Bin Laden hideout location challenges Pakistan credibility
US officials wonder how military missed compound in shadow of prestigious academy
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42865101/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/
Osama bin Laden’s presence in an elaborately fortified million-dollar compound “raises questions” about what some Pakistani officials might have known about the al-Qaida leader’s presence prior to Sunday’s raid that killed him, the top White House counterterrorism adviser said Monday.
The pointed comments by White House advisor John Brennan come amid mounting tensions between the Obama administration and Pakistani officials over intelligence cooperation, fueled in part by longstanding U.S. suspicions about ties between the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service, and various terrorist groups linked to al-Qaida, such as the home-grown Laskhar e Taiba.
***more at link***
OH, here is info from one of the experts I was talking about.
But some
counterterrorism experts aren’t buying it, noting that the bin Laden compound was literally walking distance from the Kakul Military Academy, the country’s premier military academy. Only a week ago, Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff Ashfaq Parez Kayanim addressed graduating cadets about the country’s anti-terrorism efforts at the school.
Ali Soufan,
a veteran former FBI counterterrorism agent, noted that the compound is located in a town heavily populated by current and former Pakistani military officers – and is relatively free of any terrorist activity.
“There’s no way he could have been sitting there without the knowledge of some people in the ISI and the Pakistani military," said Soufan.