Tag: Pakistan ISI

The Chicago terror trial of Tahawwur Hussein Rana continued today with more testimony from former DEA informant and admitted Mumbai attack planner David Coleman Headley, aka Daood Gilani.

The Court ordered the Government's Santiago proffer unsealed today, on motion of the Chicago Tribune. Here it is skip to page 18 where the facts begin.

Via Colin Freeze, Globe and Mail reporter who's live-tweeting the trial, Headley testified he worked for the DEA for two years after becoming involved with LeT. The DEA first sent him to Pakistan in 1999. (They sent him again in December, 2001.) He said he stopped working for the DEA in 2002. He also attended his first LeT training camp in Feb. 2002. Here's a timeline, and here are the docket entries from his last heroin case. (It wasn't his first bust or the first time he worked his way down to a low sentence by cooperating with the DEA.) [More...]

Pakistan has issued a statement following David Coleman Headley's testimony Monday in the Chicago trial of Tahawwur Hussein Rana, saying his statements that Pakistan's ISI supported the Mumbai bombings is not credible:

"This is a completely incorrect statement from him (David Coleman Headley). ISI & serving officers did not provide support to David Headley, and ISI had nothing to do with the Mumbai attacks. David Headley was a double agent. He is not a credible witness."

Will the real Major Iqbal please stand up? No one seems to have identified him yet. He used the e-mail address chaudherykhan-at-yahoo.com. Who gave Headley the opportunity to be a double agent? The DEA. Who else is playing both sides? Pakistan. There's plenty of dirt to go around.

Globe and Mail reporter Colin Freeze is doing a great job of live-tweeting the trial. All of our coverage since the 2009 arrest of Headley is accessible here.

Opening arguments were held this morning in the Chicago terror trial of Tahawwur Hussein Rana, charged with conspiracy in the Mumbai bombings and a planned attack on a Danish news agency.

“The defendant didn’t carry a gun or throw a grenade. In a complicated and sophisticated plot, not every player carries a weapon. People like the defendant who provides support are just as critical to the success,” [AUSA] Streicker said.

Streiker said Rana "not only knew of the attacks, he approved of them, and agreed with them." The defense said David Headley is a master manipulator who made a fool of Doctor Rana.

David Headley, aka Daood Gilani, is the Government's first witness.[More...]

Jury selection began today in Chicago in the trial of Tahawwur Hussein Rana, charged with conspiracy in the Mumbai bombings and a planned attack on a news agency in Denmark. The jury was given a questionnaire and told to return tomorrow. You can view the questionnaire here.

The trial may have major implications for the Pakistani ISI:

The proceedings are likely to add fuel to a diplomatic crisis over suspicions of official Pakistani complicity with terrorism after U.S. commandos killed Osama bin Laden on May 2 in a garrison city just 55 kilometers from Islamabad.

Pakistani intelligence, under the microscope following the revelation that the al-Qaida chief lived for years under the noses of Pakistani authorities, will come in for further scrutiny because the indictment names officers of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency as conspirators in the Mumbai attacks.

More on the implications for Pakistan-US relations today at The Guardian. All of our coverage is available here.

"When I look at the television,
I want to see me staring right back at me
We all want to be big stars,
... when everybody loves me,
I'm going to be just about as happy as I can be"

What is the big deal about Osama bin Laden watching videos of himself on TV? Who cares? Why release them now? Is it to deflect attention from the bungled narrative Administration officials presented all week as to what happened during the raid on the bin Laden compound in Abbottabad? Does the Administratin think they show us something negative we didn't know about Osama?

The Administration should count its blessings that everyone is glad Osama is dead, otherwise it could be in deep doo-doo over this raid and have a lot more explaining to do, particularly over its relationship with Pakistan's military and intelligence agency, which is costing us a fortune. There sure doesn't seem to be much bang for the buck. [More...]