Regarding the I.S.I.

“The I.S.I., he added, is 'almost a parallel government of its own'.”
Seymour M. Hersh; Chain of Command; Harper; 2004; page 289.

One of the aspects of the recent killing of Usama bin Laden that I think is most interesting is the connection between where he was located, and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency. It would have been impossible for bin Laden to have been living in the relative comfort of that building, without members of the ISI being fully aware of the situation. In fact, powerful members of this military intelligence group would have had to have been serving as a resource for the “most wanted man on earth.”

Years ago, a close friend who had spent decades in this region – first as a family member of a US intelligence officer, then as a member of our military – told me that he believed that the events of 9/11 were orchestrated by elements within the ISI. This is not a “conspiracy theory,” but rather, the insight of a person relying on his life experiences, and thoughts about the ability of radical intelligence officers to both manipulate and double-cross American counterparts.

One of the more interesting resources for information on those radical elements inside the ISI is Hersh's book, “Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib.” I would recommend the three chapters in Section VII: A Most Dangerous Friend (pages 287 – 323).

The State of Pakistan seems to be a bit schizophrenic - on one hand, it seems to want to be a player within the Western world. But it has an intel service that apparently serves the interests of AQ. It will be interesting to see what kind of info was turned up during the OBL operation. I have to think that there's all kinds of incriminating evidence of ISI's involvement with OBL - we may never see the evidence, but the future US diplomacy and attitudes towards Pakistan may help reflect what we have learned. If I'm an ISI official that's been playing both sides, I might be getting very nervous about the viability of my future right about now.

If anyone thinks that they weren't aware of exactly OBL's whereabouts, I have a bridge for sale.

Hopefully, intelligence from the OBL raid will identify those within the ISI / military / government that knew of OBL's location(s) and/or support the militant Taliban and the civilian government is able to act appropriately to put the rogues out of the mix.

Symbolically, there is the probability that OBL's death will inflame Muslim radicals much like 9-11 did the USA.

I hope for the success of Pakistan's civilian government and that Afghanistan turns to politics and leaves behind violence.

I also tend to think General Musheraff plays both sides

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1024153

but no one seemed all that interested.

too much work to be done insulting one another about appropriate responses and all that.

That's a great book.

There was a LOT of great journalism going on in the U.S. during the Bush-Cheney era - it just couldn't get primetime megaphone action b/c the news media in America was intent upon promoting the "war on terror" view of the world.

We need James Bond, not Slim Pickens, leading anti-terrorism - to put it in terms the American people respond to...

and you have mentioned it no less than a million times. So I just ordered Mr. Hersh's book thru our library system. Should get it tomorrow. Thanks for this posting - you always have such interesting insights into all this.

As a Bush administration official, Grossman was meeting with the head of ISI in Washington at the time of 9/11.

Grossman was appointed by the Obama administration in February to replace the late Richard Holbrooke as special emissary to the region and was due to hold tri-laterial talks with the Pakistanis and the Afghans in Islamabad, starting yesterday.

I don't know if that's just a weird coincidence, a fitting symmetry, or something more significant. But I don't doubt that Grossman has connections in the ISI that were one reason for his appointment.

For whatever it's worth, Grossman also played some role in the Plame affair, though he was never implicated in the actual leak.

And he was ambassador to Turkey in the 1990's and has been named by Sibel Edmonds as an important part of whatever hugger-mugger she asserts was going on there.

This in conjunction with the Bhutto assassination as well as the terrorist assault on Mumbai. The implications of this is staggering.