The Needle Isn't so Deep in the Haystack

Recently, there's been talk about Osama being linked to Pakistan's ISI, the country's elite intelligence group. However, despite Media-made generalizations, there is nothing to this "connection." In other words, America's relationship with Osama in the days of Soviet conquests into Afghanistan was more direct and potent than this one that has seemed to be forming between the ISI and Osama; however, that is not to say there is no connection between the two.

The proposed connection starts out with a Courier on the dead terrorist's cell phone. Apparently, the cell phone of this courier had on it the number of a terrorist group and evidence to prove regular conversations between the courier and the said group. It is also being said that this group has connections to the ISI.

So, what does all of this mean? Sure, Osama might have had a connection with the ISI, but, more importantly, the ISI has a known and close relationship with this middleman terrorist group for, at least, 10 years since President Bush categorized that group as a Terrorist Group shortly after 9/11. And the irony of all of this rises from the fact that the United States has poured hundreds of billions of dollars, if not more, into Pakistan, which has, in turn, seemed to have more and more tricks up its sleeve. Just goes to show that George Washington was not out of his mind when he suggested a simple, yet effective foreign poicy: isolationism.

Had we not interfered with the Soviet's installment in Afghanistan, 9/11 would never of happened. Had we not interfered in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved. Had we not blindly handed over blank checks to Pakistan, Afghan-Paki Terrorist groups would not have gained such socio-political powers as they have.

But, alas, it's not too late to impart change. The important thing to get out of this situation is not ISI's connection to a dead terrorist but their connection to a live and quite powerful one and that it is not in our hands, anymore, if it ever were. Even if we kill the next Osama bin Laden, another one is going to soon pop up. Haven't we learned that in all our years of struggle during the Cold War? Our only choice is to abandon ship in the Muslim World, set a good example - be "the City on a Hill" - in hopes that reforms like Gorbachev's three-prong approach will take form in this part of the world.

If they don't, they at least have no reason to attack the US. If they do attack the US, we'll have spent trillions of dollars on defense instead of offense. And if such reforms do take ground, then hell, we'll be living in a great world, one in which we can talk about moving forward on more important matters, like poverty and the environment.

They are now treating the discovery as a vital lead in their investigation into how the al-Qaeda leader was able to hide for more than five years in the army garrison town Abbottabad.
The disclosure is likely to widen the rift between Washington and Islamabad amid growing suspicions that some elements of the country's security services helped to shield bin Laden. Senior analysts believe the he could not have lived in a high-security army town without a network of powerful supporters.
Bin Laden was shot dead in a raid last month by US Navy Seals in a prominent mansion close to the army's military academy where he had senior army officers as neighbours.
According to US officials quoted by the New York Times, the mobile phone seized in the raid belonged to the al-Qaeda leader's most trusted aide and courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, who was known to the villagers surrounding the compound as Arshad Khan.
Call records revealed he had called a number of South Waziristan-based commanders from the militant group Harakat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), which was blamed for the 1999 hijacking of Indian Airlines flight which led to the release of a number of jailed militants in a deal brokered by Afghanistan's Taliban government, the 2002 suicide bombing of the US consulate in Karachi and the murder of Daniel Pearl. The British terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh was involved in the group which has had long-standing connections with al-Qaeda.  More>