Yesterday the UK Guardian reported that in late 2001 President Bush and General Pervez Musharraf struck a deal that if "Pakistan would allow US forces to conduct a unilateral raid inside Pakistan in search of Bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the al-Qaida No3. Afterwards, both sides agreed, Pakistan would vociferously protest the incursion."
The deal was struck after Bin Laden evaded United States troops that supposedly had him cornered at Tora Bora. That deal was executed a few Sundays ago.
The article reports:
"The former US official said the Pakistani protests of the past week were the "public face" of the deal. "We knew they would deny this stuff."
"The agreement is consistent with Pakistan's unspoken policy towards CIA drone strikes in the tribal belt, which was revealed by the WikiLeaks US embassy cables last November. In August 2008, (Prime Minister Yousaf) Gilani reportedly told a US official: "I don't care if they do it, as long as they get the right people. We'll protest in the National Assembly and then ignore it."
"As drone strikes have escalated in the tribal belt over the past year, senior civilian and military officials issued pro forma denunciations even as it became clear the Pakistani military was co-operating with the covert programme."
Sometimes as I watch events unforld, I forget that what I am seeing may not be exactly what is happening. This is one of those times. The government of Pakistan is obligated to tell the people of Pakistan that other countries will not be allowed to come in and randomly conduct military operations. However, I suspect that there are many people in Pakistan who are celebrating the fact that Osama Bin Laden no longer lives there.
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