Osama Bin Laden:war of words.

Osama bin Laden death leads to war of words between Pakistan and west
That Bin Laden could live so long in the country was 'an intelligence failure of the whole world', says Pakistan PM
Declan Walsh in Abbottabad
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 4 May 2011 23.00 BST


Pakistan's prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani spoke out against western critics on a visit to Paris. Photograph: Franck Prevel/Getty Images======================================================
Pakistan's prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, lashed out at western critics as the war of words over the death of Osama bin Laden intensified, further undermining trust between Pakistan and the US.

The fact that bin Laden could live so long in Pakistan was "an intelligence failure of the whole world, not just Pakistan alone", Gilani said in Paris before meeting President Sarkozy. Washington was also to blame for the lapses, he added.

It was the latest of several toughly-worded statements from Pakistani officials seeking to fend off angry western criticism of its failure to apprehend Bin Laden before a team of US Navy Seals swooped on a house in Abbottabad, 35 miles north of Islamabad, on Sunday night.

In perhaps the most damaging allegation, CIA chief Leon Panetta said Pakistani officials were kept in the dark about the Bin Laden assault over fears he would be tipped off. "It was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardise the mission. They might alert the targets," he told Time.

In recent days President Asif Ali Zardari, several ambassadors and the foreign ministry have staunchly defended their country's reputation. American claims of complicity with Bin Laden were "baseless speculation", Zardari said.

But Pakistani officials are still struggling to explain how the Saudi fugitive managed to live in Abbottabad, a garrison town with thousands of soldiers and a major military academy, for up to six years. President Obama's counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan, said some Pakistani officials, "including within the official Pakistani establishment", knew about his hideout.

France's foreign minister Alain Juppé said it was "hard to believe that the presence of a person such as Bin Laden in a large compound in a relatively small town … could go completely unnoticed."

Pakistan's military has been largely quiet, although officials from the ISI spy agency have released some details about the raid based on interviews with Bin Laden relatives left behind by the US Navy Seal team.

Pakistan's role is also coming under intense fire in the US congress. Senator Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee that apportions government spending, said on Monday: "TheUnited States provides billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan. Before we send another dime, we need to know whether Pakistan truly stands with us in the fight against terrorism."

But western officials also recognise that Pakistan will remain a crucial partner in the war against Islamist militancy due to the war in Afghanistan, and because many of the most potent jihadi outfits, including al-Qaida, are based on Pakistani soil.

(source:guardian.co.uk)

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