Pakistan - Seymour Hersh’s article - ''Perilous account''

Seymour Hersh’s article in the London Review of Books, which purports to tell “an alternative history of the war on terror”, answers less and raises more questions about Osama bin Laden’s killing in 2011. Hersh’s 10,000 word account gives the minute details of the alleged negotiations between the US and Pakistani military and security forces, who he claims were in agreement about the raid that resulted in Osama’s death. The article claims that the ISI caught Osama in the Hindu Kush mountains by gaining intelligence from the tribes living in the region where he was hiding and subsequently imprisoned him in the compound in Abottabad in 2006, keeping this a secret from the Americans to use as ‘leverage’ against al Qaeda and the Taliban. Hersh claims that both Generals Kiyani and Pasha, the COAS and ISI chief at the time respectively, were on board in this venture. According to Hersh’s source, a ‘walk-in’ former military officer reported Osama’s whereabouts to a CIA official at the US embassy in return for most of the $ 25 million dollar bounty on bin Laden. A portion of the bounty was also paid to the military’s Dr Aziz who the ISI stationed in a house near the compound to attend the invalid Osama, for providing the DNA evidence that confirmed the terrorist leader’s identity. Once the US informed Pakistan’s military leaders that they had learned this dangerous secret, it took months of negotiations to strike a deal: Pakistan’s military was assured that US forces would kill Osama and say that Pakistan did not have any knowledge of his whereabouts (somewhere in the Hindu Kush) in return for allowing the US to conduct the raid without interference. However, the main source for Hersh’s report is an anonymous “retired senior US security official” and there is no proof of the narrative presented in the story. The truth of what might be the biggest cover-up in history is yet to come out.

Nevertheless, Hersh’s story is certainly an incredible read, which pokes enough holes in the official accounts of the saga of Osama’s death to make them seem questionable; it also explicates the motivations of the parties involved in the cover-up. There has been a great deal of mistrust surrounding the authorities’ account of Osama’s death since the incident was revealed and became a major factor in President Obama’s re-election. It is hard to believe that the Pakistani Army and ISI did not realise that Osama was hiding so close to the premier military academy, or that US helicopters entering the country and circling the compound were not detected. Whether Hersh’s report is to be believed or not, it effectively challenges the credibility of both the US and Pakistani authorities, who may now struggle to defend their version of the story. They owe the world a truthful account so closure can be applied to this startling episode of history.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/editorial/12-May-2015/perilous-account