal of troops earlier than 2014. I think that would be a serious mistake, considering that al Qaeda and the Taliban remain a serious threat, and allowing them safe haven is a mistake.

Posted bylawhawk

Did the Saudis (order Pakistan to) sell out Bin Laden?

Osama Bin Laden apparently lived in Pakistan for much of the past ten years. With all due respect to President Obama's pride in the US forces who got Bin Laden, it should be obvious to all that the United States suddenly found Bin Laden now because someone chose to turn him in. But who? Asia Times' Spengler blog believes that Bin Laden's activities in Yemen were threatening Saudi interests, and therefore the Saudis ordered the Pakistanis - who may yet be the principal Sunni ally for Saudi Arabia - to turn Bin Laden in.

In short, while al-Qaeda had drawn funding from both Saudi and Iranian sources, in present circumstances its activity tended to serve Iranian rather than Saudi interests. Support for terrorism, moreover, is a two-way street: precisely because Saudi Arabia was "a critical financial support base for al-Qaeda", Saudi intelligence knows something about the recipients of their money.

The Saudis, moreover, have an interest in cleaning up the terrorist associations of the Pakistani military. As the Saudi cold war with Iran grows increasingly hot, Riyadh may look towards Islamabad for military support. Asia Times Online has reported that the Bahrain National Guard already is recruiting Pakistani mercenaries. (See Pakistan ready for Middle East role, April 2.)

And there is speculation that Saudi Arabia in a pinch might ask for Pakistani troops, and also that Riyadh might source nuclear weapons technology from Pakistan to counter Iran's nuclear program. Where else might the Saudis go for support in a war with Iran? The Saudis cannot trust the United States. King Abdullah reportedly was enraged that Obama pulled the rug out from under Mubarak, a longstanding American ally. And they cannot trust the Turks, who have become the region's spoiler.

Pakistan's military capacity and urgent need for money make it the Sunni power most amenable to Saudi interests. That is one more reason to clear the deck of unreliable elements like Bin Laden.

Ironically, Bin Laden appears to be a casualty in the great Arab breakdown of 2011. We can only guess as to the details of his demise, and may never know the entire truth. But it is a fair conclusion that he was crushed between the tectonic plates now shifting in the Muslim world.

Read the whole thing.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem

Twitter Revolution: Bin Laden Raid Tweeted Live

By ONE Liners Agency
TUESDAY, May 03, 2011

The U.S. force raid on Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was tweeted live, unknowingly, by an IT consultant in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Sohaib Athar, living in Abbottabad where bin Laden was killed, tweeted initially before the assault that a overhead helicopter was hovering. He added that the helicopter may not be of Pakistan government.

Athar was not aware that he was tweeting about the biggest milestone of U.S. war against terrorism until Barack Obama announced on national television that Laden is dead.

At 1 a.m. local time Athar posted his first tweet. He said, "Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event)."

Next he tweeted about a loud sound of as explosion which is now known to all about the U.S. forces blowing up their damaged helicopter.

Athar tweeted, "A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad Cantt. I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S."

While the assault was in progress, this IT consultant also drew information from local friends in the area who were online at the same time.

He said in his tweet, "The few people online at this time of the night are saying one of the copters was not Pakistani..."

He continued, "People are saying it was not a technical fault and it was shot down. I heard it CIRCLE 3-4 times above, sounded purposeful."

According to the US officials, the raid was for 40 mins. Athar tweeted two hours later that still a military presence is there in the area.

Athar's biography in Twitter describes him as: "An IT consultant taking a break from the rat-race by hiding in the mountains with his laptops."

General Fonseka Congratulates American Forces for Terrorist Osama's Elimination

General Fonseka says it was an excellent work by American Forces in the mission of eliminating terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Also he said Barrack Obama was a real gentlemen and never put up banners or posters like what Mahinda (Lankan Leader) did once terrorism was eliminated by Sri Lankan Forces with Fonseka's Leadership (During the final stage of the war General FOnseka was not involved in it as he was on an overseas visit and direct orders were given by Mahinda according to his Regime)

He mentioned that he will stand up against sections in BanKi Moons Reports which are against the Sri Lankan Forces but will accept anti democratic facts mentioned their against anti democratic Mahinda's Regime. He finally said that he will work with the people seeking democracy to topple this anti democratic family regime of Mahinda.

He said these things when he was coming out of courts after  attending the ongoing court cases. ( which began after he decided to contest against Anti Democratic Leader of Sri Lanka)

Who Tops U.S. Most Wanted List After Laden's Death

By STAFF Writer
TUESDAY, May 03, 2011

After the death of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden on Sunday in Pakistan, the official website of F.B.I. gets an update. It layered a red box over the black and white portrait of Osama with the word "DECEASED."

The Al-Qaida leader was on the top of the U.S. "most wanted" list with a reward of $27 million, though U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not mention about payment of any reward in a news conference on Monday.

F.B.I has now eliminated Osama from the Most Wanted list and Ayman al-Zawahiri takes the top spot. His name is associated with a reward of $25 million and he is the only other person on the list presently carrying a reward of such huge amount.

Up to $5 million is rewarded for information that leads to the capture of wanted militants or its conviction and $1 million for others.

State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security administers the Most Wanted lists reward program.

Now, who is Ayman al-Zawahiri?

Ayman al-Zawahiri is the person behind bombings of U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya on August 7, 1998. He is the founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), organization that opposes the secular Egyptian Government. It is believed that in 1988 the EIJ merged with Al Qaeda.

OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD
Al-Qaida Leaders Were In Pakistan On 9/11: WikiLeaks

Bin Laden's Legacy

Christopher Hitchens has a nice piece about the death of Osama bin Laden over at Slate:

If you tell me that you are staying in a rather nice walled compound in Abbottabad, I can tell you in return that you are the honored guest of a military establishment that annually consumes several billion dollars of American aid. It's the sheer blatancy of it that catches the breath.

There's perhaps some slight satisfaction to be gained from this smoking-gun proof of official Pakistani complicity with al-Qaida, but in general it only underlines the sense of anticlimax. After all, who did not know that the United States was lavishly feeding the same hands that fed Bin Laden? There's some minor triumph, also, in the confirmation that our old enemy was not a heroic guerrilla fighter but the pampered client of a corrupt and vicious oligarchy that runs a failed and rogue state.

Also check out Eight Mysteries About the Killing of Osama bin Laden or you can actually find the full article also at Slate.

Posted byWriter

osama bin laden dead Latest Breaking News Daily

osama bin laden dead Latest Breaking News Daily



LAX, Ontario International and Van Nuys airports were on heightened alert as of Sunday night, said Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, which operates the airports.  Officials would not elaborate on what that means to travelers, but LAX has one of the nation’s biggest anti-terrorist operations, visible and invisible. Here's what you may see with the new alert:



* More checkpoints by airport police as travelers enter the central terminal area, as well as a more visible presence of officers overall. LAX is staffed by its own department, but the LAPD has a post there and coordinates additional officers as needed.



* Bomb-sniffing dogs will be making the rounds of passenger baggage at airport curbs and within the terminals themselves.



* Random gate screenings are likely to  occur more frequently, and more detection officers can be expected to be on duty.



* At times of heightened security, it’s common to see LAX police on foot patrol in military gear and carrying automatic weapons.