Pakistan jails doctor who helped CIA find Osama bin Laden - 33 year sentence

[chessdev.livejournal.com]

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/23/11827022-pakistan-jails-doctor-who-helped-cia-find-osama-bin-laden?lite

Updated at 8:18 a.m. ET: PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden was convicted of high treason and sentenced to 33 years in prison on Wednesday.

Shakil Afridi ran a vaccination program for the American intelligence agency to collect DNA and verify bin Laden's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad, where he was killed last May by U.S. commandos.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has previously called for Afridi to be released, saying his work served Pakistani and American interests.

---

Afridi was also ordered to pay a fine of about $3,500, Nasir Khan, a government official in the Khyber tribal area, told The Associated Press. If he doesn't pay, he will spend another three and half years in prison, Khan said.

His imprisonment is likely to anger ally Washington at a sensitive time, with both sides engaged in difficult talks over re-opening NATO supply routes to U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials had hoped Pakistan, a recipient of billions of dollars in American aid, would release Afridi. He was detained after the unilateral operation which killed bin Laden and strained ties with Islamabad.

In January, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in a television interview that Afridi and his team had been key in finding bin Laden, describing him as helpful and insisting the doctor had not committed treason or harmed Pakistan

[chessdev]  WTF!?!?   Allegedly these guys are our allies in the "War on Terror".  And they sure are quick to accept billions of dollars in American aid, including after several earthquakes... BUT we find Bin Laden virtually down the street from their government AND they're going out of their way to punish people who helped get Bin Laden???

My first thought for balancing the budget would be to withdraw some of the aid we're giving that government -- if they're going to take our money and still try to screw us over, then let's give it to OUR causes and let *those* screw us over instead...

Or is there some rationale that isnt as sinister as I'm thinking for why they would sentence this guy so harshly?

Comments

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

Simple. They aren't our allies. Screw Pakistan.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Bangladesh might disagree with them not being our allies. So would Russia, for that matter. So definitely also would India.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

It's always been a marriage of convenience at best.

[nairiporter.livejournal.com]

Could you un-restrict the post please?

[chessdev.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. I didnt realize that was set - and I just got back to a computer just now.
I've set it to "Everyone"

Again - apologies on that

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

Our relationship is simple. We pay them money, they give us access to Afghanistan. It gives the US the benefit of having an easy supply route, and lets Pakistan send the more troublesome of their ISI affiliates out into the wilderness with a bunch of American soldiers where they will kill each other off and diminish long-term American influence. Both sides benefit, although on different time scales.

We're not allies. We're business partners. But you don't have to like the people you do business with, a fact that Pakistan is only too keen to remind us of every once in a while.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Um, we are allies and have been since the Cold War. Have people forgotten things like the US Navy moving a carrier fleet into the Indian Ocean to help our allies carry out a genocidal war against Bengalis?

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

Pakistan is in bed with several partners, always has been. It also has a long history of corruption and military coups, not exactly a stable democracy in other words.
The US should have offered that doctor sanctuary long ago, it's pure negligence IMO that they didn't.

[crystallinegirl.livejournal.com]

I agree that the US should have given that doctor sanctuary, but the fact of the matter is, the US DID violate Pakistan's borders by carrying out a military mission within their borders without their permission. So I can see why Pakistan would convict the dude of treason. Can you imagine what would happen if it were the US, and someone like...oh, we'll go with Mexico, inserted a military team, killed somebody within our borders, and left with him? It would be a HUGE mess. So as much as I dislike Pakistan, and think they DID know exactly where Bin Ladin was, I can't really be pissed about them being pissed at us.

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

I can imagine, but the difference being that the U.S. is better equipped and have people better trained for things like that than Mexico. And the same goes for Pakistan. There is also that little thing where no one trust Pakistan to truly be on the America's side and I don't think the same could be said for Mexico (meaning Mexico would probably trust the US more to carry out the capturing and handing over said person).

[madnecromancer.livejournal.com]

this article might shed some light on it for some people:

most of the aid is military and its just giving money into the hands of corrupt politicians who have no problem screwing over their own people for their own greed. The U.S. has been insincere, the aid was merely bribery to get into the borders and not really out of concern for Pakistan's deteriorating democracy, laws and civil justice. Let me know if it helps.

http://carnegieendowment.org/files/pakistan_aid2011.pdf

[dwer.livejournal.com]

Allegedly these guys are our allies in the "War on Terror".

We sure bomb them a lot for them to be our allies.

The Pakistani government, which certainly wants to remain in power, needs to balance the money they get from the US with the constant threat of fundamentalist revolution. The US could have made it easy on this guy and made it clear that he was hands off, but obviously they didn't.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Well, they've been our allies since the Cold War so SAC had bases to monitor the USSR. We sure know how to pick allies. O.X

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

Relations between Pakistan and the US have been complicated since the country was founded. Pakistan has been used as a pawn time and again in efforts to pressure their neighbors to act in the interest of the US. They are also a long-time strategic ally of Big Bro China.

I sympathize somewhat with Pakistan on sentencing the man to hard time. He was caught collecting biometric data on Pakistani citizens for an foreign intelligence agency. He is lucky he did not receive a more severe sentence. I expect they may try to use him as a hostage in future negotiations.

[lurkerwisp.livejournal.com]

That second part there really sums up what I'm thinking on this topic. At the heart of the matter a doctor used his position as a medical professional to deceptively collect information for a foreign government. While yes, the outcome may have been a good thing for the US, the ends don't really justify the means.

Imagine if you (general you, not you, sophia_sadek ;) ) went to your doctor for a routine exam and later found out that your doctor had collected DNA samples to send out of the country to determine if you're a foreign criminal. Even if you're not that foreign criminal, that's a pretty severe invasion of privacy for your own government to just ignore.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

Pakistan is probably not happy about the secret raid in their country. True, they were harboring a fugitive everyone but George W Bush cared about, but nonetheless, resent not being told about it. Probably why they so eagerly passed along the formerly-secret Stealth Helicopter remains to our enemies.

[rick-day.livejournal.com]

if you drop aid, some other country will fill the vacuum.

Like China or the Russian Fed.

Obviously, the solution is to nuke-wipe them. Asshole warmongers to all their neighbors and have been for a while now.

[rimpala.livejournal.com]

"And since it's a stupid-ass decision I've elected to ignore it!"

Seriously nuking Pakistan is not the answer, not everyone living there is as at fault as it's government. Besides, that's a sure way to make sure the doctor doesn't get out of this alive.

[madnecromancer.livejournal.com]

ummm yes clearly they're the warmongerers.....(to rick_day)

[rimpala.livejournal.com]

I agree that the doctor should have been given sanctuary, 33 years is a tough sentence

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

What do you think is going to happen to that former U.S. soldier who helped the Wikileaks happen?

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Pakistan, like Saudi Arabia, is a sign that the USA sure knows how to pick its regional allies.

[mylaptopisevil.livejournal.com]

It sucks, but I'm trying to think of a context where we'd be cool with another country covertly hiring doctors in the US to do secret DNA tests on American citizens under the guise of giving vaccinations in order to hunt down someone wanted by their government.

Like I can't imagine America going "oh, yeah we're cool with that, American citizen involved in that."

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

American's value their freedoms and privacy far more than citizens of many other countries (although I fully admit I have little idea how much Pakistanis value said freedoms and privacy). Perhaps you should pick a different country for your imaginary scenario? It would probably be easier to find a context.

[cheezyfish.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the US should take this as a validation that Pakistan has been taking aid to fight terrorism and in reality been doing the opposite (something the US has suspected for a while, hence the reason the Bin Laden raid wasn't disclosed to Pakistan in the first place) basically stealing the money. After all, if this doctor can be charged with treason for helping to kill Bin Laden, wouldn't that mean they consider the killing of Bin Laden as a betrayal to Pakistan itself? Perhaps the US should demand the some 80 billion dollars we gave back. If they refuse the US will accept military incursions to hit terrorist targets within Pakistan's border with impunity. For every drone bombing, the US will knock 100 mil of the bill and for every raid the US will knock 200 mil off the bill, until we get our money worth.

This probably a horrible idea when it comes to international law, but its fun to think about.

[danalwyn.livejournal.com]

The problem is that the US needs Pakistan a lot more than Pakistan needs the US at this point. Until we can reduce our troop and equipment levels in Afghanistan to the point where we can just write them off, we need those supply lines. That's a lot of what the US is paying that money for. Pakistan knows this, and sees no reason not to use that to squeeze the US every once in a while. Because the US is so invested in Afghanistan we need Pakistan's cooperation - for now - because we sure aren't going to get Iran's.