Pakistan is reportedly looking inward into how it might have contributed to one of the worst intelligence failures in modern history.
It’s about time.
The probe looks into how Pakistan let Osama bin Laden hide in virtual plain sight for so long until May 2, 2011, when a U.S. Navy SEAL team launched a raid deep into Pakistan that killed bin Laden.
The 336-page report wonders whether Pakistani officials might have looked the other way when suspicions arose as to whether bin Laden was living in a highly fortified compound not far from an elite military academy. It’s been noted that bin Laden might have worn a cowboy hat to avoid detection by anyone peering into the compound.
Oh, please.
Many of us on the outside — yours truly included — have wondered since the raid was announced by President Obama to a cheering U.S. public whether the Pakistani government had knowledge of bin Laden’s presence. I still have trouble believing bin Laden — the world’s most wanted terrorist — could have escaped the Pakistani intelligence network, which is reputed to be a top-notch outfit.
That might explain what U.S. spooks knew when they laid the proposal for the raid on the commander in chief’s desk.
Pakistan is right to ask itself some tough questions about what its intelligence officials knew and when they knew it. My hunch is that they knew plenty all along, but kept the information quiet.