I have always been suspicious of US and its forces in the region. But forces we see are not as dangerous as those we don't see. For the main back-end jobs are done by men and women whom we consider as normal Americans. In fact, the real men in the war are those who might just have had a tea with you 10 minutes ago. And that's telling too much.
On the same day when I saw footage of the attack I commented to someone in the house that how come fire first caught up with the 4th floor - exact location where American CIA / Marines / FBI agents were staying - and not the ground up? No one really suspected any foul play and no one, not even Mr. Hashwani, ever questioned the implications of such an outstanding fire. He in fact denied that any special movements of American men had ever taken place at any of his hotels and told media that it is very common for an International hotel to have various nationals around.
In Pakistan, Mr. Hashwani is as much suspected of being an American spy as Mr. Karzai is in Afghanistan. Even more so. But no one ever gave a damn about him being an American agent until that bombing brought out some startling facts. For one, we now know from report published in Dawn that some unknown caller (or callers) has been asking the management of Marriott to empty the hotel of any American marine / CIA agent they might have. Off course, management thought better of it and denied their presence. It was Marriott's stupidity that American movements were not being noticed by common visitors to the hotel. Some of those common visitors could have been linked to any number of terrorist outfit being presently self-funded or funded by India / Israel / Afghanistan nexus. We don't know those details yet but what we know is that Marriott knew and Americans staying there knew that somehow they were being watched by someone with rather increased interest. The caller was never identified and his location was never tried to be deciphered. I am sure our technology, if used properly, could have allowed narrowing down of possibilities. But who cares.
That caller was right about blowing Marriott up if the management did not empty the rooms - 4th floor rooms and 5th floor rooms which have been in permanent use by the American along with three extremely suspicious, interconnected ones on the 4th floor - of the American and their equally suspicious luggage. Metal boxes not being scanned by any security apparatus present at Marriott is not only ridiculous by any standards but speaks volumes about our national helplessness in the face of crass American policies on our land.
Then the blast happened. And as reported by various local TV networks (and mind you CNN has yet to say anything on the subject) media men are not being allowed access to those floors where suspected American Marines were staying. Why, one may ask? Well, the answer is that they've been carrying out lot of terrorist activities in FATA region and in Swat and were probably carrying a laptop or two which had complete information about future targets to be made inside the country. No wonder that we hear today that the first thing Agent X did was to go into his washroom and burn some specific chemicals along with his laptop and other dangerous (?) luggage which he and his colleagues had. It also needs to be noted that we don't find any American Marine (dead, injured, etc) footage in any TV channel though we find footage of other nationals. Where were the dead shifted? And where were the injured shifted? We may never know. But what we know is that as time goes on American gets more and more involved in terrorism in the country.
Why is Govt. of Pakistan afraid of asking tough questions? Who allowed Americans access to the hotel premises without as much as a routine security check? What were they carrying in their steel boxes? And what was so special about the laptop which was eventually burned so fast that it gave out blue flame even though other rooms of the hotel were giving reddish/yellowish flames?
I even suspect that this large scale destruction of the hotel rooms, especially the room which were far from the actual blast site, was carried out not by the burning mass of the dumper filled with TNT (C6H2(NO2)3CH3), but due to this use of some special chemical which was used to fire up all the steel boxes along with even the clothes of the Marines / CIA agents, their data sheets, and their laptop(s). I am not convinced that fourth floor should burn first followed by all other floors. And that special chemical, whatever that might be and we could know if we are allowed access to the premises, helped actually inflate the risk to the hotel. I also suspect that Americans were hoping that Marriott would come down within those night hours. This would have relieved them completely and would have made investigations by ISI and other security agencies even more difficult. But now that hotel stands the only thing Americans can do is to stop all movements of media and investigating agencies to those suspicious floors due to which the bombing actually took place (and the Pakistanis asked who would want to kill Mr. Gilani or Mr. Zardari?). Those who asked this question that day were actually dead right.
We don't expect to find any suicide bomber head as the 600Kg packed explosives is not something which would leave any head for further review, bomber or otherwise. But we can expect is that our investigations may look deep inside the truck carcass and find DNA related to the bomber and trace his origins. We are being told by Mr. Ghani that now most of these suicide attackers are not from FATA but from Punjab. If that case be, at least DNA would solve this issue within no time. What DNA won't solve is the solid evidence of actually who attacked the Marriott and why? We can always say it was due to Americans, and indeed it looks that way, but we need further proof of that. And the only way is that we are allowed access to the entire hotel and that footage be matched to the description provided by Marriott about who was staying where.
The game has just begun.
In Pakistan, Mr. Hashwani is as much suspected of being an American spy as Mr. Karzai is in Afghanistan. Even more so. But no one ever gave a damn about him being an American agent until that bombing brought out some startling facts. For one, we now know from report published in Dawn that some unknown caller (or callers) has been asking the management of Marriott to empty the hotel of any American marine / CIA agent they might have. Off course, management thought better of it and denied their presence. It was Marriott's stupidity that American movements were not being noticed by common visitors to the hotel. Some of those common visitors could have been linked to any number of terrorist outfit being presently self-funded or funded by India / Israel / Afghanistan nexus. We don't know those details yet but what we know is that Marriott knew and Americans staying there knew that somehow they were being watched by someone with rather increased interest. The caller was never identified and his location was never tried to be deciphered. I am sure our technology, if used properly, could have allowed narrowing down of possibilities. But who cares.
That caller was right about blowing Marriott up if the management did not empty the rooms - 4th floor rooms and 5th floor rooms which have been in permanent use by the American along with three extremely suspicious, interconnected ones on the 4th floor - of the American and their equally suspicious luggage. Metal boxes not being scanned by any security apparatus present at Marriott is not only ridiculous by any standards but speaks volumes about our national helplessness in the face of crass American policies on our land.
Then the blast happened. And as reported by various local TV networks (and mind you CNN has yet to say anything on the subject) media men are not being allowed access to those floors where suspected American Marines were staying. Why, one may ask? Well, the answer is that they've been carrying out lot of terrorist activities in FATA region and in Swat and were probably carrying a laptop or two which had complete information about future targets to be made inside the country. No wonder that we hear today that the first thing Agent X did was to go into his washroom and burn some specific chemicals along with his laptop and other dangerous (?) luggage which he and his colleagues had. It also needs to be noted that we don't find any American Marine (dead, injured, etc) footage in any TV channel though we find footage of other nationals. Where were the dead shifted? And where were the injured shifted? We may never know. But what we know is that as time goes on American gets more and more involved in terrorism in the country.
Why is Govt. of Pakistan afraid of asking tough questions? Who allowed Americans access to the hotel premises without as much as a routine security check? What were they carrying in their steel boxes? And what was so special about the laptop which was eventually burned so fast that it gave out blue flame even though other rooms of the hotel were giving reddish/yellowish flames?
I even suspect that this large scale destruction of the hotel rooms, especially the room which were far from the actual blast site, was carried out not by the burning mass of the dumper filled with TNT (C6H2(NO2)3CH3), but due to this use of some special chemical which was used to fire up all the steel boxes along with even the clothes of the Marines / CIA agents, their data sheets, and their laptop(s). I am not convinced that fourth floor should burn first followed by all other floors. And that special chemical, whatever that might be and we could know if we are allowed access to the premises, helped actually inflate the risk to the hotel. I also suspect that Americans were hoping that Marriott would come down within those night hours. This would have relieved them completely and would have made investigations by ISI and other security agencies even more difficult. But now that hotel stands the only thing Americans can do is to stop all movements of media and investigating agencies to those suspicious floors due to which the bombing actually took place (and the Pakistanis asked who would want to kill Mr. Gilani or Mr. Zardari?). Those who asked this question that day were actually dead right.
We don't expect to find any suicide bomber head as the 600Kg packed explosives is not something which would leave any head for further review, bomber or otherwise. But we can expect is that our investigations may look deep inside the truck carcass and find DNA related to the bomber and trace his origins. We are being told by Mr. Ghani that now most of these suicide attackers are not from FATA but from Punjab. If that case be, at least DNA would solve this issue within no time. What DNA won't solve is the solid evidence of actually who attacked the Marriott and why? We can always say it was due to Americans, and indeed it looks that way, but we need further proof of that. And the only way is that we are allowed access to the entire hotel and that footage be matched to the description provided by Marriott about who was staying where.
The game has just begun.
1 comment:
very true...the game has just begun!
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