PROTECTORS

Did Pakistan Knowingly House bin Laden?

Location of bin Laden's hideout arouses suspicion.

Bin Laden's Pakistani protectors may have known of his whereabouts, argues The New Yorker's Steve Coll, saying evidence suggests he was being kept under state control. Abbottabad is a military shelter in Pakistan, an area that has been owned and controlled by the Pakistan army, and a city known for housing the Pakistan Military Academy—their equivalent to West Point. It is hard to believe that bin Laden's palatial hideout could have been built and occupied by the al Qaeda leader for six years without army men noticing. Coll argues that Pakistan will deny this, and that there is not enough conclusive evidence to prove the case. But obvious questions beg to be answered: Who owned the land on which bin Laden's compound was built? Who installed its incredibly sophisticated security systems? Who else lived there and are there witnesses who could testify about possible visitors plotting other terrorist attacks that have taken place since 9/11? But given that the U.S. needs to cooperate with Pakistan and its neighbors on matters such as nuclear warfare and withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, it's not likely that the Justice Department will push for an investigation.