There is speculation in Islamabad that Mr. Zardari has resigned, especially because he did talk to the Chairman of the Senate before he left. The official reason being given is that he has had a mild heart attack. However major US sources seem to indicate that Mr. Zardari has left for good and will not return. Mr. Haqqani will now probably be tried for treason under Article 6–making an example out of him. Some sources seem to indicate that Mr. Haqqani is already singing like a bird and has pointed the finger at Mr. Zardari for dictating the memo.
There is much speculation, sponsored by Mr. Iajaz that both Zardari and Haqqani knew about the May 2nd raid, and hid it from the army, to try to use it as a way to eliminate General Pasha, and General Kayani–as a way to place more compliant generals in place and set up a new agency replacing the ISI.
Mr. Shaikh Rashid has been crying hoarse about it. He always says that his sources are usually servants and lower rank folks who know what their bosses are doing.
Mansoor Ijaz writing for The Daily Beast-Newsweek says. “ … Zardari and Haqqani both knew the US was going to launch a stealth mission to eliminate bin Laden that would violate Pakistan’s sovereignty.” This may have been the final straw that broke the camel’s back.
- “They may have even given advance consent after CIA operations on the ground in Pakistan pinpointed the Saudi fugitive’s location,” Ijaz, a Pakistani-American businessman, said in the article in which he again alleged that Haqqani was the author of the memorandum seeking US help in May to prevent a military coup against the civilian government. The businessman said he used his contacts to deliver the memo to the then Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.
- Ijaz wrote, “The unilateral US action, they might have surmised, would result in a nation blaming its armed forces and intelligence services for culpability in harbouring bin Laden for so many years. They planned to use the Pakistani public’s hue and cry to force the resignations of Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani and intelligence chief Gen Shuja Pasha. Pliable replacements would have been appointed…
- “Haqqani is now trying to deflect attention, and possible culpability, away from Zardari. But why would he fall on his sword for the man he once dubbed “Mr 10 Percent”? …,
- “If it all went wrong, the Pakistanis could unite in their hatred of America for violating their nation’s sovereignty, with Zardari leading the chorus aimed at Washington. If it went to plan, the long-sought aim of putting civilians (ie, Zardari & Co) in charge of the Army would be complete. Washington would have bin Laden’s scalp; Zardari would have Kayani’s and Pasha’s.
And US taxpayer-funded aid would flow unabated under the Kerry-Lugar bill in which Haqqani had pushed so hard to include civilian-supremacy language as a sine qua non.
- “Not a bad plan. Really, not a bad plan.
- “Unfortunately, plans leave footprints. Consider that Operation Neptune Spear was approved by President Obama at 8:20 am on April 29. After waiting one day for bad weather, the operation commenced.
- Ask Haqqani where he was during those fateful days prior to, and on the day of, the bin Laden raid. Answer: London. Coincidentally, he would have left at just about the same time Obama gave the green light.
- Why? Whom did he meet? What did he discuss with his British hosts? Why was he back for another round of meetings with the same people—Sir David Richards, chief of the Defence Staff (Admiral Mullen’s British equivalent), and Tobias Ellwood, parliamentary private secretary to the defence secretary — a week later? For what were characterised as private visits, Haqqani’s appointment agenda was pretty hefty — an agenda that only one man knew about beforehand: Asif Ali Zardari.
- “What private matter could be so important that it required Pakistan’s eyes and ears in America to be away from his desk on the very day his host country was about to execute one of the most daring military missions in history to kill the world’s most-wanted terrorist on Pakistani soil? Was Haqqani in London so he could plausibly deny having any knowledge of the bin Laden raid on the day it occurred, having just conveyed Zardari’s approval for the raid to the Obama national-security team? Or was he tasked with informing Pakistan’s key allies to keep everyone in the loop — playing the role of a back channel within his own government?
- “Haqqani made just one critical mistake — seconding me into his scheme.
- I dislike the brinksmanship and heavy-handed role that Pakistan’s military and intelligence organisations have played throughout the nation’s history, and have said so over and over again. Democracy cannot exist in a police state managed by an intelligence agency. But I dislike even more feudal civilian cabals that feign love for democracy only to orchestrate their grandiose schemes on important security issues through abuses of power that simply cannot be tolerated in an open society…”
FP reports that “A former U.S. government official told The Cable today that when President Barack Obama spoke with Zardari over the weekend regarding NATO’s killing of the 24 Pakistani soldiers, Zardari was “incoherent.” The Pakistani president had been feeling increased pressure over the Memogate scandal. “The noose was getting tighter — it was only a matter of time,” the former official said, expressing the growing expectation inside the U.S. government that Zardari may be on the way out.”
You can fool some of the people all the time, all the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time.
Pakistan was conspicuous by her absence from Bonn. The Americans came from the Tarbela Ghazi Airbase. The US is still present at Pasni and Dalbidin and Khalid airbases. The drones on the Salala attack may have taken off from Tarbela or Pasni.
FP magazine says “The former U.S. official said that parts of the U.S. government were informed that Zardari had a “minor heart attack” on Monday night and flew to Dubai via air ambulance today. He may have angioplasty on Wednesday and may also resign on account of “ill health…This is the ‘in-house change option’ that has been talked about,” said Shuja Nawaz, director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council, in a Tuesday interview with The Cable.
Nawaz said that this plan would see Zardari step aside and be replaced by his own party, preserving the veneer of civilian rule but ultimately acceding to the military’s wishes to get rid of Zardari..”
Map of more than 50 US air bases in the Middle East. SHUT DOWN BASES IN PAKISTAN
( Note: Shamsi is East about 100 miles and south by another 140 miles from Dalbandin. Marking is wrong. G)
President Zardari has left for Dubai ostensibly for medical reasons, however the way he left is lending credence from a lot of rumors. Mr. Zardari has apparently suffered a minor heart attack.
It is rumored that Mr. Haqqani has fingered Mr. Zardari as the autor of the memo and the opposition parties promised not to let him speak to the joint house of parliament. There were threats of a Motion of No Confidence which would be joined by many PPP stalwarts too.
Deep Throat has spoken and “Mr. Nixon” is out.
Foriegn Affairs Magazine is also reporting the sudden absence “Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari left Pakistan suddenly on Tuesday, complaining of heart pains, and is now in Dubai. His planned testimony before a joint session of Pakistan’s parliament on the Memogate scandal is now postponed indefinitely.”
Analysts see US forces are lined up on the Western borders.