Haaretz
CIA director: U.S. was concerned Pakistan may 'alert targets' before bin Laden operation
Pakistani president denies that his government may have sheltered bin Laden, but admits that his security forces were left out of U.S. operation to kill the al Qaida chief.
By Reuters
U.S. officials were concerned that Pakistan could jeopardize the Osama bin Laden operation and "might alert the targets," CIA Director Leon Panetta said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile Pakistan's president denied on Tuesday that his government may have sheltered a bin Laden but admitted that his security forces were left out of a U.S. operation to kill the al Qaida chief.
The revelation that bin Laden had holed up in a luxury compound in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, possibly for five to six years, prompted many U.S. lawmakers to demand a review of the billions of dollars in aid Washington gives to nuclear-armed Pakistan.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari President, issuing his first formal response to questions about how the world's most-wanted militant was able to live for so long in comfort near Islamabad, did little to dispel suspicions.
"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," Zardari wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post. "Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it doesn't reflect fact."
It was the first substantive public comment by any Pakistani leader on the airborne raid by U.S. special forces on bin Laden's compound on Monday that brought to an end a long manhunt for the al Qaida chief who had become the face of Islamic militancy.
Pakistan has faced enormous international scrutiny since bin Laden was killed, with questions over whether its military and intelligence agencies were too incompetent to catch him, r knew all along where he was hiding and even whether they had been complicit.
Reflecting U.S.-Pakistani relations strained by years of mistrust, Islamabad was kept in the dark about the raid until after all U.S. aircraft were out of Pakistani airspace.
"He was not anywhere we had anticipated he would be, but now he is gone," Zardari wrote, without offering further defense against accusations his security services should have known where bin Laden was hiding.
"Although the events of Sunday were not a joint operation, a decade of cooperation and partnership between the United States and Pakistan led up to the elimination of Osama bin Laden as a continuing threat to the civilized world."
Facing pressure to produce absolute proof of bin Laden's demise, White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said the United States was considering whether to release photographs and video taken during the raid as proof that bin Laden had died in the raid.
"We want to make sure that we're able to do it in a thoughtful manner. We also want to anticipate what the reaction might be on the part of al Qaida or others to the release of certain information so that we can take the appropriate steps beforehand," Brennan told CNN.
The Afghan Taliban on Tuesday challenged the truth of bin Laden's death, saying Washington had not provided "acceptable evidence to back up their claim" that he had been killed. In a statement from Kabul they also said aides bin Laden had not confirmed or denied his death.
Another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said photographs of bin Laden's burial at sea may be released later on Tuesday but no decision has been made. Washington was also weighing whether to release a photo of his body.
U.S., Pakistani and Afghan officials held a previously scheduled meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday and re-committed to the fight against militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan but deflected questions about the bin Laden operation.
"Who did what is beside the point ... This issue of Osama bin Laden is history," Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told a joint news conference.
But irate U.S. lawmakers earlier asked how it was possible for bin Laden to live in a populated area near a military training academy without anyone in authority knowing about it.
They said it was time to review aid to Pakistan. The U.S. Congress has approved e20 billion for Pakistan in direct aid and military reimbursements partly to help Islamabad fight militancy since bin Laden masterminded the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"Our government is in fiscal distress. To make contributions to a country that isn't going to be fully supportive is a problem for many," said Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein.
The White House acknowledged there was good reason for U.S. lawmakers, already doubtful of Pakistan's cooperation against al Qaida, to demand to know whether bin Laden had been "hiding in plain sight" and to raise questions about U.S. aid.
Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday that Britain would continue working with Pakistan to combat militancy, but insisted "we need those questions answered" about whatever support bin Laden received there.
"The right choice is to engage with Pakistan and to deal with the extremists rather than just throw up our hands in despair and walk away, which would be a disastrous choice," he told BBC radio.
There were no protests and there was no extra security in Islamabad on Tuesday, just a sense of embarrassment or indifference that bin Laden had managed to lie low for so long in Abbottabad.
Pakistan, where anti-U.S. sentiment runs high among its public, has a long history of nurturing Islamist militants in the interests of its strategic objectives, primarily facing up to what it sees as its biggest threat -- India. Pakistan's fear of India has been at the root of its support for the Afghan Taliban and separatist militants in Indian Kashmir.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/cia-director-u-s-was-concerned-pakistan-may-alert-targets-before-bin-laden-operation-1.359653
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