Pakistan did WHAT!!!!

MadScientistMatt wrote:

stroker wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote: A citizen of a sovereign nation is informing the agency of a foreign government of activities in said sovereign nation. He is a spy, and should be arrested. The fact that he did the right thing (in our eyes) is moot.

you're assuming they knew they were supplying information to the US/CIA. I doubt some clown in a suit and sunglasses came up to them, announced they were CIA and paid them five grand to give them the information.

Depending on how Pakistani law is worded, it might also require the informants to know the information they were passing on was actually secret. If someone from, say, the UK approached me and said, "I think something is going down in the building across from where you work - could you write down a list of license plates of all the cars parked there for a week?" and offers me money for it, that wouldn't be selling secret information to a foreign national - it would be selling public information to a foreign national, which AFAIK is not a crime.

Bingo.

Pakistan is being very hush hush about what actual prosecution is taking place, they're simply in the custody of officials now.

Possibly without being charged.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2077838,00.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-06-15-leahy-pakistan-arrests_n.htm

top Senate Democrat branded Pakistan as a "putative ally" after officials there arrested Pakistanis who helped the U.S. operation to kill Osama bin Laden. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., made the comment during a sharp exhange with Defense Secretary Robert Gates who was appearing before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee. "How do we support governments that lie to us?" Leahy asked Gates. Most governments do lie to us, even friendly ones, Gates replied. Do they arrest those who helped us? Leahy countered. "Sometimes," Gates answered. "Not often," Leahy snapped.

Ian F wrote:

HiTempguy wrote: I guess the thing is, the Pakistani's have no reason to have spies in the US to support the US' mission to be a sovereign, peaceful nation. The US has those spies there to help Pakistan, not hurt it.

That depends on your point of view... there are plenty of powerful factions in Pakistan that would be happy to see their govt act more like Iran with regards to U.S. relations. Their govt has to do just enough to keep them to the sidelines while keeping the generally more moderate public believing that peaceful relations with the U.S. is better for them... If they fail, the radical factions could gain power and we really could have a nuclear armed Iran on our hands... I have no doubt the entire plot - back to the OBL killing and beyond - is a carefully orchestrated political dance. It should make for an interesting history book in a couple of hundred years (hopefully less).

Yeah, I don't think a lot of people realize just how precarious a tightrope a (nominally) "secular" government in an Islamic nation has to walk. They either apply the thumbscrews (Saddam's Iraq, Mubarak's Egypt, the al-Assad family's Syria), give up democracy for military rule when the religious freaks get into office (Turkish military coups), or just letting them infiltrate local government (Pakistan).

One of the few things I agree with my right-wing buddies about is the danger presented to modern society by fundamentalist Islam. I merely disbelieve in Christianity..I don't hate it because it's not the year 1500 anymore..and they're not threatening to kill me anymore. Islam is different. Not only are there more fundies in Islam than there are in Christianity, but the Islamic superstition is still young and full of vitality..IMO, they're at the mental/social level of Christianity during the Middle Ages..but with modern weaponry.

As afraid as I was of annihilation during the "Cold War" (as a kid-believing the mushrooms would bloom before I was 30yrs old was why I was a Punk Rocker! )..looking back upon it today, I'm almost nostalgic for it. That was largely a secular conflict of idiology, where both sides realized how much damage could be done to humanity..and actually cared about it.

I might be wrong..but IMO, and IME, religious extremists don't care about the End Of The World(tm). Some of them would actually welcome it.

madmallard wrote: Pakistan is being very hush hush about what actual prosecution is taking place, they're simply in the custody of officials now. Possibly without being charged.

Yeah, I can see that (see my reply to IanF for details). Arrest them to appease the populace..and then quietly deport them. Heck, that could have been the extraction plan all along..

maybe we should just step back and tell India .... have at it ....