Chris Christie Is One Smart Man

Legalizing sports gambling is smartest bet yet
By Dan Wetzel | Yahoo! Sports
In the United States of America, it is illegal for a mathematician to sit in his home, fire up his computer and employ his analytical skills in a game of online poker for money. Politicians say it's about protecting him from the ills of gaming or some such nonsense.
Of course, he can go down to the bar, get bombed and blow his life savings on endless games of mindless keno. The gambling laws of this country have never made sense. They are a confused maze of miscast morality, government money grabs and special-interest favoritism.
In the case of sports wagering, where the majority of profits in the estimated $350 billion industry go to offshore operations and organized crime, the laws are pure, unadulterated stupidity.

Gov. Chris Christie expects legal action but also expects "to be successful." (AP)Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, on Thursday decided to make the boldest move yet on legalizing sports gambling in his state (and eventually all states who so chose) by daring the federal government, in the run-up to a presidential election no less, to argue otherwise.
Christie plans to enact a state regulation passed in January that will allow wagering on all sports at New Jersey horse tracks and Atlantic City casinos this fall. It’s a move that defies the 1992 federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which allows sports betting in just four states, with Nevada the only one fully embracing it. Even Indian casinos are prohibited by law from operating sports books.
If the feds want to come after him, well, Christie essentially said, “See you in court.” Otherwise, anyone may be able to bet legally on football in a Jersey sports book by October.
“If someone wants to stop us, then let them try to stop us,” Christie said at a press conference in Atlantic City on Thursday.
“Am I expecting there may be legal action taken against us to try to prevent it? Yes,” Christie continued. “But I have every confidence we’re going to be successful.”
[Related: Gov. Chris Christie's proposal not expected to alter NFL's Super Bowl plans]
The court of law is one thing. The court of public opinion is another and Christie may be assuming the Justice Department won’t attempt to fight this one. Let the presidential candidates take it on.
We’ll leave the debates about legalizing marijuana and prostitution to others. When it comes to sports wagering, criminalization is hypocritical, counterproductive and thoroughly unenforceable.
It is profoundly simple to illegally bet on sports. For well over a century the public has been wagering on football and boxing and basketball and every other sport. It used be through a local bookie. Of late, it’s become easier through international online gambling sites, where even basic age limits can be ignored and credit cards provide deep reservoirs of cash for additional bets.
The result is a massive industry, hidden right there in the open with point spreads printed in newspapers, gambling notes sitting out on the bar during NFL Sundays and free discussions in nearly every social circle about parlays, home dogs and prop bets. Yet outside of Nevada, none of it is taxed, not the winnings of the public or the books. None of it is remotely regulated. None of the money flow can be traced, which increases criminal behavior and the likelihood of compromised competition because it’s generally not a bunch of church ladies who back up bookies.
And let’s not give credence to the absurd shrieking of the NFL, NCAA and other sports organizations who claim that bringing sports wagering into the light will somehow now draw in a criminal element, or that it might diminish their sports' popularity when their sports' popularity was partly built on gambling in the first place. The idea of Vegas-style sports books coming to towns across the country makes football weekends even more enticing.
Generally, the best asset law enforcement has in uncovering a point-shaving scheme is a move in the very public Vegas line. That’s a luxury they don’t enjoy on the street wagering everywhere else. Las Vegas has always wanted a square game. Atlantic City will, too.
Besides, if sports wagering is so, so, so bad, then why is it allowed in even one state? What’s so special about Nevada?
“To those with a vested interest in the status quo – the professional sports organizations who take a hypocritical stance that wagering will ruin the purity of the game and the Nevada-based conglomerates that have enjoyed that state’s stranglehold on sports wagering for the last 20 years, I respectfully say, ‘Bring it on,’ ” New Jersey state senator Raymond Lesniak said in a statement.
“The sooner you can make an issue of New Jersey’s noncompliance with an unconstitutional federal ban, the sooner we can defeat that ban in the courts and put New Jersey on the same competitive footing."
Christie and Lesniak are politicians, and their motivation lies with trying to jumpstart the struggling casino industry in Atlantic City. That aside, they are in the right.
Gambling in all forms has exploded across the country the last few decades, and it is time to end the strange hodgepodge of favoritism and situational Puritanism.
There are lotteries everywhere, blackjack tables everywhere, games of chance everywhere, bingo everywhere. Everything is everywhere. To be able to blindly pull on a slot machine but not use analytical skills in online poker or sports wagering is ridiculous.
If the motivation for additional tax revenue has legalized the most zombie-like forms of gambling, then let it do the same for the higher-end stuff.
Legalizing sports books also recognizes reality. The NFL and the others may want to pretend they are outraged over wagering, but with the advent of smart phones, bets are placed today via online services or personal bookies right from stadium seats, even more convenient than a betting window at a horse track. Of course, in the old days they set up banks of pay phones on the concourse, and not everyone was using them to call home and check in with the wife.
College sports teams often feature 50-50 raffles inside the stadium. Professional sports organizations sponsor state lottery scratch tickets. Events are held in casinos, and some team owners are in the gaming business.
Sports bets are happening in the hundreds of billions each and every year. Any argument that it can be stopped, any argument that it is ruining competition, any argument that it is somehow reprehensible and dangerous and dirty (except in Nevada) can’t stand up to reality.
The ban is senseless, aiding only criminals and Cayman Island entrepreneurs who have profited in our government’s stupidity. No time like the present to get smart and get real and end this charade.
MTW- Such a great Governor, and an intelligent man. He would make a great VP, except the Democrats will give him hell about his weight. Still, to tell them to bring it on? He sure has a pair. Why not make legal money from something that goes on ALL the time? Can you imagine the money to be made with legal pot? Smart. Nobama-No 2012!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy

North Korea Sucks

Report: N. Korean officials executed in staged traffic accidents
By Jeff Stacklin | The Lookout

Kim Jong Un salutes during a mass military parade (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service) …A new Amnesty International report paints a gruesome picture of summary executions, torture and ill-treatment in North Korea as Kim Jong Un succeeded his late father, Kim Jong Il, as the country's ruler last December.
The country used firing squads or staged traffic accidents to execute 30 officials involved in talks to unite North and South Korea, according to the 2012 Amnesty International report released Thursday. It also notes that the country had been questioned about another 37 reported executions between 2007 and 2010 for "financial crimes."
As the ruling authority shifted to Kim Jong Un, the country's State Security agency detained another 200 North Korean officials, some of whom are now feared executed or in prison camps, the report notes.
Credible reports estimated that up to 200,000 prisoners were held in horrific conditions in six sprawling political prison camps, including the notorious Yodok facility. Thousands were imprisoned in at least 180 other detention facilities. Most were imprisoned without trial or following grossly unfair trials and on the basis of forced confessions.
Men, women and children, who were kept in the prison camps, were tortured and forced to work in dangerous conditions, according to the report. Many of the prisoners die or get sick while in custody due to the horrendous conditions, beatings, lack of medical care and unhealthy living conditions.
Meantime, the North Korean government denies the existence of the political prison camps.
[Related: North Koreans in rice belt starving to death]
Amnesty International also reports that hunger is widespread in the country, as 6 million urgently need food and the country is unable to feed its people. The country earlier this year reportedly requested its embassies to appeal for international aid. While the the European Commission has helped, the United States has not provided aid to North Korea, "reflecting concerns over the monitoring of its distribution," according to the report.
[Related: Gov't moving ahead with reactor plans]
North Koreans do not have freedom of speech, and criticism of the government and its leaders is forbidden. Few people have access to the Internet, and there are tight controls on mobile phones and phone connections, according to the report. Citizens' movement inside and out of the country are tightly monitored. People who escape to China are often returned to North Korea, where they are often detained and beaten by the government.
MTW- North Korea sucks! Does anyone disagree? I feel so bad for those Citizens, to have their new childish moron running things, as if things were not already bad enough. I cannot say much more, as there seems to be a shortage of information flowing out of that dreary place. They need some better rocket surgeons and brain scientists. Their rocket must have had Chinese made parts in it. Nobama-Nobiden in 2012!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy

Karzai Thanks Obama For His Taxpayer's Money

Afghanistan’s Karzai thanks Obama for ‘your taxpayers’ money’
By Olivier Knox | The Ticket White House Correspondent

President Obama, right, during his meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the NATO Summit in Chicago, May …
Looking to a day when "the Afghan war as we understand it is over," President Barack Obama met Sunday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss NATO's withdrawal from that strife-torn country by the end of 2014.
Obama, who has put the draw-down of combat troops at the heart of his foreign policy, declared that "the world is behind the strategy" of giving Afghans control over their own security, but stressed that "now it's our task to implement if effectively."
Karzai, who aims to secure billions of dollars in long-term aid for his country's military and economy, said he looked forward to a day when "Afghanistan is no longer a burden on the shoulders of of our friends in the international community, on the shoulders of the United States and our other allies."
"I'm bringing to you and to the people of the United States the gratitude of the Afghan people for the support that your taxpayers' money has provided Afghanistan over the past decade and for the difference that it has made to the well-being of the Afghan people," Karzai told Obama.
The two leaders met on the sidelines of a high-stakes NATO summit consumed by the question of the alliance's withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, and its role beyond that date. Obama has made it known he wants leaders gathered here to sign off on a plan to hand over combat duties to Afghan forces in 2013.
"There will be no rush for the exits," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters as the summit opened, saying the alliance's plan was sound and vowing to "see it through to a successful end."
Beyond the tight security cordon around the summit, in the streets of Obama's adoptive hometown, protestors denounced the gathering for a second straight day."I would expect that such demonstrations would take place in a peaceful manner," said Rasmussen.
Obama also wanted NATO leaders to flesh out their own commitments to Afghanistan — both in terms of troops and money — until 2014 and beyond. Specific dollar amounts are not expected in Chicago, but a July donors conference in Tokyo should spell those out. The price tag for Afghan forces after 2014 is estimated to be $4.1 billion per year. Afghanistan is expected to pay $500 million of that. Karzai has said his country will need at least $10 billion per year in overall aid through 2025.
Obama looked ahead to a future "in which we have ended our combat role, the Afghan war as we understand it is over, but our commitment to friendship and partnership with Afghanistan continues" and evoked "a shared vision that we have in which Afghanistan is able to transition from decades of war to a transformational decade of peace and stability and development."
Obama underlined "the enormous sacrifices that have been made by the American people, most profoundly by American troops, as well as the troops of our other coalition partners" and said Americans "recognize the hardship that the Afghan people have been through."
"The loss of life continues in Afghanistan. There will be hard days ahead. But we're confident that we're on the right track," he said.
"Afghanistan is fully aware of the task ahead and of what Afghanistan needs to do to reach the objectives that we all have, of a stable, peaceful and self-reliant Afghanistan. In the meantime, until then, thank you for your support," Karzai said.
(Karzai had given a somewhat different assessment of Kabul's relationship with Washington at a December 2008 joint press conference with then-President George W. Bush.
"Afghanistan will not allow the international community leave it before we are fully on our feet, before we are strong enough to defend our country, before we are powerful enough to have a good economy, and before we have taken from President Bush and the next administration billions and billions of more dollars -- no way that they can let you go," Karzai said, to nervous laughter from the audience.)
Among the challenges Obama's strategy faces: French President François Hollande isn't budging from his campaign pledge to withdraw his country's roughly 3,600 combat troops by the end of 2012 — one year sooner than his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy had planned.
Hollande suggested after talks with Obama at the White House on Friday that French forces could stay on to help train Afghan military and policy, but reiterated that an end to their combat role was "not negotiable."
Obama faces dual pressures at home: The war-weary American public wants out of Afghanistan, the country's longest war, but Republicans have blasted the president for setting a departure date, saying this will only embolden Islamist fighters and lead friendly Afghans to hedge their bets.
Mitt Romney, in an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune, accused Obama of failing to show leadership inside NATO and of putting America "on a path to a hollow military" and said he would reverse both trends. He did not detail his own Afghanistan policy.
The United States is on track to reduce its presence to 68,000 troops by late September. More than 3,000 Americans have been killed in the decade-long conflict launched to catch or kill Osama bin Laden, whom Navy SEALS shot dead in a dramatic May 2011 raid inside Pakistan.
That country closed supply lines for NATO forces after a November strike inside its territory killed 24 Pakistan soldiers. Negotiations to reopen them have yet to bear fruit. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is attending the summit, but Obama has not plans to meet with him one-on-one.
"The president will certainly have a chance to see him and speak to him," Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters aboard Air Force One late Saturday.
"On the supply lines, we believe that this is going to be resolved," Rhodes said. "We expect that to take some time. So there is still work to be done through those negotiations."
NATO leaders are also expected to take up the issue of Iran's suspect nuclear program, as well as how the alliance should respond to the bloody crackdown in Syria.
MTW- On behalf of the people who had those monies taken from them, to Karzai: I would like to say up yours baby. I suppose Bush just did not speak your language. What did you ask BO? May I have some money, we did not make enough selling our heroin to your Citizens? WE DO NOT WANT to give you money. Our Men DO NOT WANT to be there fighting you bunch of cowards with your hiding bombs. You people have been fighting since Christ, and WE can stop you? My ass. Nobama-Nobiden in 2012! This "President" Karzai should have said THANKYOU to the AMERICAN CITIZENS, whose tax money was given to him without consent or desire, the taxes which are supposed to be for AMERICA!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy

Mexicans Busted In Fake UPS Van

Illegal immigrants arrested in pony UPS van
Associated Press

In this undated photo released by the U.S Border Patrol on Wed. May 23,2012 showing a fake United Parcel Service delivery vehicle that had been carrying 13 illegal immigrants. The U.S. Border Patrol says they stopped the van last Friday May 18,2012 as it tried to circumvent a highway checkpoint near Niland, Calif., near the Mexican border. Officials say they found the 13 Mexican citizens hiding inside the back of the van, which looked like a legitimate UPS delivery vehicle. A 21-year-old U.S. man was arrested on suspicion of smuggling. (AP Photo/U.S Border Patrol)
NILAND, Calif. (AP) — It was a special delivery indeed — 13 suspected illegal immigrants from Mexico stuffed in a phony UPS van. The U.S. Border Patrol said Tuesday that agents stopped the van Friday as the driver tried to circumvent a highway checkpoint near Niland, about 150 miles east of San Diego in California's Imperial Valley, near the Mexican border.
The van looked like a legitimate United Parcel Service Inc. delivery vehicle, except the company decal on the back door was slightly crooked.
The driver, U.S. citizen Daniel Lopez, was charged in federal court in El Centro with illegal transportation of aliens, authorities said.
Carlos Goens, the driver of another truck, was charged with the same crime after being detained at a Border Patrol checkpoint. He is suspected of coordinating with the UPS van.
Migrants told authorities they had agreed to pay between $5,000 and $8,000 each to be smuggled into the United States, according to the criminal complaint.
An agent reported seeing Goens leave a suspected stash house for illegal immigrants in the town of Brawley, leading authorities to the UPS vehicle. Another agent pulled over the UPS van at a mobile home park in Niland.
Attorneys for Goens and Lopez did not immediately respond to phone messages Wednesday.
Border Patrol agents recently began visiting Imperial Valley businesses and government agencies to warn about smugglers cloning their vehicles, said spokesman Adrian Corona. Telltale signs include misspellings on agency or company logos and crooked decals.
In recent years, smugglers have used fake vehicles of the California Highway Patrol and Imperial Irrigation District. Last year, a white van filled with 13 illegal immigrants from Mexico dressed as clean-cut Marines were stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint near San Diego.
A Border Patrol agent who had served in the Marine Corps wasn't fooled, especially when the driver didn't know the Corps' birthday.
MTW- Holy crap! They actually have stopped 13 whole illegals? Make sure, Mexicans, that next time you have your facts straight, and at least have a REAL UPS truck, or put the stickers on straight. Damn half-assed job. The ones already here do good work, so I have heard. Nobama-Nobiden in 2012!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy

Counterfeit Chinese Military Parts In Our Aircraft

Counterfeit Chinese Parts Slipping Into U.S. Military Aircraft: Report
By LEE FERRAN | ABC News

Counterfeit Chinese Parts Slipping Into U.S. Military Aircraft: Report (ABC News)
Counterfeit electronic parts from China are "flooding" into critical U.S. military systems, including special operations helicopters and surveillance planes, and are putting the nation's troops at risk, according to a new U.S. Senate committee report.
A year-long investigation conducted by the Senate Armed Services Committee found more than one million suspected counterfeit parts made their way into the Department of Defense's supply chain and were bound for use by "critical" military systems, according to the 70-plus-page document released Monday. In addition to Navy helicopters and surveillance planes, the parts were slated to be put into the Air Force's newest cargo planes.
"The failure of a single electronic part can leave a soldier, sailor, airman, or Marine vulnerable at the worst possible time," the report says. "Unfortunately, a flood of counterfeit electronic parts has made it a lot harder to prevent that from happening."
Chinese companies were identified as the "primary source" of the counterfeit goods and the Chinese government was criticized for its alleged disinterest in cracking down on counterfeiting there. The report said that Chinese companies take discarded electronic parts from all over the world, remove any identifying marks, wash and refurbish them, and then resell them as brand-new – a practice that poses a "significant risk" to the performance of U.S. military systems.
But the committee also pointed a finger at the Pentagon and U.S.-based defense contractors that rely on "hundreds of unvetted independent distributors."
According to the document, the investigation "revealed failures by defense contractors and [the Department of Defense] to report counterfeit parts and gaps in DoD's knowledge of the scope and impact of such parts on defense systems."
"Our committee's report makes it abundantly clear that vulnerabilities throughout the defense supply chain allow counterfeit electronic parts to infiltrate critical U.S. military systems, risking our security and the lives of the men and women who protect it," said Senate Armed Services Committee ranking member Sen. John McCain (R.-Arizona). "As directed by last year's Defense Authorization bill, the Department of Defense and its contractors must attack this problem more aggressively, particularly since counterfeiters are becoming better at shielding their dangerous fakes from detection."
A spokesperson for the Department of Defense did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this report, but another spokesperson told CNN the Pentagon was aware of the report and officials "looked forward to reviewing it."
"The Department takes very seriously the issue about counterfeit parts," Col. Melinda Morgan said. "We are working aggressively to address this issue..."
Months after the Senate committee launched its investigation, the Pentagon said in November it was moving to protect against counterfeit parts by modifying policies and improving its internal process as well as working more closely with private companies in the industry.
Then, Defense spokesperson George Little noted that "there has been no loss of life or catastrophic mission failure as a result of these parts entering the supply chain."
Representatives for the Chinese government at its embassy in Washington, D.C., and consulate in New York, New York did not immediately respond to request for comment on this report.
MTW- How did they get their electronic parts in our aircraft? Oh yeah, we probably bought them. Seriously, China will go as far as they want. Do we not get most of our electronics from them? I am sure Obama will apologize for EVERYTHING made in China being a piece of garbage. I bet they sold North Korea that rocket that blew up. Nobama-Nobiden in 2012!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy

Pakistan Acid Women In Fear- Who Could Blame Them?

Pakistan acid women fear backlash over Oscar film
By Jennie Matthew | AFP – 19 hrs agoEmailShare3PrintRelated ContentOscar award winning Pakistani director …

Oscar award winning Pakistani director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy shows her Oscar award during a press conference in Karachi on March 10. Her film focuses on Zakia and Rukhsana as they fight to rebuild their lives after being attacked by their husbands

File photo shows Pakistani acid attack survivors Naila Farhat (R) and Naziran Bibi at the Al-Shifa trust eye hospital in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, in 2009. Survivors of acid attacks whose plight became the focus of an Oscar-winning documentary now fear ostracism and reprisals if the film is broadcast in Pakistan
Survivors of acid attacks whose plight became the focus of an Oscar-winning documentary now fear ostracism and reprisals if the film is broadcast in Pakistan.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy made history earlier this year when she won Pakistan's first Oscar, feted across the country for exposing the horrors endured by women whose faces are obliterated in devastating acid attacks.
Her 40-minute film focuses on Zakia and Rukhsana as they fight to rebuild their lives after being attacked by their husbands, and British Pakistani plastic surgeon Mohammad Jawad who tries to help repair their shattered looks.
When "Saving Face" scooped a coveted gold statuette in the documentary category in Hollywood in February, campaigners were initially jubilant.
The Acid Survivors Foundation Pakistan (ASF) had cooperated on the film but some survivors now fear a backlash in a deeply conservative society -- and are taking legal action against the producers.
"We had no idea it would be a hit and win an Oscar. It's completely wrong. We never allowed them to show this film in Pakistan," said Naila Farhat, 22, who features fleetingly in the documentary.
She was 13 when the man she refused to marry threw acid in her face as she walked home from Independence Day celebrations. She lost an eye and her attacker was jailed for 12 years.
After a long, painful recovery, she is training as a nurse.
"This is disrespect to my family, to my relatives and they'll make an issue of it. You know what it's like in Pakistan. They gossip all the time if they see a woman in a film," said Farhat, taut skin where her left eye dissolved.
"We may be in more danger and we're scared that, God forbid, we could face the same type of incident again. We do not want to show our faces to the world."
Lawyer Naveed Muzaffar Khan, whom ASF hired to represent the victims, said legal notices were sent to Obaid-Chinoy and fellow producer Daniel Junge on Friday.
The survivors, he said, "have not consented for it to be publicly released in Pakistan", adding that such agreement was required for all the women who featured in the film, no matter how fleetingly.
Khan said the producers had seven days to agree not to release the film publicly in the country, or he would go to court to seek a formal injunction.
"They (survivors) were absolutely clear in their mind in not allowing any public screening as that would jeopardize their life in Pakistan and make it difficult for them to continue to live in their villages," he told AFP.
But Obaid-Chinoy insisted the women signed legal documents allowing the film to be shown anywhere in the world, including Pakistan. She told AFP that Rukhsana had been edited out of the version to be shown in the country out of respect for her concerns, adding she was "unclear about the allegations" and would respond to the legal complaints "when a court orders us".
Rukhsana was not reachable for comment.
Many of the women are routinely threatened by their husbands or relatives and it is a television broadcast that they particularly fear.
"The accessibility is so wide scale, the chances are their lives are going to be threatened," said the lawyer, Khan.
The producers promised that profits from screenings in Pakistan would go to Zakia and Rukhsana, but the row also hints at deeper differences between film-makers trying to tell a story and charity workers on the ground.
Some medical personnel, for example, believe it was wrong to focus on an expatriate doctor at the expense of countless local surgeons who have treated dozens of victims.
Others believe the film was too sensational and question whether it really will make a difference to the survivors struggling to live in Pakistan, where there are scores of such attacks each year.
MTW- They need to get the hell out of Pakistan, that is for sure. Pakistan sucks; you know you suck. Come on, Islamabad? That is one ironic name for a city, or province- whatever. Islam a bad. No futher opinion is required. Nobama-Nobiden in 2012!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy

Pakistani Doctor Who Turned In bin-Laden Jailed For Treason

Pakistani doctor who helped CIA find Osama bin Laden jailed for treason
By Dylan Stableford Senior Media Reporter

Osama bin Laden (AP/File)
The Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden has been sentenced to 33 years in jail for treason.
Shakil Afridi, 48, had been accused of running a fake hepatitis B vaccination program, collecting DNA samples reportedly used by U.S. intelligence officers to track bin Laden to Abbottabad, where Navy SEALs killed him in a raid on his compound last year.
A tribal court found Afridi guilty of "acting against the state," The New York Times reported. He was sentenced to 33 years in prison and a fine of 320,000 Pakistani rupees, or $3,477, a government official said.
Afridi, who was arrested shortly after bin Laden's killing, was sentenced under tribal laws and will serve his jail term in Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan. Tribal laws do not carry the death penalty for treason.
According to Reuters, the sentence is "almost certain to further strain ties" between Washington and Pakistan. Following the raid, U.S. officials raised suspicions that Pakistani intelligence may have sheltered bin Laden in Abbottabad. The raid "humiliated" Pakistan, which saw it as a violation of its sovereignty.
"Afridi's prison term could complicate efforts to break a deadlock in talks over the re-opening of land routes through Pakistan to U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan, which are crucial for supplies," Reuters said.
In January, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta "confirmed that the United States had been working with Dr. Afridi while trying to confirm the location of Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad," the Times said.
"For [Pakistan] to take this kind of action against somebody who was helping to go after terrorism, I just think is a real mistake on their part," Panetta said, according to the paper.
According to the BBC, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also called for Afridi's release "on the grounds that his work served Pakistani and American interests."
MTW- This is what they get for helping us? Not cool, as he used dna samples to help track bin-Laden to where we KILLED him. They must be pro-Al-Queerda. I am tired of giving Pakistan money. Are you not as well? They obviously hate us, but still take our money. However, he did help us. We need to show Pakistan the back of our hand- or CUT THE FUNDS OFF. Nobama-Nobiden in 2012!
GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
Posted by Michael T. Wayne- A Little Crazy