Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Lawrence Wright

As Res stated his book 'The Looming Tower' is an absolute must read for anyone seeking to learn about Al Qaeda and the rise of extremism in the region.

Wright was interviewed on Fresh Air yesterday and you can hear it here.

"I was surprised that he was living inside an urban area, but I'm not surprised to learn that he was essentially sheltered by Pakistani intelligence and military units. I do make that assumption. I feel that for years, the Pakistani military and intelligence complex has been in the 'looking for bin Laden' business. He was a priceless asset to them because we poured billions of dollars into their pockets to try to find him. If they found him, they'd be out of business. So he was an irreplaceable asset and I think that Pakistan has a lot to answer for. This looks very incriminating. ... This gives us an opportunity to reassess exactly what our relationship with Pakistan ought to be."

3 comments:

Mr. Hedley Bowes said...

For the bigger picture, sub 'Bush' for 'Pakistani'

res ipsa loquitur said...

Wright makes a really good point in that interview, i.e., OBL could have been tried in Kenya, Tanzania, and/or any number of other places, according to the precepts of Sharia law, which would have had the same result: death.

pansypoo said...

was pre-empted here for other osama talk. perspective would have been nice.