Leak of C.I.A. Officer’s Name Is Sign of Rift With Pakistan

two words....valerie plame...was there a 'adversarial relationship' between cheney & cia?


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — For the second time in five months, the Pakistani authorities have angered the Central Intelligence Agency by tipping the Pakistani news media to the identity of the C.I.A. station chief in Islamabad, a deliberate effort to complicate the work of the American spy agency in the aftermath of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, American officials said.

The leak demonstrated the tilt toward a near adversarial relationship between the C.I.A. and the Pakistani spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate, or ISI, since the Bin Laden raid. It appeared to be intended to show the leverage the Pakistanis retain over American interests in the country, both sides said.

In an address before Parliament on Monday, Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani made clear that Pakistani officials at the highest levels accepted little responsibility for the fact that Bin Laden was able to hide in their country for years.

Instead, he obliquely criticized the United States as having driven Bin Laden into Pakistan, condemned its violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and called the Qaeda leader’s presence in Pakistan an intelligence failure of the “whole world.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/world/asia/10pakistan.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print

No Problem, cut off foreign aid to Pakistan and stop selling them replacement F-15 parts.

The Pakistanis have to know that this kind of dangerous tit for tat means they'll now never know who the real US station chief is anymore in Pakistan. Oh, I'm guessing we'll say it's Gentleman A when in reality it's actually Gentleman Q who they would never guess.

This kind of "game" the Pakistanis are playing seems to indicate an extremely immature understanding of global hardball. I'm absolutely sure there are a lot more subtle ways to indicate to Obama that they're pissed that don't signal to the world that you are spoiled brats.