This is the first part of a review of Nic Robertson’s anti-Pakistan “journalistic piece” called “Pakistan: The Enemy Within.” This series will review the broadcast, questions that were not addressed about the madrassas and extremism and the key players that have kept this problem alive within Pakistan and in the region. It should be clearly understood that Nic Robertson and CNN did everything they possibly could to mis-represent the facts about Pakistan, while explaining nothing about the true extent of the extremism problem in Pakistan.

Saturday morning, in the heat of the domestic news coverage of the Lal Masjid siege, I switched over to CNN to watch a CNN Special Investigation Unit piece called “Pakistan: The Enemy Within” hosted by Nic Robertson. What I saw was an absolute mis-representation of Pakistan and its position in the global War on Terror. Now, for a while, I thought Nic Robertson was a crack reporter that didn’t really know what he was talking about, but the program that CNN aired 3 times Saturday and another 3 times Sunday, was a complete factual mistake. I thought that CNN, being one of the oldest and strongest cable news channels, would have a couple of fact checkers to verify that Nic wasn’t being lead around by the nose again. But again, I was wrong there.

Now you are probably going.. ” what do you mean lead around by the nose again?” Well, Nic Robertson has had a couple of his “investigative” pieces discredited in the past including a piece that he did in 2005 when he repeated a discredited link between Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein. In that piece, the CNN Senior International Correspondent repeatedly stated that Jordanian-born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi “was dubbed the al Qaeda link to Saddam Hussein” in 2003, forgetting that it had been completely discredited. Although al-Zarqawi was the leader of the Iraqi insurgency, there were no links to indicate cooperation or coordination between Saddam and al Qaeda. Nic felt comfortable basing his statements on a speech given by President George W. Bush and the then Secretary of State Colin Powell’s pre-war address to the United Nations.

Nic, and CNN, aired the comments even though a CIA assessment found no conclusive evidence that Saddam harbored or gave aid to al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi led a terrorist group unaffiliated with al Qaeda, which was “as much in competition as in cooperation” with al Qaeda according to Roger Cressey, a former counter-terrorism official on Bill Clinton’s National Security Council.

And last summer (2006), during the Israeli bombing of Lebanon, he repeated his “stellar” journalistic sense when he was led around by Hussein Nabulsi, a Hezbollah press officer, during a report from Beirut on Anderson Cooper’s “Anderson Cooper 360″ July 18th broadcast. Nic flaunted his “exclusive” exchange with a Hezbollah press officer showing how Israeli bombs had struck civilian areas of the city, not the Hezbollah headquarters, but something was very odd about this broadcast, as the camera was being directed by the Hezbollah and not Nic Robertson. While CNN anchor John Roberts sang praises of his bravery, Nic Robertson kept very quiet about the unvarnished propaganda that he had aired for Hezbollah, leading to NewsBusters comparisons with Peter Arnett, a disgraced journalist who allowed himself to become the mouthpiece for Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War. It wasn’t until the July 23rd episode of Reliable Sources, when Howard Kurtz attempted to provide cover for Nic Robertson to admit that he had been “guided around like a dog” shooting exactly what Hezbollah wanted him to shoot.

Howard Kurtz: “Isn’t it difficult for you as a journalist to independently verify any claims made by Hezbollah, because you’re not able to go into the buildings and see whether or not there is any military activity or any weapons being hidden there?”

Nic Robertson: “Well, Howard, there’s no doubt about it: Hezbollah has a very, very sophisticated and slick media operations. In fact, beyond that, it has very, very good control over its areas in the south of Beirut. They deny journalists access into those areas. They can turn on and off access to hospitals in those areas. They have a lot of power and influence. You don’t get in there without their permission. And when I went in, we were given about 10 or 15 minutes, quite literally running through a number of neighborhoods that they directed and they took us to.”

He goes on to defend that he didn’t have time to look through those buildings as it was a very rushed affair. I think that Michael Reagan, son of former President Ronald Reagan, did a great job in tagging you for what you are “Terrorist News Network” and in Frontpage
Magazine.

But Nic, the investigative piece that you did on Pakistan was not a rushed affair. You should have had plenty of time to confirm the stories and people that you interviewed if you wanted to portray a true picture of the extremist problem in Pakistan, and I stress the “IF.” So, let’s look at your newest “journalistic” faux pas and understand your credibility as CNN’s “Senior Investigative Correspondent.”

“Pakistan: The Enemy Within” is another in a line of anti-Pakistan, anti-Musharraf pieces that have been done by CNN. CNN has shown that they have lost the ability to be unbiased in their reporting. While neither is a newbie reporter, both made crucial mistakes in their “journalistic work” when compiling these “investigations,” making me, and many other Pakistanis wonder, if CNN has given up on fact checking and presenting news, rather than propaganda.

The Mistakes

Now, I’m sure that many of you are wondering what mistakes Nic Robertson made that would draw this kind of response. Other than only interviewing people that were anti-Musharraf, there was no attempt to expand on any information that was presented in the piece, leaving many unanswered questions, which I will ask and answer in tomorrow’s continuation of this post.

Let’s start with the basic mistakes that anyone with a computer and an internet connection would be able to find. The most basic mistake was the reference to the “Governor North Waziristan” Muhammad Ali Aurakzai. Now, if you look at a map of Pakistan, you will find that North Waziristan is a part of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). North Waziristan is in essence part of the FATA region of Pakistan and the Government of Pakistan’s representative there is a Political Agent, not a Governor. However, the gentleman that was referred to as the “Governor North Waziristan” is actually the Governor of the NWFP. Further, if you go to Google (you might have heard of it) and search “Governor North Waziristan” the only site that comes up is CNN’s; whereas, if you search on “Ali Muhammad Jan Aurakzai,” you find numerous references, the foremost being the NWFP Government’s home page, where he is listed as the Governor of the NWFP.

Did no one fact check this before it was aired?

Moving on, Nic Robertson interviewed a journalist named Amir Mir and repeatedly described him as “a controversial journalist and critic of President Musharraf.” For those that don’t know, Amir Mir refused to accept the All Pakistan Newspaper Society’s award for Best Investigative Journalist, as stated in a letter, “my inability to receive the award from a military dictator - General Pervez Musharraf - who has trampled the Constitution time and again since his military takeover in October 1999 and has no respect or the supreme law of the land.” His anger was rooted in him being dismissed from his job as Editor of the Lahore weekly The Independent because he would not stop posting his articles in the South Asia Tribune, which was banned in Pakistan due to its anti-Pakistan reporting. There are stories that Amir challenged President Musharraf to charge him with sedition, but obviously a credible source for Nic Robertson’s saucy piece on Pakistan’s extremist problem.

I was shocked that Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi was included in the “journalistic piece,” when it is blatantly obvious that he is a terrorist, bragging about his meetings with Osama bin Laden and his ridicule of the Musharraf government. How many of you recognize this name? That’s right the Deputy Leader of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, who is now embroiled in a battle with the Pakistan Army from inside Lal Masjid. Maulana wasted no time in bashing President Musharraf and the Pakistan Army for their inability to bring him to justice while sitting right in Islamabad. Now, anyone who knows how to read will find that Maulana Abdul Rasheed Ghazi and his brother, Maulana Abdul Aziz, have long espoused extremist tendencies, dating back to both democratic governments of Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, neither was able to bring either of the brothers to justice or curtail their extremist activities.

So are you going to interview Osama bin Laden next about George W. Bush and Bill Clinton’s inability to take him down?

You also missed a couple of other mentionables that were missed in Nic Robertson’s investigative piece:

Benazir Bhutto was forced to handle another extremist organization known as Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi (TNSM), a banned organization that still operates in the tribal and FATA regions of Pakistan, founded during her first government by Sufi Muhammad. It occupied the strategic highways and trade routes including the silk route which connects Pakistan to China to fulfill their demand of implementing the Sharia in Pakistan during the 1990s. The militants demanded the enforcement of Islamic laws and threatened to continue to block the major trade routes connecting the country to China and Afghanistan. The standoff came to a head at the Saidu Sharif Airport, in the Swat Valley, when the Frontier Constabulary, a paramilitary organization, was used to arrest Sufi Muhammad. This only gave rise to Fazal Ullah, the son-in-law of Sufi Muhammad, who now leads the organization, which is expanding quickly due to the over 100 illegal FM radio stations that are used to preach their message. Today, TNSM is carrying out extremist activities in those same regions forcing citizens to rid themselves of television and computers, calling them the sins of the West. In the past few days, they have also been responsible for attacks on the Pakistan Army moving throughout the Malakand division of Pakistan.

Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa also gives a clear account that the Deobandi seminaries grew at a much faster pace in the federal capital during the period of liberal governments (Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif). Since 1990, 34 seminaries were set up in Islamabad. While during the ultra Islamic dictator rule of General Zia-ul-Haq, seminaries mushroomed around the country with the full support of the dictator that ruled with a hardline Islamic rule of law that saw media silenced and citizens publicly tortured for being “un-Islamic.” It is the same General that removed the Western style military officers in favor of middle class, conservative Muslims that would carry on his charge of bring Pakistan under Sharia law. During this dark point in Pakistan’s history, the United States government, CIA and other allies, gave their full support to the ruling dictator while turning their back on the growing problem in Pakistan.

Nawaz Sharif, a creation of the ultra Islamic Zia rule, has been a regular supporter of the Islamization of Pakistan to the extent that he passed an amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan allowing for accused criminals to decide between the Sharia or Judicial courts. Nawaz was also Prime Minister when the infamous nuclear tests were carried out in Pakistan, in response to the India nuclear tests. His regular alliances with the religious parties have assured them a clear voice in the politics of Pakistan.

Also, in Nic Robertson’s fervor to paint President Musharraf as the reason for the extremist problem, he chose to disregard volumes of information and references, both in the international media and intelligence organizations, of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence wing who hold deep ties to the Taliban from the time of the Soviet conflict. It was during this conflict that the ISI became one of the world’s most feared intelligence agencies because of it’s ability to infiltrate any group, organization or Pakistani citizens life to determine if they were doing anything “un-Islamic.” The ISI was used by General Zia to spy on Pakistani citizens, politicians and media personnel; while the CIA and United States government used them to train and indoctrinate people into the Mujahideen to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. That Mujahideen is today known as the Taliban.

The most disturbing part of the program was when former head of Pakistan’s Inter services Intelligence (ISI), Lieutenant General Hamid Gul, appeared on the screen. Are you serious? Do you know who this man is?

For those who are not familiar with Pakistan, Hamid Gul is one of the strongest supporters of the Taliban that ever existed, with the Asia Times dubbing him the “Godfather of the Taliban,” and providing comprehensive understanding of where his support lies.

If you look at the Wikipedia entry for Hamid Gul, the first paragraph states:

“Lieutenant General Hamid Gul is a retired Pakistani general most famous for heading ISI after the Soviet War, and for instigating the Kashmir insurgency in 1989 with the support of Mujahideen that fought in the Soviet war.”

But since I am not some one that bases my judgment on just one reference, I again used Google to see what else Nic Robertson had missed.

The International Herald Tribune says “Hamid Gul, the former Director General of Pakistani intelligence, remains a public and unapologetic supporter of the Taliban, visiting madrassas and speaking in support of jihad at graduation ceremonies.”

In an interview with Arnaud de Borchgrave, United Press International Editor at Large, the introduction reads:

“The retired Pakistani general who is closest to the Taliban and Osama bin Laden contends the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington were the work of renegade U.S. Air Force elements working with the Israelis. Gen. Hamid Gul led Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence during the war against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Gul serves as an adviser to Pakistan’s extremist religious political parties, which oppose their government’s decision to support the United States in any action against Afghanistan’s Taliban regime. Gul contends bin Laden had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, saying instead that they were the work of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service — a version of events that has been endorsed by Islamic fundamentalist clerics and is widely accepted by Muslims throughout the Arab world.”

Hamid Gul says:

“I know bin Laden and his associates. I’ve been with them here, in Europe and the Middle East. They are graduates of the best universities and are highly intelligent with impressive degrees and speak impeccable English. These are people who have rediscovered fundamental Islamic values.”

“The destabilization of Pakistan is part of the U.S. plan because it is a Muslim nuclear state. The U.S. wants to isolate Pakistan from China as part of its containment policy. President Nixon’s book “The Real War” said China would be the superpower of the 21st Century. The U.S. is also creating hostility between Pakistan and Afghanistan, two Muslim states to reverse the perception that the Islamic world now has its own nuclear weapons. Bush 43 doesn’t realize he is being manipulated by people who understand geopolitics. He is not leading but being led. All he can do is think in terms of the wanted-dead-or-alive culture, which is how Hollywood conditions the masses to think and act.”

In response to the question “were you a fundamentalist in the days of the war against Soviets in Afghanistan when you worked closely with the CIA,” he replied: “Not as much as I am today.”

In response to a question about the Taliban, he replied

“They represent Islam in its purest form so far. It’s a clean sheet. And they were also moving in the right direction when this crisis was cooked up by the U.S. Until Sept. 11, they had perfect law and order with no formal police force, only traffic cops without sidearms. Now, in less than two weeks, they have mobilized some 300,000 volunteers to fight American and British invaders if they come.”

The International Institute on Counter-Terrorism did a much better job of portraying the true Hamid Gul:

“Hamid Gul was the DG of the ISI under Mrs.Benazir Bhutto during the first few months of her first tenure as the Prime Minister (1988 to 90), but she removed him from the post following the fiasco of an attack by the Afghan Mujahideen and Osama bin Laden’s followers which he had organized in a bid to capture Jalalabad from the control of the then Afghan President Najibullah’s army in 1989. The attack was repulsed by the Afghan Army after inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders.

After his retirement, Hamid Gul joined the Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) of Qazi Hussain Ahmed and worked for some years for the Pasban, the militant youth wing of the JEI. He is no longer with the Pasban. He now owns a flourishing road transport business and has been at the forefront of all anti-Musharraf and anti-US activities by ex-servicemen. He has also been helping the Neo Taliban and its Amir, Mulla Mohammad Omar, in running their training camps in Pakistani territory. He has also rallied the support of many ex-servicemen for the current agitation by the lawyers and the JEI against Musharraf over the suspension of Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary, the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court, on March 9, 2007.”

They go on to discuss other former ISI officers that are connected with the Taliban and Jihadi activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including Lal Masjid.

Pakistan’s liberal newspaper The Daily Times, Khalid Hasan provided great insight into the “strategic advisor” to the MMA, Hamid Gul, stating “Hamid Gul’s agenda – which he barely conceals – is to create a deadly nexus between Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Those who know Gen Gul say his objective is to widen the nexus to include Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia,”Arnaud de Borchgrave, United Press International Editor at Large, after September 11th, wrote at great length about the involvement of Pakistan’s ISI and Hamid Gul in the attack on the twin towers:

“A ranking CIA official, speaking anonymously, said the agency considered Gen. Gul “the most dangerous man” in Pakistan. A senior Pakistani political leader, also on condition of anonymity, said, “I have reason to believe Hamid Gul was Osama bin Laden’s master planner.”

And in another piece by Arnaud:

“The man who engineered the victory of Pakistan’s fundamentalist parties was Hamid Gul, a retired former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) who acted as “strategic adviser” to MMA. Gen. Gul’s reward: a Senate seat. Some 300 ISI officers who had been working with Taliban prior to September 11 and were transferred to regular army units have now been returned to the intelligence agency. NWFP and Baluchistan are once again privileged sanctuaries for al Qaeda — a clear and present danger for President Bush’s war on terror.” This week, Gen. Gul publicly praised MMA’s top leaders as “saints just like [former Taliban leader] Mullah Omar” and hailed Saddam Hussein, Col. Moammar Gadhafi, Fidel Castro, the Assads (father and son) in Syria, China and Iran for “standing up to America’s new world order, the cruelest system on earth. But we have the nuclear capacity, a gift from God, to resist its imposition on us.”

Cooperative Research provides a time line with Hamid Gul’s involvement with the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Outlook India has a story called “Jews Attacked The WTC” which is nothing more than Hamid Gul telling his thoughts about the foolishness of the Pakistan - US relationship, but the interesting part is that it was written by none other than Amir Mir, the same journalist that Nic Robertson sang praises.

Needless to say, the internet is full of respected journalists writing about the voracity of Hamid Gul’s support for the Taliban and al Qaeda, yet Nic Robertson felt that he was a “qualified source” to speak on extremism in Pakistan, while never once asking about his own links and activities in their support.

I won’t even get into the comments that Nic Robertson made about a radical mosque in Walthamstow, UK that teaches extremism to British born Muslims or the over 200 terror cells that MI5 has under observation. Be clear here: British born, British raised, British educated, turned extremist in Britain, but because of a 3 month trip to Pakistan; Pakistan is the hub of terrorism in the world.

Are you going to claim that the Neo-Nazis and the Klu Klux Klan also came to Pakistan to learn how to terrorize Americans?

I should make it clear that I am neither a journalist or investigative reporter, just someone that is familiar with how research is done correctly. Looking at these shining examples of “journalistic” quality, it is very easy to understand that Nic Robertson and CNN did nothing more than promote the extremist and terrorist cause with their program “Pakistan: The Enemy Within.” This is obviously an attempt by CNN to blame Pakistan for the US military’s and Coalition forces failures in Afghanistan. When the world’s strongest military machines has to rely on a 3rd world country to stop terrorism, then exactly what are all the spy satellites and intelligence officers for? Or you could ask the Mayor of Kabul, Hamid Karzai, why he has been unable to raise an army, gain the support of fellow Afghanis or stop the massive increase in the poppy fields since the fall of the Taliban? But then he will say “Pakistan isn’t doing enough.”

Tomorrow, I’ll pick up with the questions that Nic Robertson didn’t ask and why they are crucial to the debate on the extremist problem in Pakistan. But as I wrap up today’s post, I remind you that the media is a wonderful tool for propaganda and that you should always check what you see on TV with respected newspapers around the world. To put together the numerous citations that I have for part one of this post, I used Google and a list of the names from the program. If I can do it, so can you.

Don’t be fooled by the media into believing that they are telling you the truth.

UPDATES:

It seems that I am not the only one who wrote about this docudrama:

Pakistan: Threat from Within - CNN Documentary - I am the Pakistani-American blogger he refers to

Reply to a British Presenter - Another harsh review

Also, from what we are reading in the domestic media, CNN has been banned access to government briefings by the Prime Minister and the President, which could now extend to any government functionary. They were also denied access to Lal Masjid, the reason given was that the government’s media managers were angered at the airing of the same CNN special that I have called factually incorrect and nothing more than another anti-Pakistan episode from CNN. A CNN spokesman had the following to say “The action by the Pakistan government is regrettable. We remain committed to reporting from Pakistan.” Don’t you mean lying about Pakistan?

[ratings]

Related posts:

1. Pakistan Military Strike on Terrorist Training Post
2. How To Squeeze Jihadi Culture Out of Pakistan - Vali Nasr
3. Craig Cohen Online at the Washington Post
4. Pictures from the Seige
5. Attack on the President?
6. Re-Orienting Pakistan - Dr. Hasan-Askari Rizvi
7. Problem, Not Solution - Dr. Hasan-Askari Rizvi

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