The Telegraph:
Pakistan’s Abbottabad Commission, set up to probe the raid and previous efforts to capture the Al-Qaeda leader, delivered a trenchant condemnation of the US decision to unilaterally launch the operation inside Pakistani territory without seeking permission from the government in Islamabad. It painted the United States as an “arrogant” military power disdainful of the rights of other nations, over which it would ride roughshod in pursuit of its security goals.
The commission’s report – leaked by Al Jazeera on Monday – denounced the US action as the “greatest humiliation” suffered by Pakistan since 1971, when East Pakistan seceded to form Bangladesh.
US officials have justified the decision to keep Pakistan in the dark by suggesting there was a risk that the target might be tipped off. In an October presidential debate, President Barack Obama put it bluntly: “If we had asked Pakistan (for) permission, we would not have gotten him.”
The Pakistani government saw it differently. The raid demonstrated Washington’s “contemptuous disregard of Pakistan’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity in the arrogant certainty of … unmatched military might”, the report stated.
Officially allies in the US fight against Al Qaeda, the already complicated relationship between Pakistan and the United States suffered a severe rift over the bin Laden operation.
The tensions between US and Pakistani security forces were illustrated in the report by interviews with Lieutenant-General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, who headed Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) at the time of bin Laden’s killing.
Lt-Gen Pasha said US arrogance “knew no limits” and accused Washington of waging “psychological warfare” over the whereabouts of Taliban leader Mullah Omar and bin Laden’s successor Ayman al-Zawahiri.
He quoted a US intelligence officer as saying “you are so cheap… we can buy you with a visa, with a visit to the US, even with a dinner … we can buy anyone”.
But the former ISI director-general himself criticised the Pakistani government for becoming too “weak” and dependent on Washington to stand up to its ally. He said that systemic failures showed Pakistan was a “failing state”.
Boy!
And I thought Obama dithered!
Too bad for Pakistan. They were harboring him. Had they been told in advance, he’s still be alive today.