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Lagniappe
Scott Sullivan: Congress must
query Gates on Pakistan terrorism
The attack by Pakistani terrorists today in Mumbai India raises serious questions about long standing connections between Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Pakistan's CIA – the Interagency Intelligence Services (ISI). The ISI sponsors terrorism against India, and may even be responsible for today's terrorism in Mumbai India. ISI also sponsors terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and the Taliban, both of which operate in Afghanistan. Congress must immediately hold hearings on the history of close relations between Gates, the CIA and Pakistan's ISI.
Gates launched CIA support for ISI in the 1980's as CIA Director under President Reagan. Gates relied upon ISI's contacts for introductions to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Gates also used ISI as his conduit for distributing money and weapons to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, conducting training, and even directing terrorist operations against Russia.Congress will discover will find that no precise line exists to distinguish the responsibilities of CIA, ISI, Taliban, al-Qaeda, and Pakistan's anti-India terrorists. Gates also used ISI to influence Pakistani politics. In brief, Gates reinforced ISI's role in Pakistan's politics to act as a “state within a state” that continues to dominate the Pakistani military even to this day.
This connection between Gates and ISI raises serious questions about his ability to play a constructive role in Afghanistan. Gates has been eager to abandon Iraq to Iran and move US troops to Afghanistan. In fact, Gates now wants to make Afghanistan the focal point of the US war on terrorism.
To be blunt, how can the US Congress allow Gates and his bureaucratic allies to direct the war on terrorism in Afghanistan given his past support for Pakistan and the ISI? Does Congress want Iran to win in Iraq and Taliban to win in Afghanistan? Robert Gates does. Robert Gates has been a major sponsor of Pakistani terrorism. For the good of US policy in Iraq and India, Congress must press Robert Gates for answers about the CIA-ISI connection.
Scott Sullivan is a former Washington government employee and was the Senior Advisor for International Economics at the Crisis Management Center of the National Security Council, 1984 -1986. Petroleumworld not necessarily share these views.Editor's Note:All comments posted and published on Petroleumworld, do not reflect either for or against the opinion expressed in the comment as an endorsement of Petroleumworld. All comments expressed are private comments and do not necessary reflect the view of this website. All comments are posted and published without liability to Petroleumworld.
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Petroleumworld News 11/28/08
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