Chicago case puts US support to Pakistan on trial

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Chicago-case-puts-US-support-to-Pakistan-on-trial/articleshow/8559114.cms

WASHINGTON: Far away from the courtroom drama in Chicago, in rarefied policy making circles in Washington DC, the Obama administration is also on trial for continued support to Pakistan despite copious information spilling out on the witness stand about the country's sponsorship of terrorism and the role of its spy agency ISI in the Mumbai attack.

What puts the US administration in a fix -- and spotlight -- is that the information is coming from the government's own witness. Testimony by the Department of Justice's star prosecution witness David Headley in the trial of his friend Tawahhur Hussain Rana has left no doubt about the complicity of Pakistani intelligence agency ISI in overseeing the Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008 which killed 170 people, including six Americans.

Headley, who plea bargained with the government to escape death penalty, says he reported to a serving ISI officer named Major Iqbal among others ahead of the Mumbai attack, and a Pakistani Navy frogman helped land terrorists for the attack. He is also providing elaborate details about the ISI's nexus with Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terrorist entities which are formally designated as such by the State Department.

That leaves the Obama administration little wiggle room in avoiding formally designating ISI as a terrorist entity, although informally Washington already considers it a "terrorist support entity," as disclosed in secret cables.