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Musharraf Rival Linked to Bin Laden
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ShareNovember 30, 2007 10:06 AM
The former prime minister of Pakistan, now one of President Pervez Musharraf's chief political rivals, once received a million-dollar payoff from Osama Bin Laden as a thanks for not cracking down on the militant tribal areas in Pakistan's northwest border province, according to a former member of bin Laden's inner circle.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted by Musharraf in a 1999 coup, returned to Pakistan earlier this week after spending seven years in exile living in Saudi Arabia.
When in power, Sharif aggravated the United States by detonating Pakistan's first nuclear weapon and turning a blind eye to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Now a former member of bin Laden's inner circle is saying that Sharif was handsomely rewarded by bin Laden for his policies.
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Ali Mohamed served as a special projects coordinator for bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al Zawahri in the mid-1990s. Mohamed, who is now in a U.S. prison for his role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, has been cooperating with the FBI and providing them with a wealth of information on the inner workings of al Qaeda.
Former FBI agent and ABC News consultant Jack Cloonan has questioned Mohamed over a period of years and believes the information he has provided to U.S. authorities is accurate.
Cloonan says that back in 1999 Mohamed told the FBI he arranged for a meeting between bin Laden and Sharif's representatives. Following that meeting, Mohamed told Cloonan he delivered $1 million to Sharif's representatives. Mohamed said the payoff was a tribute to Sharif for not cracking down on the Taliban as it flourished in Afghanistan and influenced the Northwest Frontier Province in Pakistan, according to Cloonan.
This is not the first time that allegations of a connection between Sharif and bin Laden have surfaced. Khalid Khawaja, a former official of the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence agency and now a prominent human rights activist there, told the Blotter on ABCNews.com that the connection goes all the way back to the late 1980s when, he says, Sharif and bin Laden met face-to-face. Khawaja, who describes himself as a very close friend of bin Laden's, says that political candidates in Pakistan cannot talk openly if they support bin Laden because of American pressure on them.
The information secretary for Pakistan Muslim League -- Nawaz Sharif's political party -- Siddiqul Farooq has previously denied that Sharif and bin Laden had ever met. Calls and an e-mail sent to the league's headquarters regarding the latest allegations were not immediately returned.
Aside from the allegations about Sharif, Mohamed has provided the FBI with details on many other plots and tactics used by al Qaeda, said Cloonan. Mohamed was given numerous surveillance assignments over the years, including targets such as the U.S. embassies in Africa, U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, a vacation home in Marbella, Spain owned by the Saudi royal family and a TV tower in Cyprus, Cloonan said. Mohamed was also in charge of selecting bin Laden's personal security team.
Do you have a tip for Brian Ross and the Investigative Team?
November 30, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (11)
Bin Laden is a CIA invention used to scare us into going along with this disasterous war. 911 was an INSIDE JOB.
Impeach cheney/bush!!
Posted by: steve | Nov 30, 2007 11:00:20 AM
Oh yeah, I believe THIS (sarcasm). Like we are supposed to forget how we pay Musharref billions to PRETEND to hunt bin Laden.
And yeah, 9/11 was an inside job.
Posted by: Alex | Nov 30, 2007 1:26:25 PM
That didnt take long for the first moonbat troofer to come out.
Posted by: Ron | Nov 30, 2007 1:51:32 PM
If Mr. Sharif is linked in with Bin-Laden then, We must do all we can too prevent such a man from returning too power. But let's be real the World Governments do not want Mr. Bin-Laden caught cuase as long as he is alive and free he is a useful tool. I can't expect to belive after more than 6 years Mr Osama Bin-Laden has not been captured, can only mean one thing. The World Governments Need Him Alive And Free to Scare Us into TERROR.
Posted by: Adeeb N. | Nov 30, 2007 3:06:09 PM
Bin Laden is a hero to rest the world people, the world doesn't only revolve around America.
Posted by: LARRY THOMPSON | Nov 30, 2007 4:18:42 PM
Bin Laden comes out again on an audio tape saying he is solely responsible for 9/11.
For the troofers, such things do not exist. Any contradiction to their carefully constructed lunacies is ignored as irrelvant or part of the plot.
It must be a relief to be so clueless. Living in a fantasy world is so much easier than existing in our reality.
Posted by: Rick Moran | Nov 30, 2007 7:55:58 PM
OBL does not exist. He was invented by neo-cons to create "the new Pearl Harbour". Smarten up America.
Posted by: Jason "gummybear" davis | Dec 1, 2007 6:59:35 AM
Wow, amazing how some people believe in these plots in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. But then the Islamofascists believe in going to heaven and getting rewarded with many virgins for killing unbelievers. So people can believe the strangest things. Some radicals even believe in the CIA plot thing and the virgins. It seems obvious to me that when you have hundreds and hundreds of people involved in the entire war in the CIA, military, private industry, etc. Many of them involved in questioning these captured radicals ... and no one except those on the fringes or totally outside the loop, relying on cherrypicked information believes this nonsense - and yet, like many cults, they pick up followers. Wow.
Anyway, these same people must believe all the candidates for pres are also either stupid, afraid, or in on the plot. As well as all those elected representatives in Congress. Face reality folks, the guys sawing off heads in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan are our enemies. They launched an attack on this country. Fortunately they are a relatively small subset of the population in those countries (as nutcases are prone to be), but they are our dedicated enemies. And if there is a nuke that goes off in New York one day that matches a Pakistani weapon, it will not be a plot of the US government (they wouldn't want to lose all those tax revenues for one thing). So, these events are real although somewhat slanted in the reporting based on the agenda of the reporter (or politician. Nontheless - the basic facts are true, not a CIA/neocon plot. Wake up.
Posted by: Jackson | Dec 3, 2007 9:49:18 AM
He thinks a nuke planted by islamists may some day go off in NYC. He is exactly the type of guy targeted by the neo-cons and their "this war on terror could easily outlast our lifetimes and beyond" strategies. Fear not, you are more likely to be attacked by a shark at the beach or struck by lightning. Or maybe struck dead by a piece of re-entering space debris hitting you in the head.
Posted by: Brian birchall, rancher | Dec 3, 2007 11:13:28 AM
I guess everyone has his price. What does Nawaz Sharif care if 3000 or so Americans die? This guy, Sharif, is really going to wish he didn't make that deal. He is REALLY going to wish he did not make that deal.
Posted by: Sean O'Brien | Dec 3, 2007 1:21:28 PM
The former prime minister of Pakistan, now one of President Pervez Musharraf's chief political rivals, once received a million-dollar payoff from Osama Bin Laden. And? The United States once gave money and support to the same man, as well as, The former leader of Iraq. The Point would be? The United States will support whoever is in its best interest at that time. It is interesting that this information should be brought to the publics attention at this time, since the US is in jeopardy of loosing its most helpful dictator. I don't know about conspiracy theories but, we as a americans should always use common sense and cynicism when dealing with media influenced by sponsers and political alliances.
Posted by: GJ Reynolds | Dec 4, 2007 12:20:27 PM
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