16/5/2011: General Hamid Gul, a former director ofPakistan’s ISI, believes that Osama bin Laden’s killing by US Navy SEALS on May 1 was “an elaborate hoax by Obama to get re-elected and an excuse to go after our nuclear assets. Osama died in 2004 around Kunar in Afghanistan…”* The General must assume, then, that the US President secretly negotiated a deal with al Qaeda in 2004 in which al Qaeda would remain silent about bin Laden’s death until such time as the US sent in a Navy Seals team to fake the killing; that would explain why al Qaeda confirmed bin Laden’s death in the week following the US raid.
This is reassuring on one level: it shows that the senior ranks of the feared and autonomous ISI are infiltrated by fruitcakes. It is equally depressing, though, since the ISI has such a crucial role inPakistan’s political life.Pakistanneeds intelligent intelligence officers.
* The Australian, Monday, May 16, 2011, page 12: “Osama’s Secret Life of porn, rabbits and terror financing”
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