Doctor who helped CIA find Osama bin Laden convicted of treason by Pakistan

[grumbler]

Pakistan is a messed up place. We see reports of the ISI helping the Taliban make attacks in Afghanistan, stuff like that. And on the other hand the govt was going after some of the radical enclaves a while ago. They need to decide what side of all this that they're on since they have these radicals living and operating in their own country.

They surrendered to the radicals.

[Martinus]

I read that as "Doctor Who helped CIA find Osama bin Laden". Now that would have been a story!

Same.

[Viking]

Conviction for treason suggest that OBL's location was a state secret.

[Sheilbh]

This guy is a citizen of country A that ostensibly was involved in the hunt for Osama and considered him a fugitive from justice.

Yeah.  The non-treasonous thing to do is to report that to someone in authority in country A, not to tell country B who you would expect to use military force.  Obviously what he did was right and I think he should have been got out of Pakistan by the US before now.  But fundamentally he helped a foreign country's intelligence service that led to a military strike in his own country.  I don't see how he isn't a traitor - albeit in a good cause against a country whose establishment deserves betrayal.

[Admiral Yi]

Yeah.  The non-treasonous thing to do is to report that to someone in authority in country A, not to tell country B who you would expect to use military force.  Obviously what he did was right and I think he should have been got out of Pakistan by the US before now.  But fundamentally he helped a foreign country's intelligence service that led to a military strike in his own country.  I don't see how he isn't a traitor - albeit in a good cause against a country whose establishment deserves betrayal.

The only way he is a traitor is if Osama's location in Pakistan was a state secret.

[The Brain]

Was the US strike approved by Pakistani authorities? If not then aiding it seems treasonous to me. Not that I am an expert on Pakistani law or anything.

[Sheilbh]

The only way he is a traitor is if Osama's location in Pakistan was a state secret.

I think it was clear that the information would lead to a military attack of some sort on Pakistani soil.  The only way to make sure that happened with the approval and cooperation of Pakistan is by informing the Pakistani authorities.  Working with the Americans, while right, was helping a foreign power attack your country.  I don't see how that can be anything but treason.

[garbon]

The only way he is a traitor is if Osama's location in Pakistan was a state secret.

I think it was clear that the information would lead to a military attack of some sort on Pakistani soil.  The only way to make sure that happened with the approval and cooperation of Pakistan is by informing the Pakistani authorities.  Working with the Americans, while right, was helping a foreign power attack your country.  I don't see how that can be anything but treason.

I don't know. Did he think that the US would just invade Pakistani territory without discussing it with Pakistan?  After all, we aren't Israel.

[DontSayBanana]

To be fair, on the flip side of the coin, this doctor just made vaccinating the populace THAT much harder; now that the cat's out of the bag on the DNA sampling through vaccinations, the more suspicious rubes are going to be more resistant to vaccination efforts.  I'm not going to even pretend that that's actually part of the real justification, though.

[The Brain]

I'm sure they can listen to their bodies just like Western folks can.

[Viking]

The only way he is a traitor is if Osama's location in Pakistan was a state secret.

I think it was clear that the information would lead to a military attack of some sort on Pakistani soil.  The only way to make sure that happened with the approval and cooperation of Pakistan is by informing the Pakistani authorities.  Working with the Americans, while right, was helping a foreign power attack your country.  I don't see how that can be anything but treason.

No, the last two or three times the US or Afghanistan found Bin Laden and told Pakistan where he is and Bin Laden was moved.

[Sheilbh]

No, the last two or three times the US or Afghanistan found Bin Laden and told Pakistan where he is and Bin Laden was moved.

So?  That makes him right.  It doesn't make him any less of a traitor.

[Viking]

No, the last two or three times the US or Afghanistan found Bin Laden and told Pakistan where he is and Bin Laden was moved.

So?  That makes him right.  It doesn't make him any less of a traitor.

No, it just means he could not expect that his info would lead to the eventual result. I'm not claiming he wasn't a traitor, I'm saying that if he is a traitor then the Bin Laden's location was a Pakistani state secret.

[Sheilbh]

No, it just means he could not expect that his info would lead to the eventual result.

I don't dispute that.  It's a good reason for what he did.  But he also couldn't expect anything but military action by the US - which makes him a traitor regardless of whether it's a state secret or not.

[Viking]

No, it just means he could not expect that his info would lead to the eventual result.

I don't dispute that.  It's a good reason for what he did.  But he also couldn't expect anything but military action by the US - which makes him a traitor regardless of whether it's a state secret or not.

I don't agree that he couldn't expect anything but military action. The reason I think that is that the last few times the US found OBL in pakistan they didn't invade.