"Who Killed Daniel Pearl?" by Bernard-Henri Levy

[Minstrel Boy]

I'm finally getting around to reading this. Shouldn't have waited so long. Interested to hear the thoughts of other readers.

After retracing Pearl's odyssey, here's Levy's answer to his own question:

"I am convinced that his was a journalist's death - dead not only because of what he was, but because of what he was looking for, and perhaps finding, and planning to write about.

"Isn't that, incidentally, what President Pervez Musharraf himself said when, the day after the murder, in an astounding, angry outburst, he exclaimed that Daniel Pearl had been 'over intrusive' - too curious, sticking his nose in places he shouldn't have? Didn't Musharraf give it away when, in a comment cited in the Washington Post (among others) on 23 February 2002, he dared to declare, 'Perhaps Daniel Pearl was over inquisitive; a mediaperson should be aware of the dangers of getting into dangerous areas; unfortunately, he got over-involved in intelligence games.'

"So the question then becomes: Why? What had Pearl discovered, or what was he in the process of discovering, that condemned him to death? What is the stolent secret that, for his captors, was out of the question for him to walk away with?

"The relationship between al-Qaeda and the ISI, of course. The tight web of relations between the two organizations, the two worlds."

As I see it the relationship is triangulated, by the ISI serving as the CIA's proxy in Central Asia, covertly sponsoring, training and sheltering Islamic terrorists since the Carter administration. It's the ISI that made Zbigniew Brzezinski's "fired-up Muslims" useful and unwitting assets of America's Great Game.


Musharraf and ISI Director Lt. Gen. Mahmood Ahmed, who ordered al Qaeda's Saeed Sheikh - Pearl's contact in Karachi, who led him to his death - to send $100,000 to hijacker Mohamed Atta in August 2001.

[vincent_vega_lives]

1. Possible

The ISI was renown for assisting the most fundamentalist Muslim Mujahadeen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, even against the wishes of the CIA who was funneling arms and funds through Pakistan.

[seemslikeadream]

2. Pearl was probing spy agencies' role

Lahore |By Abdullah Iqbal | 25-03-2002

While U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl had in general told people, who came into contact with him in the days prior to his abduction and murder, that he was completing a story on shoe-bomb terrorist Richard Reid, there is now increased evidence that he was also looking at far more sensitive matters.

Some of those who had spoken to Pearl during his stay in Karachi believe that his main interest was in looking into the links between certain agencies in Pakistan with religious militancy. The Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the most powerful agency in the country, had also received Pearl's attention during this investigation.

In fact, at least one journalist who met Pearl in Islamabad had advised him to be "very careful" while pursuing his particular line of inquiry. Two other journalists, approached to act as local resource persons for Pearl, had apparently turned down the offer because "what Pearl wanted to get at was difficult to obtain and touched in several very sensitive areas."

There are also sources who insist that General Pervez Musharraf was also aware, though it is not certain at which stage, of the line of inquiry being followed by Pearl.

While some sources say Musharraf knew of this only after the abduction, others say "intelligence reports" about the kind of questions Pearl was asking had reached him before the sudden disappearance of the newsman.

...

It is also rumoured that Pearl's wife provided some details to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), but was not aware of the whole picture. Whether this entire picture will ever emerge is a question that remains open, with the investigation into Pearl's death having apparently reached what seems like a near total dead-end‚ and work on the matter "slowing down" according to police officials involved in the case.

more
http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=45233


Reeling under a whooping $38 billion foreign debt, the Pakistani economy was on the verge of collapse when the terrorists struck New York and Washington. To prevent Pakistan from turning into a failed state and a terrorist sanctuary like Afghanistan, the United States, other Western powers and international financial organizations are now helping Islamabad to jump-start its economy.

And the economy is already showing signs of improvement.

Since Sept. 11, Pakistan has received $800 million dollars of cash grants while an additional $800 million were sent by Pakistani expatriates.

International oil prices have gone down, allowing Pakistan to save half a billion dollars. The so-called Paris club of donor nations has rescheduled Pakistan's entire debt, causing an increase of three to $4 billion in the net present value of Pakistan's accumulated debt stock.

The Pakistani treasury now holds more than $5 billion, covering some 18 weeks of imports. The State Bank of Pakistan has curtailed its dollar purchase from the curb market. And for the first time over the past two decades, the Pakistani rupee has actually gained against the dollar.

Anwar Iqbal
UPI South Asian Affairs Analyst
3-22-2

[John Doe II]

3. BHL

When this book first came out in France I was really excited but I must confess that all the critique against BHL are well founded (he's a multimillionaer intellectual who likes to appear as the world saviour). I found it especially misplaced that he always had to compare himself with Daniel Pearl. The book is almost more about BHL and Daniel Pearl often seems to be just a pretext. (Moreover his image of Pakistan is very much a cliché)
But talking about information. I was very unpleased that BHL presented lots of information as if he did find them out himself while risking his life. Fact is just reading Paul Thompson's Timeline presents almost all the information that BHL manages to present (mainly from "The Guardian").
For me the only new and interesting part is that he found out (if he's reliable) that the murder of Daniel Pearl was done by many many different extremist groups that normally never communicate with another. Giving the murder of Daniel Pearl an incredible importance.

Certainly it should be interesting to read the book of Daniel Pearl's wife, too.