Ex-CIA chief confirms Armitage bullied Pakistan post 9/11

Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief George Tenet has claimed that former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage bullied Pakistan into joining the global campaign against terrorists, but adds that Armitage did not threaten to bomb Pakistan back to the stone age.

Washington, May 1 : Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief George Tenet has claimed that former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage bullied Pakistan into joining the global campaign against terrorists, but adds that Armitage did not "threaten to bomb Pakistan back to the stone age".

Tenet recalls in his book that on Sept 13, 2001, two days after the 9/11, Armitage invited Pakistan's Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi and the-then ISI chief Mahmood Ahmed to his office in Washington, "and dropped the hammer on them."

"Mr. Armitage is a bull of a man. (Lt. General) Mahmood must have felt like he had been run over by a stampede by the time he left Rich's office," the Dawn quotes Tenet as saying in his book.

"I seriously doubt, however, that Rich actually threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age, as Gen Mahmood reportedly told President (Gen) Musharraf."

Tenet, one of the longest-serving CIA chiefs, had to resign following a controversy over the Iraq war. He describes Mahmood as a man who sympathised with the Taliban and tried to defend Mullah Omar in the meetings Tenet had with him.

"He made it clear that neither he nor his service would have anything to do with the (U.S.) effort (against the Taliban), not even to the extent of advising us whom we might approach," Tenet says in his book

Tenet says that Mahmood was in Washington when the attack on the Pentagon took place, and he realized then "how deeply and viscerally the Americans felt about the attacks."

Mahmood, Tenet says, was still trying to save the Taliban, but "he knew that if we did not get satisfaction, we were still coming after Al Qaeda, no matter who objected or who tried to stand in the way."

That's when Mahmood finally agreed to meet Taliban leader Mullah Omar when he returned to Pakistan, Tenet adds.

"Within hours of Mr. Armitage's delivering his ultimatums, and despite some violent internal opposition, General Musharraf agreed" to support the U.S. offensive.

ANI