WHERE THE WAR ENDS:

Has the CIA Unmasked Daniel Pearl’s Killer?: Once again, the U.S. is covering up for Pakistan’s mistakes (Bernard-Henri Lévy, 12/18/03, LA Weekly)

I don’t believe that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, as the American government recently declared, first to Pearl’s widow, Marian Pearl, and then to the press. [...]

So then, the question becomes, as it always does in these cases, why? What interest or purpose is served by this bizarre revelation, fallen as if from the sky, and, making things stranger still, presented to us as coming from anonymous sources? I do not doubt the good faith of the investigators, who are doing their best, even when going astray, in their search for the truth. But I do not doubt either, alas, the possibility that this “Operation Mohammed” functions as a protective smoke screen.

For my Pakistani friends, for all who struggle for democracy in that country and consider discovering the truth about the Pearl affair as a test, the matter is very clear: To stress the responsibility of Mohammed inevitably means blurring the guilt of Omar Sheikh, the mastermind of Pearl’s abduction, who is now condemned to death in Pakistan. And casting a spotlight on al Qaeda and its former third in command also means, deliberately or not, turning the same light away from Pakistan’s ISI intelligence services, of which there is ample evidence to show that Omar is an agent.

It could well be that this sudden placement of blame on one of the chiefs of this cold, stateless monster that is bin Laden’s organization comes at this appointed moment to turn our attention away from the Pakistani scene, where many analysts have lingered with an insistence that has become embarrassing to both the U.S. and Pakistani governments.

There's no point though in helping destabilize or isolate the current military government until we're ready to clean out the Islamicists there.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 18, 2003 9:47 PM