The International Economic Forum of the Americas is taking place this week in Montreal, Canada and ends today. According to its Facebook page, it is committed to enhance knowledge and awareness on key economic issues of our times. Over 3,000 participated and 170 speakers were on hand. One of the people invited to attend was ex-Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf who spoke for about 20 minutes yesterday, prior to being interviewed by Charlie Rose.
One of the things he said, very specifically, was that he wanted to see proof not only of Osama bin-Laden's death, but of his presence in Abbottabad for five years.
If in fact, this were true, it would mean that bin-Laden was in Abbottabad during Musharraf's rule. Musharraf was Pakistan's appointed president in June of 2001, after having led a military coup in 1999, and remained in power until his resignation in 2008. He attempted to overcome any doubts that there might have been complicity between the ISI (Pakistan's intelligence services), the Pakistani army and Osama bin-Laden. Musharraf declares that as far as he knows, he knew nothing of the sort 500% and that the ISI nor the army could have hidden this fact from him.
Noting that there is chasm of trust between the US and Pakistan at the moment, Musharraf said that if the US had the required proof, it would help restore some of the trust lost. Again, he posed the question: 'Why is the United States not giving their evidence?'
At one point in his speech, he made a joking reference about bin-Laden being cooped up in a house with three of his wives, jesting that if such had been the case, that bin-Laden himself would have called the CIA to come and kill him.
He repeated that Pakistani intelligence as well as the army did not know that the world's most wanted man was hiding in Abottabad, and that this in itself represented failure and incompetence at the highest level. But not complicity. When asked how impossible it sounded that such failure could occur, he pointed to the 9/11 attacks:
'How do you think that there were 18 people training for months in the United States and no CIA (agent) knew? They hijacked four aircraft, nobody knew. They changed their course and went into the World Trade Centre and into the Pentagon, nobody knew, nobody reacted. (What) do you say (about) this national intelligence failure of the United States, the sole superpower? So, therefore, things do happen.'
Musharraf has not hidden his ambitions for the 2013 Pakistani presidential election. He has often accused the government of Asif Ali Zardari for being too lax with extremists. Will this play right into the hands of American foreign policy and its desire for a client state in Pakistan?
Continue reading on Examiner.com Musharraf asking for proof of bin-Laden's death - National Foreign Policy | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-national/musharraf-asking-for-proof-of-bin-laden-s-death#ixzz1Pfh10AYbOne of the things he said, very specifically, was that he wanted to see proof not only of Osama bin-Laden's death, but of his presence in Abbottabad for five years.
If in fact, this were true, it would mean that bin-Laden was in Abbottabad during Musharraf's rule. Musharraf was Pakistan's appointed president in June of 2001, after having led a military coup in 1999, and remained in power until his resignation in 2008. He attempted to overcome any doubts that there might have been complicity between the ISI (Pakistan's intelligence services), the Pakistani army and Osama bin-Laden. Musharraf declares that as far as he knows, he knew nothing of the sort 500% and that the ISI nor the army could have hidden this fact from him.
Noting that there is chasm of trust between the US and Pakistan at the moment, Musharraf said that if the US had the required proof, it would help restore some of the trust lost. Again, he posed the question: 'Why is the United States not giving their evidence?'
At one point in his speech, he made a joking reference about bin-Laden being cooped up in a house with three of his wives, jesting that if such had been the case, that bin-Laden himself would have called the CIA to come and kill him.
He repeated that Pakistani intelligence as well as the army did not know that the world's most wanted man was hiding in Abottabad, and that this in itself represented failure and incompetence at the highest level. But not complicity. When asked how impossible it sounded that such failure could occur, he pointed to the 9/11 attacks:
'How do you think that there were 18 people training for months in the United States and no CIA (agent) knew? They hijacked four aircraft, nobody knew. They changed their course and went into the World Trade Centre and into the Pentagon, nobody knew, nobody reacted. (What) do you say (about) this national intelligence failure of the United States, the sole superpower? So, therefore, things do happen.'
Musharraf has not hidden his ambitions for the 2013 Pakistani presidential election. He has often accused the government of Asif Ali Zardari for being too lax with extremists. Will this play right into the hands of American foreign policy and its desire for a client state in Pakistan?