Reply #30: Of Course Meetings Continue, Sir

[The Magistrate]

Everyone meets with everyone, always. It is one of the ways they keep tabs on one another. Given the existance of the Pakistani nuclear program, the border clashes with India, the interest of U.S. agencies in Al Queda following the attack on our embassies and the U.S.S. Cole, it would surprise me greatly if there were no meetings with I.S.I. representatives. Someone would not have been doing their job properly of there had been none.

The reason the man was allowed to retire quietly remains the same common knowledge that the I.S.I. was hand in glove with Al Queda in the interest of operations in Kashmir. These are extraordinarily popular in Pakistan, and it would be extremely dangerous to move against a man identified with them, from the point of view of Gen. Musharref, whatever the desire of the United States might have been.

The essential thing in these matters, Sir, is understanding of the whole local picture, and leaving go the idea there is only one actor in affairs. There are many, many actors, each with its own agendas, and what events issue emerge from the interplay, rather than being the product of some central direction. In its own way, it is rather like the debate between Darwinists and Intelligent Designers over evolution of life forms....