The CIA elephant in the room

Posted by Frank James at 3:40 pm CST

When President Bush and the Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz met today at the White House, they had a photo op where they talked of many things: the long, valued relationship between the two nations, increasing trade, U.S. aid to the post-earthquake relief efforts and the fight against terrorism.

One obvious topic went unmentioned, however—the recent missile strike aimed at senior al Qaeda officials in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region, allegedly by the Central Intelligence Agency.

The strike may have killed some al Qaeda terrorists but innocent civilians definitely died because of it, according to reports and the Pakistan government. It sparked demonstrations by hundreds of Pakistanis and protests by Pakistani officials to the U.S.

But for both Bush and Aziz, it was the elephant in the room that could not be spoken of, at least not publicly.

The U.S. hasn’t officially acknowledged that the CIA is conducting operations in Pakistan’s tribal areas where al Qaeda’s senior leadership is thought to be hiding. U.S. officials don’t generally talk in public about CIA operations.

But U.S. officials also don’t want to cause any more difficulties than necessary for Pakistan’s President Musharraf by openly discussing the strike.

Pakistan’s government is under significant domestic pressure for cooperating with the Bush administration in the war on terror, the reason Pakistan’s prime minister didn’t mention the missile attack either.

“We're working closely to defeat the terrorists who would like to harm America and harm Pakistan,” was as close as Bush came to discussing the missile strike.

“And we want to fight terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” was Aziz’s comment. “There is no good terrorist or bad terrorist, and terrorism knows no borders. Our coalition with the United States in fighting terrorism is very important to all of the world and all of civil society.”

While he avoided any discussion of the attack during his White House photo op, the prime minister has spoken of the alleged CIA attack during his time in Washington.

At the Council on Foreign Relations Monday Aziz, in answering a question following his speech said “…Like the other day after the attack on--in which many civilians died, people were very angry, and if I look you in the eye and say people were not angry, I will not be reflecting the truth. But then they also realize the U.S. is a big power and we need to work together to build for peace and build for development.”