Craig Osth: CIA Man in Pakistan

Washing his hands, like Pontius Pilate: This is what Dean Boyd, spokesman of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), did. Two days ago, he refused to confirm if the man reported to be the CIA station chief in Islamabad by political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was the same one who took part in the criminal drone war that kills “terrorists” and innocent children alike.

Special attention was given to a powerful news agency, which demonstrated “journalistic objectivity” in its information on the case: “The Associated Press cannot publish the name leaked by political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf because it has been unable to check its authenticity.” Both The Washington Post and The New York Times did the same in order to “protect the life of an undercover agent and his family.”

On Wednesday, PTI’s secretary of information, Shirin Mazari, asked that Craig Osth, CIA station chief in Pakistan, and the head of this espionage and dirty war agency, John Brennan, be tried for murder. She pointed out that both of them had started the drone war against Pakistan and specifically mentioned the attack on a madrasa on Nov. 21 in Hangu district, in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This attack killed and injured many people, including children, although the American authorities and some Pakistani intelligence officers declared that only five Afghan militiamen had died, the subhead of one of the “most dangerous” groups fighting against the American forces in Afghanistan among them.

The accusation included another fact: Craig Osth resides and operates from the U.S. embassy in Islamabad, which is a clear violation of diplomatic regulations and international laws. A foreign mission within a sovereign state cannot be used as headquarters for criminal activities.

Let’s remember that a CIA station chief is not a diplomat and therefore does not enjoy immunity. According to the Pakistani criminal code, even if Mr. Osth is not a Pakistani citizen, he could be subject to its jurisdiction.

As well as unmasking Mr. Osth, the PTI, which is directed by Imran Khan, urged him to not leave the country and be tried for murder and war crimes because of his role in the continuous attacks with drones.

Since 2004, under the George W. Bush administration, the CIA has launched hundreds of drone attacks against northwestern Pakistan, a war strategy promoted by Obama’s government. The CIA has also defended those operations because they eliminate “terrorists” (over 800, some important heads among them). However, Daniel L. Byman, from the American think tank, the Brookings Institution, reports in a study that drones have killed “some 10 civilians” out of every “top al-Qaida or Taliban leaders”).

By searching on the Internet there is not an adequate image of Mr. Osth so as to know his features, but that name is the same as that of Craig Peters Osth, who was head of the CIA in Brazil in 1999. Brazilian magazine Carta Capital linked him to a story of concealment that connected some officers of the espionage agency with the bugging of then-Brazilian president Fernando Enrique Cardoso’s telephone.

The scenario is quite familiar compared to the current one. Both Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff and state company Petrobras have been the object of similar surveillance and espionage practices by the American National Security Agency (NSA).

According to the U.S. Congressional Record of the 110th Congress (2007-08), found on the website Cryptome, Craig Peters Osth has been listed among the nominees to be “Consular Officers and Secretaries in the Diplomatic Service of the United States of America.”* It can also be found that Craig Peters Osth lives in Virginia, at 11641 Charter Oak Ct, Apartment 30, in Reston.