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Afp / AFP/Getty Images
Husain Haqqani, shown at a memorial service for Pakistan's Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti in Washington on March 9.
Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., has resigned amid controversy surrounding a memo he allegedly drafted shortly after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in May.
The memo requested U.S. intervention to prevent a military coup and protect the civilian government in exchange for granting the U.S. heavy influence on matters of national security in Pakistan.
Dubbed “Memogate,” the affair has dominated headlines in Pakistan for weeks before apparently claiming its first victim on Tuesday.
A statement issued by Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's office said Haqqani has been asked "to submit his resignation so that the investigation can be carried out properly."
Haqqani flew back to Islamabad this weekend to explain his involvement – if any -- in the scandal to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Gilani and military and intelligence officials, tweeting on Nov. 19th that he was "Heading back to the motherland." He reportedly offered his resignation then, but it was not accepted at the time.
"Memogate" is centered on a memo that Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz says he delivered to then-chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, at the behest of Ambassador Haqqani in the days immediately following the U.S. raid that killed bin Laden in Pakistan. The memo, which is unsigned, states that there had been “a significant deterioration in Pakistan’s political atmosphere” and indicated that the civilian government feared that factions within the military were planning a coup.
Retired U.S. Gen. Jim Jones, President Barack Obama’s former national security adviser, has confirmed that the memo was delivered to Mullen.
The existence of the memo was revealed in an October op-ed by Ijaz for the Financial Times. Ijaz told NBC News he typed the memo as dictated by Haqqani, and only revealed its existence in the article to lend credibility to the policy case he was making. Haqqani has denied any involvement in requesting or drafting the memo. But opposition leaders in Pakistan pounced, equating the memo to "treason" and demanding that heads roll.
Members of the Pakistani press have been digging into the scandal for the last few weeks, including publishing Blackberry messages allegedly exchanged by Haqqani and Ijaz as the memo was being drafted, and afterward.
U.S. officials tell NBC News they are watching with "great interest" how this is being handled by the Pakistani government, but say they are not involved in the investigation.
Haqqani, who has been described as a "seasoned political operator," is well-liked within U.S. government circles, and enjoys a strong reputation for managing to remain effective in a treacherous political climate. He remains in Islamabad at this writing.
In Tuesday’s statement, Gilani ordered an investigation to be "carried out fairly, objectively and without bias."
“As a result of controversy generated by the alleged memo, which had been drafted, formulated and further admitted to have been received by Authority in USA, it has become necessary in the national interest to formally arrive at the actual and true facts,” the statement said.
Haqqani turned back to his Twitter account following the announcement of his resignation, writing, "I have much to contribute to building a new Pakistan free of bigotry & intolerance. Will focus energies on that."
Fakhar Rehman of NBC News contributed to this report from Islamabad.
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Pakistan is a nightmare! Until they figure out which side they are on, we should leave them alone, and certainly NOT give them money! The bi-polar nature, of Pakistan's power players, means they are ineffective at either being the USA's friend.... OR foe!!!
Looks like another double agent bites the dust . Hope this one doesn't turn around and bite us in the you know what.
So he'll be stoned, beaten and his corpse will be dragged through the streets of Islamabad while Al Jaseera put it on the air
Haqqani will shortly be found dead as the result of a "car accident" or some other incident in Pakistan. I am surprised that he returned to Pakistan willingly, he had to know that he was basically committing suicide by doing so. There is no way that the military is going to allow Haqqani to get much older. They have already convicted him and declared him guilty of treason. While I doubt the military will publicly execute him because of the international political outcry that would result, they will see to it that he pays with his life for questioning the military's motives and authority. It is a shame that a person who could have helped bring about a more civilized government in Pakistan will end up paying for his efforts with his life.
Who are you calling BIPOLAR??? The U.S is BIPOLAR, MANIC DEPRESSIVE, PSYCHOTIC, SCHIZOPHRENIC all wrapped into one. You think you can go around handing out money and that makes the country you 'gave' the money to your bitch? Bombing countries at will, telling countries like Iran that they can't have nuclear weapons, but it's ok for you to posess thousands of them as well as your buddies in Israel I could go on and on. You have soldiers that murder civilians in every 'war' you've been in and they get a couple of years in prison and are then let go. Yeah, let's talk about bipolar buddy.
Rodentrack- I have been saying it all along the Mulsims always stick together and for this country to keep on thinking that their (Arabs) are our friends or even to try to make peace with them is a fantasy. All that aid we give them is being used to build weapons against us. America is so stupid its beyond me. Why can't this country mind its own business and leave the middle east alone. Only just deal with Israel who is our #1 friend in that region.
Didn't you leave out PSYCHOPATHIC?
MDM,
Whether it's okay or not for the US to possess nuclear weapons is immaterial. The fact of the matter is they do. If they want to use their might to stop others from becoming nuclear threats, right or not, they can. They hold all the cards.
It's not a matter of right. In the end, whether it be in a bar, the street, or on the world stage, the end all and be all is "I can kick your ass".
got to love muslims.
They can even make christians start to sound intellient and that's saying a lot
Maximus....
Don't bite the hands that feeds you... america can be your best friend, and sure as hell can be your worst nightmare !! A little history lesson is promptly due here, and if you were any smarter than you think you are.. the past might teach you not to be so blind to the ignorance of many in the past. Proceed at your own risk, but never think you'll get over by being so stupid to begin with.....
9/11: .....don't forgive and don't forget !!
OBL tried unsuccessful to blow up the trade towers in in 1993 makes me think he was just doing his job on 9/11 hired and protected by Pakistan payed for by ?
What exactly is the writer of this article trying to tell us? I find the piece confusing as it assumes that the reader has been following this matter from the get go and from the original or other souces.
Wouldn't it have been better if there was some background given regarding what memogate was supposed to be or how it came into being?
Are reporters/newsrooms etc going on the belief that readers are going to then go back and check out the link for memogate for example, to have a reference point or an idea of what this was about before continuing to read the remainder of the present article posted here?
If that is/ was the point ..... why would I bother to read their article posted on the internet? Why not just go to the other link period i.e. the original source?
Perhap it would have been better if they had just given a headline like .... memogate.... Pakistan in an uproar....over questionable e-mail supposedly dictated by Pakistan's Ambassador to the US,... they could then provide a link to the original article/piece in the media that caused this supposed uproar.... and any subsequent info if the matter is ongoing...
Question......Who is Ijaz? Why was it necessary for such an e-mail to be made known in any public forum in the first place?
Question......Why did Ijaz feel it necessary to reveal that such an e-mail even existed?
Was he being accused of some negative activity and thus found it necessary to produce this as a means of clearing/defending himself?
Per the internet article the e-mail was unsigned and it was supposedly dictated to Ijaz by the Ambassador..... which begs to question .....
Why would the ambassador not write, sign and send the e-mail himself?
If it was supposed to be secret.... wouldn't it have been better to deal quietly and directly with his US counterpart etc rather than have a middleman?
Question..... can Ijaz prove that the Ambassador dictated the e-mail in the first place? Does he have witnesses to the dictating of such an e-mail? After all it is unsigned..... So... hmmm
I find it odd that such a seasoned Ambassador would be that trusting and careless.... considering his knowledge of the unrest in his country in general and amoung the very powerful players jostling with each other even pre and post OBL's demise....
There are too many unanswered questions/info missing to make sense of this situation at this time without further investigation etc by the reader(s)
On the other hand......I do not blame the writer/journalist for his article, rather I question the posting of this article without any background by whomever allowed it to be presented in this manner.....
It seems that standards are slipping doesn't it.... It seems that the old... who, what, where, when, why and how etc is now no longer being applied these days.....
Read all about it.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_documents/111117_Ijaz%20memo%20Foreign%20Policy.PDF
Pakistan is not a single person that needs to make up his mind. If you don't actually read the memo, it's not possible to comment intelligently on it.
Commonsense.... I read that memo and suggest all others to do the same, it sheds clear light on the position of Pakistan, and the direction they have decided to go unfortunately that window of opportunity is much much smaller if it exist at all. its to bad, it appears an opportunity has been missed, what I cant figure out is who blue it ! us or them. this should never have been public. now I fear all the wrong things can happen. there are good forces at work in Pakistan against incredible odds, very risky business to be in politics in that region of the world! I wonder what went wrong and who let the cat out of the bag. Thank You for sharing that.
Pakistan is new strong ally of China, a new friend in region against common enemies: India and America.
Piegan--
I will not even comment on your bigoted statement about Muslims
But the newer to your second questions is simple
"OIL"
This can have much more serious implications than you might think at first glance. That such a memo even existed is an indication of how fragile the civilian government of Pakistan really is. The military is a powerful and extremely corrupt force that has dealt from both ends of the deck since its inception. Using the constant threat of war with India, the ISI has successfully managed to build a nuclear missile program and is always a danger of spreading nukes to other Muslim countries and even North Korea. The ISI set up and controlled the Kashmiri insurgents who killed all the people in Mumbai. The ISI has long supported the Taliban and uses the Haqquiri Network as its private army in the autonomous provinces. While most Pakistanis are decent people, the ISI needs being watched very carefully and needs a serious slapdown by either the Pakistani government or the Pakistani mainstream military.
The bigger question is why he drafted the letter immediately following the Bin Ladin raid. Seems to me that that indicates US suspicions of high level Pakistani involvement with abetting OBL was accurate-- most likely from the military or ISI (or both). That would certainly explain how OBL remained in relative safety in one of Pakistan's most notable military towns, home to what has been billed in the US press as "the Pakistani West Point."
I agree with everything that you have said except your reference to "Muslim countries," as if being Islamic automatically qualifies a nation as an enemy of the United States. "Extremist countries" might have been a better choice of words here. Nevertheless, I agree with the gist of what you wrote: Pakistan poses a serious risk to international security that could erupt into a nuclear crisis at any time. Hopefully, the situation can be peacefully resolved before it comes to that.
I agree. The fact that this memo was dictated at such a high level is a pretty strong condemnation of the stability of the current regime in Pakistan. If a coup should take place, the fallout (no pun intended) will be global.
Musharif warned of the mess in Pakistan when he took power after the last coup, so it shouldn't be a surprise. You have three forces all vying for power. The military, ISI (Pakistan's spy agency), and civilian (sort of) government. The military and ISI are bed fellows but the ISI has repeatedly sponsored terrorist organizations even when they've opposed the military. The civilian government is corrupt and has been for years. The whole country is a mess. The monies that the US gives are basically bribes to the military to keep control of the nukes and to prevent the ISI from giving one to terrorists to attack India or worse.
If you want to control the people you keep them divided and make sure that there is a common enemy that can destroy them. It's an effective strategy and used in Pakistan on a razors edge that may at some point lead to fragmentation of the country (not that it isn't already). But then the same tactics are used by the US government for it's citizens, just not quite at the same extreme. We're getting there though. I do wonder if it was someone from the US that tossed this guy under the bus. They're still sore of the Bin Laden thing.. it must have cost a lot in bribe payments.
Interesting comments, Chris. Good post. Section S sounds like a nightmare.
North Korea doesn't really seem to need A. Q. Khan for it's weapons technology, though.
Good point, Shandril. I don't think Chris meant what you read into his comment, but your point is well made.
Mike, just as Pakistan is not a single person, neither is ISI, nor even Section S.
Bet this guy will be assassinated in Pakistan within a month!!
Are you kidding? If we learned anything from the Osama bin Laden deal, it's that Pakistanis can't find anyone.
This guy just walked to the restroom and disappeared.
Then again, Osama bin Laden was hiding. This guy isn't.
Pakistan was hidding and protecting Osama bin Laden; they knew precisely where he was. They just didn't think we knew.
I have question to those who complains that Osama was in Pakistan and that means Pakistani officials are involved. 19 Hijackers were in USA for years, they got training there, and then plotted the whole thing, with same rule doesn’t that mean CIA is involved in this then?
chiralapa ---- Osama bin Laden was a devout Muslim and sworn enemy of all infidels. He was responsible for the cold blooded murder of thousands of infidels. Pakistan is an Islamic country which was founded as a result of its hatred of infidels in general and in particular in India. Pakistan , at its highest levels of government, has sponsored and directed Islamists violence against infidels, especially in India. These Islamists in control of the ISI and the military are sympathetic to OBL and saw him as a fellow traveler. Radical Muslims support , defend and protect others of the same persuasion and goals and that is why they sought to shelter and protect OBL.
The situation in the USA with the 911 Muslim murders was profoundly different. The 19 were devout Muslims on a mission to murder Americans; this goal and view was not shared by American law enforcement and in fact was anathema to them. The 19 were enemies of America and American law enforcement had no sympathy with them, no reason to want to protect them. and every reason to want to apprehend and stop them. The 19 would have been very happy to murder the American law enforcement officials if given the chance.
Chiralapa-Not only did the terrorist train in the US but they mentioned they did not need to learn how to takeoff and land only to guide the plane, that should have sounded of some alarms in their flight school. don't you think!
And here comes the question: "Who cares?"
It's only Pakistan - hello! Like they are important -No. Nukes or no nukes does not make any difference. Just give no more "Aid/Money" to those liars.
I thik India would disagree with you on Pakistan not being important.
Pakistan is actually quite important *because* it has nuclear weapons and is a hotbed of Islamist extremism. Remember, it was the country that Osama bin Laden chose for a safe haven, with good reason: He had many supporters and sympathizers there. If the military there should stage a coup and take complete control over those nuclear weapons, those same weapons could make their way into the hands of terrorists-- and that is the last thing that anyone wants to happen (except terrorists!).
This is bull@!$%#. Another article that completely fails to mention Ron Paul.
Heh, that guy has an unfortunate name for an Ambassador.
Same as our President's middle name, remember?
I think Toasty meant 'same last name as Jalaluddin Haqqani'.
Sharing a name with the President of the United States should hardly be considered "unfortunate". Unless you hate America, and Toasty is a true patriot, judging from his posts.
Something tells me this guy will vanish. Pakistan's military which in reality controls that country and anyone else in that country that does not belong to the 5% of Pakistani's that care for America or the west will want his head literally.
That gentleman's days are numbered now. Too bad, he sounds like one of the last influential voices of reason there.
Unfortunately, gdvegas, Pakistan is important in that the US needs an ally in the region and as awful as they are, they're the lesser of all the other evils. But not by much.
Why? If we remove all our troops from the ME and concern ourselves with only our own security.
Try again, this time with a more realistic approach.
We leave them alone, pull our troops, go home and fortify our borders, meanwhile they blow each other up, detonate nukes, the land becomes uninhabitable, NO OIL! and wtf do you think they're going to come as refugees? HERE! that's where, brainiac. Nobody wants that.
We have several important allies in the Persian Gulf region including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE, and we can always count on Israel if anything goes wrong in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf or in Southeast Asia. The best deterrant to Pakistan's aggressive behavior, however, is India.
Edge, we tend to our own security by maintaining a forward presence, so the wars we fight aren't in Pittsburgh or New York, they're in other people's countries. If your defense is at your own border, your wars are fought on your own soil.
A Pakistan without nukes would be as globally important as Nigeria without oil--in other words, not at all. That's the gist of the current cover story in the Atlantic magazine. Unfortunately, they DO have nukes. Quite a few. And the Pakistanis are just as intent on trying to hide them from us as we are at trying to find them to make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands. Much as I hate sending money to those two-faced liars, I was convinced by the Atlantic piece that we don't really have a better option. Unfortunately, we need to engage with Pakistan if we want to keep south Asia safe from nuclear war and the world safe from nuclear terrorism.
Yes all the while its friend the Chinese will provide them with more capability to counter act India with more sophisticated weapons. Pakistan has become a hot bed for foreign powers and its citizens are powerless. The money that is sent there goes to big bosses as loot and very little trickles down. The people are now more dependent on Madrassas for education and charities for health care. The anti Indian rhetoric does not feed the stomach nor cure the ill. It is time that people in Pakistan wake up to the reality that their enemy is not India but their own army and government. Pakistan can progress with India if both these governments work for improving the lots of their people.
It is naive to think that the US millitary doesn't know where all of Pakistans nukes are. At the first sign of trouble they will be destroyed....period.
If China or any other country helps Pakistan beef up it's WMD's, then the US does the same with India, to balance out the equation.
TALK about leakage! The Pakistanis know more than the US?
With friends like these who needs another enemy!
Who's on First?
The time wasted on Iraq could have been spent on a known Islamic militant country, Pakistan. I will remind you that on 9-11-01 we were attacked by 19 hijackers. 15 were from one country alone, Saudi Arabia. The rest were an Egyptian, 2 Pakistanis and one from Yemen. Not one from Iraq. In the previous attempt on the world trade center in 1993, it was Ramsey Usef, a Pakistani and 4 other Pakistani soldiers. Again, no one from Iraq. We had an opportunity after 9-11 to change Pakistan and rid it and Afghanistan of it's very militant Islamic elements. Instead, clown W. Bush engaged someone who had nothing to do with 9-11 and let Pakistan, a nuclear militant Islamic power become even more militant. They should have been attacked and their nuclear weapons neutralized, but Bush was a manipulated moron
And you are an idiot who bought all the leftist lies.
lol Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11/01 we all know that's the reason we went to Afghanistan. Iraq was WMD's geeze...
Iraq had used WMD and murdered over 100,000 people with them according to the UN.
Saddam almost daily stated he was going to use those WMD on the USA
Saddam had over 6,000 UN counted violations of the cease fire from 1991.
Yet liberals say ignore him?!
As a vet of Afghanistan. What did we accomplish in Iraq with it all said and done. We are not talking 1991. But 2003. We lost thousands of Americans. Turned a country into a power vacuum that will be filled by Iran unless we stay there forever. It helped bankrupt the country by not putting the wars on the books and at the same time lowering taxes. And their were no WMD in 2003. None found. None of that big threat that they will use them and give them to terrorists. Nothing. Why are we not at war with Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, N.Korea Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Israel and every other country that has been responsible for killing of civilians.
And I am not a conservative or a liberal. But those Liberals in charge right now managed to take out another dictator without losing a single American life, got Bin Laden, also without a losss of American life. And got more of our real enemy that attacked us then those conservatives who love to send in the troops on bs info cause they can make all that money from rebuilding. Yea. Those dam liberals should have done nothing. Maybe cause their was no threat to start with from Iraq. Talk about eating up conservative lies
3,000 Americans died, that was sad but you know what the worst is??? After killing millions of Iraqi now you are saying Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11
Freedomman is right. How hard was it to take out Saddam? One day to shut them down. He wasn't a threat to us, but he was to Iran, and now that threat is gone, Iran has no one to fear in the region. And Bush dropped the ball. Afganistan was where al qaida was hiding, not Iraq. He didn't do squat there and that's where we needed to be. He let them go hide Pakistan. At least someone had the balls to go after them there. So you go ahead and believe the righty"s b.s.
We must entirely divorce ourselves from Pakistan; the secrets of the nuclear bomb were given to North Korea, Libya and Iran by this country - run away from them like your hair is on fire.
here we go again another Progressive Liberal an or Rhino's bite the dust the Obama War ship is sinking an the Rats are jumping off. good day
Hillbilly,
The ambassador from Pakistan is not a Progressive liberal or Rino.
Geez, buddy. How about at least reading the title of the article before posting.
yu know whut...im also watching all those F***TU*D private war indutry bas*****...not every single one but heck yeh...most of those re***** are as dirty as any drug cartel ... they really thin they can run this wurld...im not sh***** you.
Where does the buck stop with the Baroke Omamba regime? Just wondering who is in charge of the clowns the narcissist has "serving the nation"??? The pathetic parasite wants praise for killing Usama bin Laughin but, he get all the high marks for his band of thugs from the state dept on down. The A.G. leading the way.....
Roc,
Seriously. What are you talking about?
how many people are suprized there is no organization to any of these wars we are tossing trillions to?
lets see hands
RE: amid controversy surrounding a memo he allegedly drafted shortly after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in May.
Shouldn't it read "after US forces allegedly killed Osama...?"
Damn straight it should. Just like Elvis allegedly dying, astronauts allegedly landing on the moon, and Al Qaeda allegedly flying jets into the World Trade Center.
You, sir, are on the ball.
So jets allegedly flew into the World Trade Center. Ah, nothing must be as it appears. Allegedly Columbus discovered a new land. People allegedly settled the new land. The new land allegedly rebelled against a nation allegedly named Great Britian. Allegedly....
The USA allegedly elected Obama president
No one is making the US give aid to Pakistan. If US government feels that they do not want to give aid and live with the consequence then let them stop. I am sure you all think aid is given to Pakistan by the US because of how generous the US is. I am pretty sure giving bribes to Pakistani military generals and buying off corrupt politicans and making Pakistan what it is today, is not being done by the US. US is so generous that it truly cares about Pakistan and wants to help without expecting anything in return.
Taliban and all the other nut job organizations were formed by Pakistan for no reason but to remain relevant and the US policy in Afghanistan had nothing to do with anything. And this ambassador was a good person, supporting a honest president. Ofcourse when millions of Pakistanis were dying from floods and all, president of of Pakistan went to his France chateau to pray for their souls. obviously the president of Pakistan owns a chateau in which King Louis lived for free since his income is under 1000 based on his tax returns. No ofcourse not he is protected by the US, people of Pakistan love him as much they love US foreign policies.
What in the world are you trying to say??? This is one of the strangest posts I have ever seen.
because its a post dripping sarcasm.
Lots of things go on behind closed doors. Things the American people are kept in the dark about.
Pakistani Jews?
MSNBC don't auto play your dumb videos.
Also, your so-called spam catcher is bad.
I imagine our intelligence is having a field day with what was reviled in that memo. They basically validated a lot of un-provable (until now) suspicious we had in regards to them harboring terrorists, etc...
*revealed* perhaps?
"Memogate"?? Really? That's the best these idiots can come up with for the story. I tell ya journalism just ain't what it used to be.
Every journalist wants to pretend that they are Woodard and Bernstien, and think that putting a 'gate' behind EVERY scandal that comes along will make the association.
Ya, the political atmosphere in Pakistan began to deteriorate because they realized they were busted. They realized there was no way they could convince the world that OBL was living within a heavily militarized region and they knew nothing about it. Now they want this Ambasador's head on a stake because he told the truth about certain factions within pakistan's government. It is so blatantly obvious Pakistan is playing both sides for their own benefit. The American people know it, US intelligence officials know it...But we continue to borrow money from China, hand it right over to Pakistan, thus leaving the future of America even more vulnerable than it is today.
Pakistan is not capable of being trusted, even if "some" of their politcal officials wanted to be an ally. They can't even control themselves. Their political and ecomonic system is out of control.
Pakistan does not need endorsement from the US. You act like the US is a master and Pakistan is a slave. If Pakistan is not behaving, then what are you doing talking to them. Do something about it or shut up.
ikr
bobby: dont worry about it.