Special op in Abbottabad 2

Naturally the Abbottabad raid is a news story with legs, & as expected, bits & pieces of the picture are emerging hourly. The prudent & scholarly thing to do would be to wait for the cordite to settle before commenting judiciously; but I just can’t help myself after reading this story from the BBC.

First, there’s the rather sulky statement by Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that it’s not his country’s fault that they couldn’t find Osama Bin Laden. “There is intelligence failure of the whole world, not Pakistan alone.” Moreover, Pakistan needs everyone in the world to support them in the struggle against Islamist militants because, “we are fighting & paying a heavy price…fighting not only for Pakistan but for the peace, prosperity & progress of the whole world.”

Well, dang.

That first claim just cracks me up. He’s essentially putting forth the idea that Pakistan didn’t know where Bin Laden was—which is like Jeffrey Dahmer’s neighbors marveling at the discovery that he was a cannibal because, “Why, we had no idea what he was up to. He’s a nice, quiet man & as for those cooking smells, well, we just thought he was on the Adkins diet.”

But Gilani's mitigating their alleged incompetence by adding that no one in the world knew where to find Bin Laden. So if Bolivia, Senegal & Borneo weren’t pinning the compound on Google Maps, then no harm, no foul for Pakistan.

There’s a logical fallacy somewhere in there; let me see if I can hunt it down…

Oh, yeah—it’s the one that every mother in every country on the planet has shot down since the beginning of time: that you’re not culpable if everyone else is doing the same thing.

Plus, Bolivia, Senegal & Borneo—along with the rest of the world that has any sort of telecommunications & cognitive capability—knew that the best place to be looking for Bin Laden was in Pakistan. So there’s just no way that Pakistan comes out of this without the major “intelligence failure” being theirs. Only question is to what degree the failure was deliberate or just incompetence.

As for the second part—does he intend that the UN hold a bake sale & send the proceeds to Islamabad? Before firing up my oven, I for one would like to see an accounting of the billions Pakistan has already received & find out how much—what miniscule percentage—actually went to what could reasonably called anti-terror actions, as opposed to lining the pockets of government & military officials & subsidizing turf wars & political assassinations.

Oh—but is that me being picky?

I also got a kick out of the Pakistani Foreign Secretary’s response to CIA Director Leon Panetta’s admission, “It was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardize the mission. They might alert the targets.” Salman Bashir also got a little pouty & insisted that Panetta’s remark was entirely uncalled for & that Pakistan plays “a pivotal role” in fighting terrorism.

Now, to my mind, the phrase “pivotal role” is like the term “quality” that businesses like to toss about: it can be positive or negative. & if by “pivotal role” you mean “we are the global vortex of terrorist training, arming, funding & refuge” then that’s probably an accurate depiction.

But finally, I just don’t know what to make of the report that “about 70 lawyers staged a rally in Abbottabad on Wednesday, chanting anti-US slogans & shouting that Bin Laden was their ‘hero’.”

I knew there would be retaliation, but lawyers?