Category — News

While on the subject of Hamid Gul: Al-Qaeda’s Man In Pakistan, consider this from the good general in the Washington Times regarding the Marriott bombing.

But reports that the government had received intelligence information of an attack in the capital two days earlier had many in Islamabad and elsewhere in the country enraged.

“The intelligence agencies had done their bit. Their job is to gather the information, and they had done this” said retired Gen. Hamid Gul, former director-general of the nation’s intelligence agency. “The failing is on the part of the government, and it´s a huge and shameful failing.”

Gen. Gul, who was instrumental in forming the Afghani Taliban in the 1990s, says the police and other security agencies were so busy in arranging protection for President Asif Ali Zardari´s first address to the parliament that they had ignored the security of the ordinary public.

Pakistan has limited resources, he said. “And when we dedicate these resources to over-protecting one man or a few VIPs, then the result is going to be underprotection of the rest of the city.”

Yes. Secular government bad, compromised/infested intelligence agencies good.

Before the objective among us attempt to explain ways in which General Gul may ‘have a point,’ let’s note for the record the complete absence - ever - of criticism of Taliban or al-Qaeda terrorists for murdering those in their path, the very people Hamid Gul seeks to insinuate championing with supposed interests in their own security.

Gul has no ‘point.’ He has a vision. It’s called a global caliphate beginning with a Gul-lead and al-Qaeda-owned Pakistan.

Pay attention. It’s free.

In our last Pakistan PrincipalAnalysis, Al-Qaeda’s Progression On Pakistan’s Demise, we spelled out the line of succession the Taliban-al-Qaeda alliance desires in order to exact control of Pakistan and its resources, including its nuclear arsenal. The end-game in the progression rests upon the shoulders of Usama bin Laden friend and former Pakistani ISI director, retired General Hamid Gul. Paying attention to Hamid Gul’s words and actions can serve as an excellent indicator of al-Qaeda aims and actions inside Pakistan.

To wit, notice this quote from Hamid Gul within a September 13, 2008 Washington Post article. He is talking within the context of US raids into Pakistan by both CIA Predator drones and US Special Forces ground units within the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, North and South Waziristan in particular.

“If bombs were to fall in Karachi and Islamabad, that would then be considered an act of war. The Pakistani government wants to pretend that these areas [Note: FATA areas, not Islamabad & Kirachi] are not part of Pakistan, but they are,” said retired Gen. Hamid Gul, former director of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI). “Instead of solving the problem, it has only exacerbated it. If those people in those areas were not part of the Taliban forces before these strikes, they will be now.”

Of course, gaining popular support among local Pakistanis in the tribal areas dominated by the Taliban-al-Qaeda alliance has always been a propaganda goal after every attack.

Further, barely one week later, a massive bomb did ‘fall’ in Islamabad at the Marriott Hotel. And by Hamid Gul’s own definition, this is an act of war against Pakistan. Now, we know this is already the case, as the insurgency is seeking to decapitate the Pakistani government in order to usurp it and control its resources and population. Gul’s words here are simply further illuminating regarding his opposition to the Pakistani government (no secret).

But perhaps no recent quote from Hamid Gul, the “Godfather of the Taliban,” is more illuminating than what he told Syed Saleem Shahzad of Adnkronos International (AKI) Monday after the Marriott bombing.

Former Pakistani spy master, Retired Lt. General Hamid Gul said that the militants had watched their target for days and then selected a vehicle carrying construction materials and loaded the vehicle with over 600 kilogrammes of explosives.

While not a direct quote, note with clarity how Hamid Gul does not appear to be speculating, but rather stating as known fact. It would be easy enough to speculate the same, but he is not speculating. How, one must ask, does he know this?

The question is entirely rhetorical.