Bush, bin Laden and the Pakistan Deal

Is it all just show? The Pakistanis pretend to be outraged that special U.S. military units entered their nation and killed Osama bin Laden without their permission. Now the British newspaper The Guardian has revealed that the U.S. had been authorized to do so for years — and that they’re permitted to carry out future attacks as well.

Osama bin Laden has been dead for over a week, but high-level U.S. officials are still getting exciting details of the commando action. Citing anonymous sources, The New York Times reports that the commando team was authorized to shoot its way back out of Pakistan if that became necessary. President Obama was prepared for a military confrontation in the event the commando team came under attack in Pakistan.

But it never came to that. The Pakistanis stayed silent even though the American commando raid took place not far from a Pakistani military academy in the middle of a neighborhood where many former officers lived in retirement. The attack was so loud that it was mentioned in Twitter messages. One resident reported live of hearing thunderous explosions.

The Pakistanis held their fire and only later complained about a breach of their sovereignty. The Americans flew in and out unimpeded. It sounded like a picture-book mission behind enemy lines. But if the Guardian report is accurate, both sides only stuck to the script they had previously agreed to.

The renowned British newspaper reported that the secret deal allowed the Americans to capture or kill bin Laden without regard for Pakistan’s sovereignty. That deal was struck some 10 years ago between George W. Bush and then Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf shortly after bin Laden successfully evaded capture when the U.S. bombarded the mountain stronghold of Tora Bora.

A former U.S. official was quoted in The Guardian article as saying, “There was an agreement between Bush and Musharraf that if we knew where Osama was, we were going to come and get him. The Pakistanis would put up a hue and cry, but they wouldn’t stop us.”

Musharraf denies this allegation. No such agreement was signed nor was any such oral agreement ever made, according to a statement issued by a government spokesperson Tuesday evening.

The Guardian went on to say the same rules applied to bin Laden’s assumed successor to al-Qaida leadership, Ayman al-Zawahiri, as well as to the third in line, whose name wasn’t mentioned. The agreement was renewed in 2008 by the Pakistani military leadership during a particularly sensitive time: Musharraf was supposed to transfer power to a democratically elected government

Systematic Reactions

General Musharraf, who came to power in 1999 in the wake of a non-violent coup, currently lives in exile in London. From there, he heads a newly formed political party for whom he will run in the next election.

He fell out of favor with the Muslim population for cooperating too closely with the West. It has been known at least since the WikiLeaks revelations that the government in Islamabad tolerated the deployment of American unmanned drones in the border areas of Afghanistan for which it receives U.S. aid in return. The border areas are controlled in part by tribal leaders and extremists and are known as a safe haven for terrorists.

Since the May 2 assassination of bin Laden, relations between the United States and Pakistan have become strained. President Obama said in an interview that bin Laden must have had a support network in Pakistan in order to have lived for so long in Abbottabad undetected. The city is only about an hour’s drive from the capital city of Islamabad.

In Pakistan, on the other hand, there’s a sense of outrage over the fact that Washington kept its supposed partner in the dark for so long concerning the commando raid. Musharraf has called the action by U.S. Navy SEALs on Pakistani territory a breach of his nation’s sovereignty.

Pakistani Prime Minister Gillani also used sharp words, warning Washington against any further unilateral actions, adding, “No one should underestimate the resolve and capability of our nation and armed forces to defend our sacred homeland.”

Against the backdrop of the Guardian report, both sides are reacting with reserve. One American official said that the United States knew that Pakistan would not have supported the commando action. A former Pakistani dignitary told the newspaper, “Our American friends were only acting in accordance with our agreement.”