Thanks for sharing. I don't know that the ISI as an organization, or the Pakistani military as an organization, were directly aiding UBL. But there had to be leaks somewhere. There is a great difference between Pakistan missing Bin Laden for five years in their own country and the US having 100 military trainers in their country not aware of his presence. If there is blame to go around, it certainly isn't equal blame.
A question I would have is in that community, do most houses have internet access?
Does the house really stick out like a sore thumb in the area?
I know you are saying many houses are build like that in Pakistan, but the reporters on the ground there say it looks very different for that area.
And even the kids playing around the house could tell it was different and the people inside acted strange. Just many things that don't add up here.
Civilian casualties have always been and always will be a part of war. It's almost impossible for it not to happen. I don't have the exact numbers and no one really talks about it in the media. But I'd like to see a good estimate of how many Afghani civilians and Iraqi civilians died in the past few years compared to the Vietnam and Korean Wars. How many civilian muslims were killed when Iraq and Iran had their battles in the eighties?
My guess is those numbers will far exceed what we've seen the past decade. But maybe I'm wrong.
Totally agree with the President on this one. As Richard Clarke said on PBS News Hour last night, nothing positive would really come from it. There would be much negative that could come frome it though. We're taking the high road on this one and it's the right thing to do.
Trying Bush, Cheney, cabinet members and higher ups in the CIA for war crimes would've been a complete disaster for the country. Just as Obama made a wise move not to show those photos, it was the same with not going down that trail over "waterboarding" etc. This country would've been torn apart at the seems. Sometimes I do wonder if that's what some of our citizens want to see. I'm against torture and wish we hadn't done it. But trying to put the Bush administration on trial would've been a horrible, horrible mistake.
or bin Laden could have placed an explosive device on himself as soon as he realized his position had been compromised. Wouldn't been very unwise to take the risk he didn't knowing what Al Queda operatives do.
The facts are that we don't know. The person who initially gave them some information on this courier that led to two of Al Queda's top leaders denying knowledge of the courier, is a guy the CIA gave authorization to use enhanced interrogation against. We'll never know if the US could've gotten the intel without enhanced interrogation if it indeed was used. But right now, we can't say for sure that it had nothing to do with any of the info attained. I'm not for enhanced interrogation, but I want honest debate. To me, with these stories changing every hour, it might've been wise for Mr. Cole to wait and do this at a later time. He's basically saying after a few days he's sure of these ten or so statements he provides being the facts and the Prez., his cabinet, the CIA and WH officials seem to continue to be trying to get their facts straight.
Whether it is true or not, several high ranking officials, including the director of the CIA (L. Panetta), has said that part of the information gained from the courier was obtained through waterboarding and other types of intense interrogation. I really appreciate your column, but I wish we could all listen and be honest about what happened here. Donald Rumsfeld also stated two days ago that nothing was gained from waterboarding at Gitmo because no one was waterboarded at Gitmo. The waterboarding happened in Eastern European countries before Khalid Sheik Mohammed and two other high profile detainees were taken to Gitmo.
Thanks for sharing. I don't know that the ISI as an organization, or the Pakistani military as an organization, were directly aiding UBL. But there had to be leaks somewhere. There is a great difference between Pakistan missing Bin Laden for five years in their own country and the US having 100 military trainers in their country not aware of his presence. If there is blame to go around, it certainly isn't equal blame.
A question I would have is in that community, do most houses have internet access?
Does the house really stick out like a sore thumb in the area?
I know you are saying many houses are build like that in Pakistan, but the reporters on the ground there say it looks very different for that area.
And even the kids playing around the house could tell it was different and the people inside acted strange. Just many things that don't add up here.
Civilian casualties have always been and always will be a part of war. It's almost impossible for it not to happen. I don't have the exact numbers and no one really talks about it in the media. But I'd like to see a good estimate of how many Afghani civilians and Iraqi civilians died in the past few years compared to the Vietnam and Korean Wars. How many civilian muslims were killed when Iraq and Iran had their battles in the eighties?
My guess is those numbers will far exceed what we've seen the past decade. But maybe I'm wrong.
Totally agree with the President on this one. As Richard Clarke said on PBS News Hour last night, nothing positive would really come from it. There would be much negative that could come frome it though. We're taking the high road on this one and it's the right thing to do.
Trying Bush, Cheney, cabinet members and higher ups in the CIA for war crimes would've been a complete disaster for the country. Just as Obama made a wise move not to show those photos, it was the same with not going down that trail over "waterboarding" etc. This country would've been torn apart at the seems. Sometimes I do wonder if that's what some of our citizens want to see. I'm against torture and wish we hadn't done it. But trying to put the Bush administration on trial would've been a horrible, horrible mistake.
or bin Laden could have placed an explosive device on himself as soon as he realized his position had been compromised. Wouldn't been very unwise to take the risk he didn't knowing what Al Queda operatives do.
The facts are that we don't know. The person who initially gave them some information on this courier that led to two of Al Queda's top leaders denying knowledge of the courier, is a guy the CIA gave authorization to use enhanced interrogation against. We'll never know if the US could've gotten the intel without enhanced interrogation if it indeed was used. But right now, we can't say for sure that it had nothing to do with any of the info attained. I'm not for enhanced interrogation, but I want honest debate. To me, with these stories changing every hour, it might've been wise for Mr. Cole to wait and do this at a later time. He's basically saying after a few days he's sure of these ten or so statements he provides being the facts and the Prez., his cabinet, the CIA and WH officials seem to continue to be trying to get their facts straight.
Whether it is true or not, several high ranking officials, including the director of the CIA (L. Panetta), has said that part of the information gained from the courier was obtained through waterboarding and other types of intense interrogation. I really appreciate your column, but I wish we could all listen and be honest about what happened here. Donald Rumsfeld also stated two days ago that nothing was gained from waterboarding at Gitmo because no one was waterboarded at Gitmo. The waterboarding happened in Eastern European countries before Khalid Sheik Mohammed and two other high profile detainees were taken to Gitmo.