The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal.com’s “Best of the Web” written by the editor, James Taranto.
We Blame George W. Bush
“Peru Leader Credits Pope for bin Laden Death”–headline, Associated Press, May 2
It’s Always in the Last Place You Look
“Bin Laden Was Found at Luxury Pakistan Compound”–headline, Reuters, May 2
Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control
“Typo: MSNBC Correspondent Accidentally Reports on Twitter That ‘Obama’ Killed”–headline, DailyCaller.com, May 2
Bottom Stories of the Day
“Hamas Mourns Osama bin Laden’s Death”–headline, CNN.com, May 2
Our Friends the Pakistanis
Last month the New York Times reported that relations between Washington and Islamabad were near the breaking point:
Pakistan has demanded that the United States steeply reduce the number of Central Intelligence Agency operatives and Special Operations forces working in Pakistan, and that it halt C.I.A. drone strikes aimed at militants in northwest Pakistan. The request was a sign of the near collapse of cooperation between the two testy allies.
But yesterday Americans killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. How involved were the Pakistanis in the successful operation? “It’s important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding,” President Obama said in his speech last night.
The Times reports today that “an American official said the Pakistani government was not informed about the strike in advance.” A statement from Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs takes no direct credit for the raid:
In an intelligence driven operation, Osama Bin Ladin was killed in the surroundings of Abbotabad in the early hours of this morning. This operation was conducted by the US forces in accordance with declared US policy that Osama bin Ladin will be eliminated in a direct action by the US forces, wherever found in the world.
The ministry does proclaim that al Qaeda “had declared war on Pakistan,” echoing President Obama’s statement. Meanwhile, the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg reports that Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, struck a defensive tone in a phone interview:
“If Whitey Bulger can live undetected by American police for so long, why can’t Osama Bin Laden live undetected by Pakistani authorities?” Haqqani asked. Bulger, the former head of Boston’s Winter Hill gang, was added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List in mid-1999, two months after Bin Laden himself first appeared on the list. Haqqani continued, “The fact is, Mafia figures manage to do this sort of thing in Brooklyn, and Pakistan is a country that does not have the highly-developed law enforcement capabilities that your country possesses.”
Haqqani went on to say, “President Obama has answered the question about Pakistan’s role. It wouldn’t have been possible to get Bin Laden without Pakistan’s help. People are piling on this one, but the fact is, it is very plausible for someone to live undetected for long periods of time.”
As John Fund notes in today’s Political Diary:
The massive compound where bin Laden was hiding was located just 800 yards from Pakistan’s Military Academy–its West Point–and was apparently built for the purpose of harboring him in 2005 at a cost of at least $1 million. Abbotabad, the city where bin Laden was killed, is known as a retirement community for Pakistani’s military elite. Were elements of ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service, aware of his presence in Abbotabad? Were other high-level Pakistani officials?
Note that when Obama gave credit to the Pakistanis for having “helped lead” the U.S. to the bin Laden compound, he was completely vague about the timing. The help could have come years ago. It looks to us as though Obama is offering Islamabad a chance to save face–and to judge by Haqqani’s comments to Goldberg, they are taking it. In private, though, the Pakistanis may be getting a much sterner message.
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for thef “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
