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Editor's Desk

His cover blown, CIA station chief flees Pakistan…

Editor

Jonathan Banks, the CIA station chief in Pakistan, left Islamabad in a hurry after his cover was blown. Banks had a “business” visa but operated from the US embassy from where he coordinated drone strikes on North and South Waziristan.

Jonathan Banks, the CIA station chief in Pakistan, left Islamabad in a hurry after his cover was blown. Banks had a “business” visa but operated from the US embassy from where he coordinated drone strikes on North and South Waziristan.

His name was widely reported in Pakistani newspapers following a case lodged against him by journalist Karim Khan whose brother and son were killed in a CIA drone strike on his home in the town of Mirali, North Waziristan in 2009. It is interesting to note that neither the New York Times nor the Washington Post mentioned Banks’ name on “security” grounds even though the British daily, the Guardian had reported it on December 17.

US officials and media indulged in their customary speculation about who blew his cover instead of addressing why a CIA operative ensconced in the US embassy pretending to be a businessman was coordinating the murder of Pakistani civilians. How many more CIA agents are embedded in the US embassy as “businessmen” and “diplomats”?

Banks’ role also implicates Pakistani officials — ambassador Husain Haqqani in Washington, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and President Asif Ali Zardari — in US crimes. Without diplomatic cover, Banks would have been forced to appear in court.

Had a Pakistani official perpetrated a similar crime in the US, he would be arrested, tried in a monkey court, and then drop-shipped to Guantanamo. Remember Aafia Siddiqui’s life sentence on trumped-up charges? US officials, however, observe no law and consider themselves to be above any sort of moral and legal accountability.


Article from

Crescent International Vol. 39, No. 11

Muharram 26, 14322011-01-01


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