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| India-Pakistan |
| Wrong men convicted of Daniel Pearl murder: probe |
| 2011-01-21 |
| [Dawn] The wrong men were convicted of murdering US news hound Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistain in 2002, and US officials stood in the way of the real murdered being brought to justice for the grisly crime, a report released Thursday says. British-Pak Omar Sheikh and three other men who were convicted of killing Pearl were not even present when the Wall Street Journal news hound was murdered, says the Pearl Project report, which was led by Pearl's friend and former colleague, Asra Nomani. Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the man fingered in the report as Pearl's killer, Al-Qaeda strategist and suspected criminal mastermind of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is unlikely ever to be brought to justice for the journalist's brutal slaying. The report says Mohammed told US Sherlocks at Guantanamo Bay prison that he slit Pearl's throat and severed his head, and a technique called vein-matching has shown that his hand matches the "beefy right hand" captured in a video of Pearl's murder. But US officials opted not to charge Mohammed with Pearl's murder, fearing doing so would unravel their strategy for trying him along with four others for the attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. "The Pearl Project reveals that justice was not served for Danny," said Nomani, from whose home in Bloody Karachi Pearl set out on January 23, 2002, the day he was kidnapped. Pearl thought he was heading to an interview with the alleged controller of shoe-bomber Richard Reid, the Briton who tried to blow up a US-bound passenger jet over the Atlantic by igniting explosives packed into his footwear. While the conspirators in Pearl's abduction and slaying were "inept" and bungling, US and Pak Sherlocks who worked the case were not much better, the report says. They began the case "chasing the wrong suspect, giving the killers time to slay Pearl and disappear." They let a key informant go and failed to follow several potential leads. The journalist's killers bungled Pearl's murder and had to restage it after "the cameraman failed to capture the original scene."The report was released after a three-year probe, almost nine years to the day of Pearl's abduction on January 23, 2002. Pearl's body was found four months after he disappeared, cut into a dozen pieces, the head severed, the upper torso still clad "in the light blue track suit that Pearl's kidnappers had him wear." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 Almost from the start, I suspected that Pearl was working for Israeli intelligence. As South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal in Mumbai, he was in a place and a role much favored by operatives since the 19th Century. Doesn't make much sense to me. Historically, most Israeli agents have been locals. Many were Jews, but not exclusively so. In Pakistan, Pearl had the triple disadvantages of having an American passport, having Israeli nationality and being a Jew. He stuck out like a sore thumb. From the standpoint of Israeli interests, there was nothing in Pakistan worth risking someone of Pearl's caliber over, and he was a round peg in a square hole. If they were inclined to infiltrate, far better to insert a Middle Eastern Jew indistinguishable from an Arab into the ranks of Al Qaeda. Or better still, use sexual (or other blackmail) against an al Qaeda operative. Or run a false flag operation (pretend to be MI6) for recruitment purposes. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2011-01-21 16:28 |
| #4 Why is that, Rob? Having dual citizenship, Pearl fits the profile, and there is nothing wrong at all in being an intelligence agent. Mossad had been very involved in Pakistan since B. Bhutto turned on the Islamist infiltrated ISI, with Israeli help, and it was probably the ISI that set him up for kidnapping, knowing who he was. The big ransom demand was that the US continue with a sale of F-16s that had been made to Pakistan, then canceled. Not your typical terrorist stuff, huh? The chief kidnapper surrendered to a former ISI general who then hid him for a week. Perv later wrote in a book that the kidnapper had worked for MI6, but then became a double agent against the British. If Pearl wasn't a spy, then he was about the only person involved who wasn't a spy. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-21 15:05 |
| #3 Way to go, guys! You both made me throw up a little, in your own special-education little ways! |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2011-01-21 11:03 |
| #2 Almost from the start, I suspected that Pearl was working for Israeli intelligence. As South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal in Mumbai, he was in a place and a role much favored by operatives since the 19th Century. As such, he was in a central location, under the relative protection of the Indians, and the active protection of the US. If he wasn't a spy, then he should have been. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-21 08:53 |
| #1 Pearl's death was a tragedy. He died a death I wouldnt wish even on his murderer. And undoubtedly Pearl had family and friends who were hurt in ways that will never heal. But Pearl was doing a snake pit lunacy job. He died because he wasnt being smart. He died because he put snakes in his mouth and carried a Gila Monster around in his shaving kit. Pearl died because he stuck his own butt in the blender. The Beefcake butcher who sawed Pearl up was and is and always will be kept in the can with lots of guards and razor wire to make sure he doesnt go anywhere. Eventually the US will dispose of the man in some final manner. He will inevitably go and visit Saddam in a sudden jerk. Pearl Project Report? Pee Wee Little did it? You want justice in this world? Good Luck, Chuckie. Be sure to vote and dont be a tourist in an Aloha shirt . |
| Posted by: Dribble2716 2011-01-21 07:03 |