The War's Most Dangerous Man
Rumor is he helped Osama Bin Laden escape a U.S. assassination attempt in 1998. India blames him for the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai. And these days, this former Pakistani spy chief—and mastermind behind Afghanistan’s jihad against the Soviet Union in the 80s—is the link between Pakistani intelligence and the insurgents in Afghanistan who are attacking U.S. troops.
As Canada’s National Post notes, 74-year old Gen. Hamid Gul may be the most dangerous player in the U.S.-led war against Afghanistan:
In his final years in the army, Gen. Gul decorated his desk with a chunk of the Berlin Wall that was presented to him by West Germany’s intelligence agency the BND. It had a small plaque that read, “With deepest respects to General Hamid Gul, who helped deliver the first blow — 1989.”
Nowadays, the 74-year-old former tank commander is regarded by many as one of the world’s most dangerous men.
U.S. military documents released this week by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks portray Gen. Gul as head of a secret Pakistani intelligence network that arms, supports and directs the Taliban while helping co-ordinate insurgent attacks on U.S. and foreign troops in Afghanistan.
One document, dated mid-December 2006, says Gen. Gul met with “senior members of the Taliban leadership in Nowshara, Pakistan,” and announced he had dispatched three insurgents with improvised explosive devices to Kabul to carry out attacks during the Muslim celebration of Eid.
“Gul instructed two of the individuals to plant IEDs along the roads frequently utilized by Government of Afghanistan and ISAF vehicles,” the report says. “The third individual is to carry out a suicide attack utilizing a suicide vest” against Afghan government and NATO targets.
“Make the snow warm in Kabul,” Gen. Gul told the bombers, the report says. “Set Kabul aflame.”
This fascinating story came to the National Post via the thousands of war documents WikiLeaks made public yesterday. I'm curious about what Ricocheters think about the WikiLeaks leak. If it's true that making this information public weakens our position in Afghanistan, then is such transparency worth it?
I'm personally not convinced that the leak endangers U.S. lives in Afghanistan, as the Pentagon claims. And how will it weaken our position there? After all, do the contents of the documents really reveal anything new--as Bret Stephens asks? They certainly reveal details, that have turned into fodder for news stories in the press, but I'm not sure they expose any groundbreaking facts that imperil our national security.
And, it's nice to put a face on the man who's working tirelessly to kill Americans.
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May '10
Re: The War's Most Dangerous Man
In a piece in The American Conservative, January 2003, Arnaud de Borchgrave quoted Gul. I have saved the piece, and the link until since then. If you want a reason for the Iraq war he alone would be enough.
Gen. Hamid Gul, a former Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence chief who hates America with a passion, boasted that a greater Islamic caliphate was fast approaching, one that would marry the oil riches of Saudi Arabia with the nuclear weapons of Pakistan, “which could then deal with America on an equal footing.”
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2003/jan/13/00029/
Re: The War's Most Dangerous Man
Maybe Gul was on Hillary's mind last week when she said on Fox News, "I assume somebody in this [Pakistani] government from top to bottom does know where bin Laden is, and I'd like to know, too."
Jun '10
Re: The War's Most Dangerous Man
The leaks may not endanger us directly, but they certainly endanger the network that feeds us this kind of information. Losing sources of intelligence, because they were revealed, makes us less safe. We're not the only ones who can add 3 to 4 and get 7.
Jul '10
Re: The War's Most Dangerous Man
Personally, I think the more the American citizenry (as opposed to the government in-group) knows about the Enemy, the better. So, to me, the Wikileaks are a 'good thing.'
Jun '10
Re: The War's Most Dangerous Man
If you want to see a picture of the man who's working tirelessly to kill Americans, pull up some screencaps of this morning's The View.
Jun '10
Re: The War's Most Dangerous Man
I apologize, I'm just feeling a little bitter. Most of my friends are in the military, from the Gulf, or both. Grr.