The Headley Affair

Indian newspapers have been abuzz for weeks about the arrest in Chicago of two men of Pakistani origin: David Coleman Headley (aka Daood Gilani), and Tahawwur Hussain Rana. These two stand accused by the FBI of a conspiracy to do violence against the editors of Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper in Denmark that published cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.

It seems that both Headley and Rana had traveled multiple times to India, possibly to scout locations for terrorist attacks. So, India's new NIA wants to investigate them for links with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

But the most explosive significance of their arrest is not mentioned in the unsealed complaint---not only is Headley accused of collaborating with Lashkar-e-Taiba, but that he worked closely with two ex-military officers in Pakistan; he regularly visited Pakistan, where he was born and attended school. A New York Times article yesterday said,

The case is one of the first criminal cases in which the federal authorities seem to have directly linked terrorism suspects in the United States to a former Pakistani military officer, though they have long suspected connections between extremists and many members of the Pakistani military. Intelligence officials believe that some Pakistani military and intelligence officials even encourage terrorists to attack what they see as Pakistan’s enemies, including targets in India.

(Link to NYT article).

This thing is what the Pakistan Inter-Services Public Relations (IPSR) typically calls "a sensitive matter", not to be discussed in polite company. The FBI, unlike the CIA or the U.S. military, is likely to follow the threads to their logical conclusions. The next few days should produce significant findings, especially if Headley is cooperating.

Case closed, you wish

The godfather of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, is increasingly frustrated at his house arrest. On July 4th, he started to declare his own independence to news agencies: he says the Pakistan government was fully involved in nuclear proliferation:

"His claims stood in stark contrast with his 2004 confession that he was solely responsible for spreading nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya. But Dr. Khan has since renounced that confession, saying he made it to avoid implicating other Pakistani officials."

(NYT link, registration required)

This new claim has the ring of truth, as many analysts will tell you. Boston Brahmin himself had argued, back in 2004 when Khan was arrested, that:

In a country so completely dominated by the army, it is inconceivable that the country's crown jewels at Kahuta could be sold without the knowledge of the brass.

(Pointer to 2004 post by Boston Brahmin) Yet, the New York Times, Washington Post, and other Western news outlets continued for years to repeat as facts, Pakistan government claims that AQ Khan was a "rogue" scientist working on his own.

Khan's interviews yesterday took the government by surprise. But denials were quick: "all lies and false statements". Today, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry insisted that its nuclear proliferation case was closed. (link to AP wire article).
Case closed? You wish.