Pakistan's Bin Laden dossier: no whitewash but a savage piece of self-analysis
The official Pakistani Abbottabad Commission report, is 336-pages long, but has a favourable review by Jason Burke, the title and sub-title may surprise American readers:
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Pakistan's Abbottabad report is serious, savage self-analysis; No Pakistani government agency or institution comes out unscathed – which may in itself be a sign of progress
Link:http://m.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/j...sis?CMP=twt_gu
He draws attention to:
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...the views of Shuja Pasha, the head of Pakistan's main military spy agency, the ISI, until last year, that the police and civilian intelligence services are neither trustworthy nor competent partners in fighting terrorism.
There is further discouragement in Pasha's admission that the ISI is aware of the location of "foreign miscreants" in major cities but that the targets are safe in what have become no-go areas for law enforcement authorities. This makes the sheer weakness of much of the government machinery in Pakistan very evident.
I found this comment of contemporary note:
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Given the sensitivity of the issue and the political pressures on the authors, this is remarkable. It suggests that those optimists who, in the aftermath of a successful election and transition of power, believe that in some areas at least there is progress in Pakistan might just be right.
In an odd twist we move to Al-Jazeera:
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The report, as Commission members had feared, was kept secret. Until now.
Yes, Al-Jazeera, with almost no commentary, has the entire report to read:http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spo...binladenfiles/
Something missing from the leaked report?
A short BBC commentary on the report, which ends with:
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Commenting on the leak, the head of the commission, Javed Iqbal, told Pakistani Dunya TV that it was "based on assumptions" and did not include even one out of more than 100 recommendations the commission had made in its findings.
Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23235847
I have not read the report, but it would be remarkable if it was missing the recommendations. What else is missing?:confused:
Missing US demands after 9/11?
Al-Jazeera has now added a longer summary of the report and noted this:
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Page 197 of the report, which contains part of the testimony of Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, then director of the ISI, was missing from all copies of the report that Al Jazeera obtained from multiple sources. It is unclear what was contained in that page, but the contextual implication is that, among other things, it contains a list of seven demands made by the United States of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
Link:http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2...412615531.html
Correct performance of duty was often rewarded with severe punishment
Circling the Lion's Den has read the Abbottabad Commission report and has picked out a few key passages:http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot....on-report.html and http://circlingthelionsden.blogspot....bbottabad.html
The author, Nick Fielding, remarks:
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I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that the Abbottabad Commission report is one of the most important documents to have come out of Pakistan for many years. It is full of insights into how Pakistan really operates - public officials that appear to know little about their specialist area, numerous examples of gross incompetence, buck-passing and massive corruption. Here are a few more snippets. However, I urge readers to read a copy of the report, even if, by all accounts, the final version was watered down to placate the Army and intelligence services.
My favourite line is a classic - hence the emphasis, it refers to the NWFP civil administration:
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...While there can be no excuse for this 'acceptance of realities' by senior officials, it has to be noted that they functioned in a very perverse political and administrative environment in which insistence on the correct performance of duty was often rewarded with severe punishment."
