"The man who knew too much," an article headlined in the Oct. 13, 2007, edition of The Guardian, chronicles how Rich Barlow, an expert on Pakistan's nuclear secrets, was thrown out of the CIA and disgraced when he blew the whistle on Pakistan's nukes.


Much is made of this strategy in "From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War," a book written by Robert Gates before he became our secretary of defence. No Lefty he.

As the New Yorker and others have chronicled, lots of al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives, hemmed in at Tora Bora in late 2001, escaped to the Pakistani border in a virtual caravan. [i]Seymour Hersh, writi[b]...

"The man who knew too much," an article headlined in the Oct. 13, 2007, edition of The Guardian, chronicles how Rich Barlow, an expert on Pakistan's nuclear secrets, was thrown out of the CIA and disgraced when he blew the whistle on Pakistan's nukes.


Much is made of this strategy in "From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War," a book written by Robert Gates before he became our secretary of defence. No Lefty he.

As the New Yorker and others have chronicled, lots of al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives, hemmed in at Tora Bora in late 2001, escaped to the Pakistani border in a virtual caravan. Seymour Hersh, writing in the New Yorker, has charged that American Special Forces colluded in the getaway, and provided damning eyewitness accounts. Big Media, natch, shrugged off the story.

... Bhutto. Wittingly or not, we set her up for the kill. It's laid out in a story from the Dec. 28 Washington Post, headlined, "US Brokered Bhutto's Return to Pakistan: White House Would Back Her as PM. While Musharraf Held Presidency," By Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler.

They write, "For Bhutto, the decision to return to Pakistan was sealed during a telephone call from Secretary of State Rice just a week before Bhutto flew home in October. The call culminated more than a year of secret diplomacy--and came only when it became clear that the heir to Pakistan's most powerful political dynasty was the only one who could bail out Washington's key ally in the battle against terrorism.

"I...

... Bhutto. Wittingly or not, we set her up for the kill. It's laid out in a story from the Dec. 28 Washington Post, headlined, "US Brokered Bhutto's Return to Pakistan: White House Would Back Her as PM. While Musharraf Held Presidency," By Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler.

They write, "For Bhutto, the decision to return to Pakistan was sealed during a telephone call from Secretary of State Rice just a week before Bhutto flew home in October. The call culminated more than a year of secret diplomacy--and came only when it became clear that the heir to Pakistan's most powerful political dynasty was the only one who could bail out Washington's key ally in the battle against terrorism.

"It was a stunning turnaround for Bhutto, a former prime minister who was forced from power in 1996 amid corruption charges. She was suddenly visiting with top State Department officials, dining with UN Ambassador Khalilzad and conferring with members of the National Security Council. As Musharraf's political future began to unravel this year, Bhutto became the only politician who might help keep him in power.

"The US came to understand that Bhutto was not a threat to stability, but was instead the only possible way that we could guarantee stability and keep the presidency of Musharraf intact," said Mark Siegel, who lobbied for Bhutto in Washington and witnessed much of the behind-the-scenes diplomacy.

"Bhutto's assassination leaves Pakistan's future - and Musharraf's - in doubt, some experts said. 'US policy is in tatters. The administration was relying on Bhutto's participation in elections to legitimate Musharraf's continued power as president,' said B. R. Rubin of New York University. 'Now Musharraf is finished.'"