OOPS

Pakistani Intel Admits bin Laden Failure

“We’re good, but we’re not God.”

Put in an awkward spot after a successful U.S. raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, an official from Pakistan's intelligence service said they raided the mansion in 2003 when it was under construction, believing it was being built for another al Qaeda operative. But since then, "The compound was not on our radar, it is an embarrassment for the ISI," said an unnamed intelligence official to the BBC. "We're good, but we're not God." As for the Navy SEAL raid, ISI had no idea that was happening, either, according to the official: "We were totally caught by surprise. They were in and out before we could react." The fact that bin Laden was found in a fortified mansion in the same Pakistani town as a military academy has raised questions about the nation’s support for counterterrorism operations. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari tried to address some of those questions, saying that his country had not helped in the raid but also had not helped hide bin Laden. "Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it doesn't reflect fact," he wrote.