Re: The Memo Politics and Zardari’s Answer
http://www.geo.tv/11-21-2011/89072.htm
James Jones delivers Ijaz memo to Mullen
ISLAMABAD:** The identity of the intermediary between Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz and Admiral Mike Mullen is no longer a mystery. James Logan Jones, former United States National Security Advisor and a retired US Marine Corps General, confirmed to The News Sunday night that he had received the memo from Mansoor Ijaz and delivered it to Mullen.
General Jones confirmed his role as conduit to this correspondent via email but wanted to make it clear he was not a serving government official or associated with the United States administration in any way when he passed on the memo from Ijaz to Mullen. “I was not in government on May 10 when I forwarded the message to Admiral Mullen on 10 May,” General Jones said.
After this correspondent received information from trusted sources that General Jones was the intermediary between Ijaz and Mullen, he was approached, via email, and asked to confirm or deny. General Jones’ reply said: “Dear Ms Zahra-Malik, No secret here. Have confirmed my role as conduit with FT (The Financial Times) four days ago. I was not in government on May 10 when I forwarded the message to Admiral Mullen on 10 May. Cheers, Jim Jones.”
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General Jones has served as Commander, United States European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 2003 to 2006 and as the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps from July 1999 to January 2003. Jones retired from the Marine Corps on February 1, 2007, after 40 years of service. He later served as the US National Security Advisor from January 2009 till November 2010.
With the confirmation from General Jones, one of the last links in the memo authenticity-chain now stands confirmed. Now the only remaining missing link in the puzzle relates to the principal agent: did Ambassador Haqqani draft the memo with the authorisation of President Asif Ali Zardari, as alleged by Mansoor Ijaz and is being used by the president as a scapegoat now that the plot has been revealed, or was the ambassador, as is being suggested, the mastermind behind the plot to rein in the Pakistani security establishment?
Haqqani has arrived in Islamabad to explain his role, if any, in conceptualising, writing and passing on the memo to the US administration. The envoy has reportedly already held two informal meetings with the president and is now expected to ‘explain’ his alleged role in the memo case in a closed door meeting with the president, prime minister, army chief and DG ISI.
In the days ahead, it is expected that the last link in the chain will be revealed: did the President of Pakistan, the supreme commander of Pakistan’s armed forces and the symbol of the federation, authorise the writing of the memo? If the treasonous memo is traced back to President Zardari, it will raise serious constitutional questions about his competence to remain president and further exacerbate the country’s menacing civil-military imbalance.
The News has already published the document at the heart of the memo controversy: a six-point plan offering to reshape Pakistan’s national security leadership in return for US help in avoiding a military coup. The memo was delivered to Admiral Mullen by, as confirmed by The News, General Jim Jones just nine days after the killing of Osama bin Laden and requests Mullen’s help in ending Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani’s and Director General ISI, Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha’s “brinkmanship aimed at bringing down the civilian apparatus.”
The News has confirmed that after news of the memo first surfaced in an op-ed written by Ijaz in London’s Financial Times on October 10, it was decided at the highest level of the military leadership that the initial investigation would be carried out by spy chief General Pasha himself. Mansoor Ijaz subsequently met General Pasha in London on October 22 and shared with him a cache of evidence, including full records of phone calls, SMS messages, BBM chat exchanges, emails and other data.
General Pasha briefed General Kayani about the matter only after the authenticity of Ijaz’s evidence was verified. The army chief subsequently met with President Zardari twice and asked him to act against Haqqani and at least two other federal ministers, both close aides to the president, who allegedly assisted Haqqani in his efforts to slander their institution. The army chief’s meetings with President Zardari followed led to the summoning of Ambassador Haqqani to Islamabad.
As things stand now, the ambassador’s job and the president’s government hang in the balance. Both have much to account for: a memo that includes not just a direct acknowledgment that the current security establishment is in cahoots with terrorist outfits but also asks for direct intervention from the US to set things ‘right.’ There are questions to answer and answer the government must.](Geo News: Latest News Breaking, Live Videos, World, Entertainment, Royal)