 |  | | Osamaism Was Already Dead |  HAD Osama bin Laden been
killed during the presidency of
George W Bush, he might have
become an iconic martyr for
anti-Western movements
throughout the Muslim world. Those
days are gone. Jihadist websites mourn
their slain mentor, but few in the Arab
street care for a man who brought nothing
to the region but havoc and desolation,
provoked the United States into
waging war and, above all, reinforced
the very rulers whom radical Islamists
most wished to topple.
Arab despots initially saw their life
expectancies extended after 9/11: better
Ben Ali, the... |
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| |  | | UNWISDOM
OF ELITES | | THE past three years have
been a disaster for most
Western economies. The
United States has mass
long-term unemployment
for the first time since the 1930s.
Meanwhile, Europe´s single currency
is coming apart at the seams.
How did it all go so wrong?
Well, what I´ve been hearing with
growing frequency from members
of the policy elite - self-appointed
wise men, officials, and pundits in
good standing - is the claim that
it´s mostly the public´s fault. The
idea is that we got into this mess
because voters wanted something
for nothing, and weak-minded
politicians catered to the electorate´s
foolishness.
So this seems... |
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US may be allowed to question Osama’s wives
REUTERS
ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON PAKISTAN may let US investigators question the wives of Osama bin Laden, a US official said, a decision that could begin to stabilize relations between the prickly allies that have been severely strained by the killing of the Al Qaeda leader.
However, senior Pakistani government officials in Islamabad said on Tuesday no decision had been taken on the US request.
Bin Laden was shot dead on May 2 in a top-secret raid in the northern Pakistani town of Abbottabad to the embarrassment of Pakistan which has for years denied the world’s most wanted man was on its soil.
The government is under pressure to explain how the Al Qaeda leader was found in the garrison town, a short distance from the main military academy, and faces criticism at home over the perceived violation of sovereignty by the US commando team.
Pakistani cooperation is crucial to combating Islamist militants and to bringing stability to Afghanistan and the US administration has been keen to contain the fallout.
US investigators, who have been sifting through a huge stash of material seized in bin Laden’s high-walled compound, want to question his three wives as they seek to trace his movements and roll up his global militant network.
“The Pakistanis now appear willing to grant access.
Hopefully they’ll carry through on the signals they’re sending,” a US official familiar with the matter said in Washington.
There was no immediate comment from the White House.
A Pakistani government official denied that permission for the US questioning of the women had been given, saying local investigators had yet to finish their inquiry.
“It’s too early to even think about it,” said the official, referring to the US request to question the women.
Pakistan says the three wives, one from Yemen and two from Saudi Arabia, and their children, will be repatriated and Pakistan was making contacts with their countries but they had yet to say they would take them, the official said.
Bin Laden’s discovery has deepened suspicion that Pakistan’s pervasive Inter- Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, which has a long history of contacts with militants, may have had ties with the Al Qaeda leader, or that some of its agents did.
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