Why the memo issue is not dying down – by Fauzia Wahab
Cross posted from The News, November 28, 2011
We thought with the resignation of Husain Haqqani, the issue of the memo will die down. It has not! With each day the issue bounces back more forcefully than ever. Is there something more than just meets the eye one wonders? Or are there some who want to keep it alive deliberately. It is obvious that the opposition by filing a petition against the memo aims at settling scores with the ruling party to undermine its writ. The media sees meat in it and continues with its tirade against the government. The intelligentsia insist on the veracity of the memo. The claim behind every voice is to unravel the truth. What is the truth?
Ever since the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet forces, Pakistan has remained in the centre of attention of the international media. All kinds of stories with the specific aim of maligning our leadership, be it political or military, were found in the international media, at times impacting our foreign relations, but this story certainly is bizarre.
It started with the publication of an article in the Financial Times, which according to Mansoor Ijaz, the author himself, “if not the most important newspaper, certainly one of the two most important newspapers in the world”. One wonders why the story of a person who is not known for his writings gets prime space to publish something called suggestive than substantive, more aimed at tarnishing the reputation of Pakistan’s premier security apparatus than providing information to its readers. Is it easy for anyone who writes can find himself in the company of op-ed writers of the Financial Times? The question here arises who was behind him in getting him the space. Though the writer claims that he writes editorial pieces every now and then, but one has seen rarely his writings in such a prestigious newspaper.
The writer of the notorious article claims that ‘Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s president, needed to communicate a message to White House national security officials that would by-pass Pakistan’s military and intelligence channels’, and the message was an offer from the president of Pakistan that in return for their help the new national security team will eliminate section S of the ISI responsible for maintaining relations with the Taliban’.
Then he continues his attack with strong invectives of Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency and in three paragraphs he thrashes the ISI and its S-wing and suggest the State Department to declare the S-wing a sponsor of terrorism under the designation of ‘foreign government organisations’. He further says ‘ISI embodies the scourge of radicalism’ and ‘more policies are needed to remove the cancer that ISI and its rogue wings have become on the Pakistani state’. In his article he claims that this memo was delivered on May 10, 2011. Interestingly our media completely ignored this part of the writing and turned a blind eye towards this narrative. All what they remembered was the reference of the president of Pakistan and the Pakistani diplomat.
The diatribe against Pakistan’s premier security apparatus was ignored and not a single word is mentioned. One wonders why? Even the country’s security agencies were overwhelmed by this propaganda and did not pay any heed to this side of the article.
The media forgot to recall that not-so-long-ago an article was published on May 3, 2011 in the Washington Post. It was written by the president, in which he has pleaded the case of our country, and defended the democratic and security system of Pakistan. He wrote: “Some in the US press have suggested that Pakistan lacked vitality in its pursuit of terrorism, or worse yet we were disingenuous and actually protected the terrorists we claimed to be pursuing. Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it does not reflect fact…Pakistan has never been and will never be the hotbed of fanaticism… Our people, our government, our military, our intelligence agencies are very much united’. He concludes by saying that ‘we have fought bravely and with passion and commitment. Ultimately we will prevail’. The article reflects his point of view, his thinking and his stand on the May 2 incident. He reposes complete trust on the security system of our country.
Let us assume that the president needed to communicate something so sensitive to the military leadership of the US, why would he have used the services of an interlocutor of so ill-repute, who is known for his strong links with the militants and his involvement in shady activities. It has not been forgotten that Daniel Pearl was tipped by the Indian intelligence agencies to get in touch with Mansoor Ijaz for accessing the Jihadi militants. Daniel Pearl was working on the story of Richard Reid, the shoe-bomber and his connection with Jihadi outfits. Mansoor Ijaz introduced him to Khalid Khwaja, what happened as a consequence to this introduction is now history.
It is also a known fact that he very cleverly removed Khalid Khwaja’s name from the Newsweek story on his involvement in the abduction of Daniel Pearl. It is also a known fact that he was a frequent visitor to Srinagar and a welcome guest of the Indian military apparatus, where he would be whisked out from the airport without any security formalities.
His company Crescent Investment Management Company’s list of directors looks like a who-is-who of US establishment. From Lt Gen James Alan Abrahamson to James Woolsey, the former CIA director, his company’s management has always remained close to the powers that be in the United States. He was instrumental in paving the way for the US invasion of Iraq as part of the campaign that Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction and is working in tandem with al-Qaeda.
He is the same Mansoor Ijaz that urged George W Bush to make funding conditional with Islamabad’s compliance to acceptable nuclear safeguards. Why would the president of Pakistan need the help of such a dubious interlocutor?
This is for the first time in the history that we find a perfect balance of relations between the civil and the military leadership and the president himself is the architect of this balance. It is he himself, who painstakingly built up this relation, why would he destroy it? As being the supreme commander why would he distrust the military leadership? Reason and rationale demands that we should have first believed in our own president and then thrashed Mansoor Ijaz, for his anti-Pakistan vitriolic. Instead a furore was created out of nothing and we conveyed to our adversaries the gullibility of our mindset. We preferred to make a laughing stock of ourselves rather than applying our own mind for the obvious. Short-sighted we are!
(The writer is a member of parliament and senior member of the PPP)
It is a great insight to the greed of the media, lack of common sense amongst the common man and how we are the first ones to blame our own people with cardinal sin for just a hint of accusation even from somebody as dubious a character as Mansoor Ijaz. We, as a nation, do not need enemies do destroy us. We do the job so beautifully ourselves. Our narrow mindset is like a plague that is eating up our rationality and feeding on our feeble societal make up. We are in a sad sad place. But, a perfect one for all those who may wish us ill.
Omer Ejaz,
aap nay bilkul sahee kaha. humayn kissi dushman kee kya zaroorat hay. Hum khud hee apnay aap ko tabah karnay kee salahiat rakhtay hayn!
The whole intention of the media is to get zardari and not get HH!
Very perceptive. It’s like if someone’s shouting that the dog is running away with your ear and you immediately start chasing the dog instead of just touching your ear for confirmation!
Also, the reaction truly depicts the shallow mindset that has been nurtured over decades since the first coup de tat in Pakistan generally and the Islamofascist regime\junta of Zia ul Haq.
@ Khalilullah,
We do not even know if HH even sent the memo out. It is best to have the authorities do their investigation and come out with the results. We need to stop being the court, the judge, the victim. We definitely need to inculcate depth and be more patient with what goes around us. Pakistan, even with all her problems, is far better than some of the top notch countries in the world. Let us be thankful for what we have and stop cribbing for could have been.
Excellent article.
Pakistan’s media should follow this rather than to create needless hype.
and a good defence of ISI—
Both Mansoor Ijaz and Wall Street Journal’s, Newsweek’s or thedailybeast.com’s
Asra Nomani remain adament in avoiding the real issues
around the death of Daniel Pearl,ICTS International and 9/11.And it
has been obvious for a long time that Barack Barry Soetoro Obama,(who appears
to me to have been in employ of CIA when he traveled to Pakistan as a
student back in the day when Osama bin Laden both he and Mansoor Ijaz would
have claimed or lied that Osama bin Laden was our ‘friend’), has continued the 9/11
cover up for W Bush,Dick Cheney,Donald Rumsfeld,et.al. as well.
But also the cover up and threats to anyone who brings up ICTS International of
Benjamin Netanyahu’s convicted in Israel money
laundering partner in crime,Menachem Atzmon and his Shin Bet boys of
ICTS International who ‘guarded’ Logan Boston on 9/11 and who were
involved with Richard Reid ‘the shoe bomber’ who established media
acknowledge was Daniel Pearl’s reason for staying at Asra’s luxury pad
in Karachi just before his disappearance and death in the first
place.Both Asra and Obama are beyond ‘“Chalaque”.They are beyond
despicable for covering up and lying about what they both know about
both 9/11 and the death of Daniel Pearl.
And it’s not like water or ‘blood over the bridge’ and thus too far in
the past to matter.Menachem Atzmon’s ICTS International still controll
Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam(at the pleasure of Queen Beatrix,Geert
Wilders and the Rothschild crime family),and as early as Christmas
2009 allowed Mutallab ‘the Islamic crotch bomber’ to board flight 253
from Amsterdam to Detroit.(Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas from our Israeli
pals who caused by that incident the violation of American rights and
private parts on Thanksgiving 2010!)
My last correpondence with Asra she said Mansoor Ijaz, (whose ‘advise’
led to Pearl’s beheading),was a very interesting character and she
might interview him.Just goes to show what a sick hypocritical phony
she is and that’s about the best you can say for both her and
Pakistani American Ijaz of corrupt Bill Clinton regime. .
Nigeria: SaharaReporters: Africa’s Wikileaks
Global Voices Online – ?May 12, 2011?
Also in December 2009, we got the attention of the world by providing
reports that were the first to identify the Nigerian “Underwear
Bomber” Farouk Abdul Mutallab including the first ever real photo of
him that eventually ended up on CNN and the BBC. …
It’s obvious that justice wasn’t served when another Washington, D.C.
and CIA connected Mansoor Ijaz who has been ex CIA director James
Woolsey’s partner in stock fraud and money laundering and fraud
against Americans through Crescent Hydropolis NY based Bloomberg
protected hedge fund, is never mentioned by Zionist shill Asra Nomani
when she lays the blame to distract from any real investigation into
the death of her supposed friend and WSJ boss Daniel Pearl,( just like
Daniel Pearl’s Zionista daddy Judea Pearl seems to be prorecting
Israelis of ICTS International who allowed Richard Reid to board at De
Gualle Airport with his ‘shoe bomb’ one month after allowing the
presumed Islamic Saudi Mohamed Atta terrorists to board at Logan
Boston on 9/11/01 a month before that. ).
It was Mansoor Ijaz ‘advice’ and connections in Pakistan that got
Daniel Pearl murdered in the first place. And Asra Nomani who was
there knows all this and if she was a Wall Street Journal ‘reporter’
she is an embarrassment,(or a good example of the pseudo-journalists
WSJ hires),because she doesn’t even know of her fellow Beltway
parasite Mansoor Ijaz’ involvement in stock fraud,particularly but not
only Crescent Hydropolis,with James Woolsey,Lt.General James Alan
Abrahamson and Lt. General Mcinerney on the London AIM stock exchange
that had the backing of Dubai war AND MONEY LAUNDERING criminal Sheik
Mohamed Al Rashid bin Maktoum whose country sent $100,000 from
Pakistani Kalid Sheik Mohamed to Mohamed Atta, pre 9/11, in
Venice,Florida where he was hanging out at Jeb Bush’s pal Wally
Hilliard’s terrorist flight school,Huffman Aviation.This Snake of
Dubai Sheik Mohamed al Rashid Maktoum was then rewarded with over 20%
ownership of the U.S.NASDAQ FOR HIS MONEY LAUNDERING BUSINESS IN DUBAI
AS A CONSOLATION PRIZE FOR NOT BEING ALLOWED TO BUY CONTROL OF
U.S.PORTS THROUGH DUBAI PORTS.Asra Nomani and other phony
‘professional’ reporters made sure to not write about Sheikh Maktoum’s
take over of 20%+ of NASDAQ and SEC Chairwoman Mary Scapiro and IRS
Commissioner Doug Shulman’s self dealing and millions of dollars for
their treasonous act of selling it to him in their roles as FINRA
execs before their retired to their Barack Osama Obama approved SEC
and IRS positions in the U.S. ‘government’.
Asra Nomani is a sick joke and she is also the only Moslem I know of,
besides Richard Reid ‘the shoe bomber’, who was given VIP treatment
and an easy and welcome pass to travel to Israel.Maybe Israel welcomed
her because she is such a good Moslem ? Ha.
Asra likes to forget that even according to the ridiculous movie and
book supposedly written by Mariane Pearl,(whose role was played so
absurdly by the white ‘actress’ Angelina Jolie),that Daniel Pearl’s
main reason for being in Pakistan was to investigate Richard Reid ‘the
shoe bomber’ .And yet if Daniel Pearl was sincere he would have been
in his own country of Israel investigating because as any fool who is
familair with the background knows,it was Israel and El Al Airlines
and particulary Israeli money launderer and 9/11 mass murder suspect
Menachem Atzmon and his ICTS International(who allowed 911 to happen
in the first place by allowing Atta and his gang to board flights 175
and 11 from Logan Airport ,Boston on 9/11/901 with their plastic
cookie cutters in the first place), who also facilitated Richard
Reid’s vacation in Israel,( supposedly to visit Hamas) !
If you or I were to wanted to enter Israel to visit Hamas do you think
Israel and ICTS and El Al would facilitate and aid our visit ? I don’t
think so.However if you are Richard Reid the shoe bomber or the great
Islamic WSJ ‘reporter’ and Georgetown University journalism fraud Asra
Nomani, Israel gives VIP treatment.Why!?
Why !?