Visible and Vulnerable

 "I am here, I am visible.  America should give that reward money to me.  I will be in Lahore tomorrow.  America can contact me whenever it wants to.  If the United States wants to contact me, I am present, they can contact me.  Don't they know where I go and where I live and what I do?  These rewards are usually announced for people who are hiding in mountains or caves.  I wish the Americans would give this reward money to me."  Hafiz Saeed, founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba

Yes, it is true that the West thought that Osama bin Laden was hiding out in the mountainous caves across the border from Afghanistan in Pakistan.  Laugh was on them, wasn't it, when they discovered he was living comfortably in a nice large comfortable compound right across from an elite military compound.  And then the laugh was on the Pakistan military and ISI when the Navy SEALs dispatched Mr. bin Laden neatly and expeditiously.

His exalted position and protection afforded by the government and its military and security arm simply weren't enough to ensure his life.  It wasn't all that long ago, but one imagines that Mr. Saeed has a short memory.  And there, in the compound, where the marines scooped up documents and hard drives they found information that Mr. Saeed was very involved with al-Qaeda; indeed that Mr. bin Laden assisted in the planning of the Mumbai attack.

It was already known, because Indian security had unravelled some of the mysteries surrounding the Mumbai attack where ten well-armed and -trained terrorists murdered 166 innocent people four years ago, that the attackers were in direct cellphone contact with members of the Pakistan military and with Lashkar-e-Taiba.  What they perhaps were not aware of was al-Qaeda's involvement.

Mr. Saeed, however, denies having had contact with Mr. bin Laden, or having helped to shelter him.  "We are Pakistani.  We didn't need Osama bin Laden."  Indian authorities had handed over to their Pakistani counterparts ample evidence implicating Mr. Saeed and his terror group, without one scintilla of a doubt of their involvement.  Mr. Saeed had been arrested, but released on appeal.

Now the United States has issued a warrant and a reward of $10-million for information leading to his apprehension.  Someone should nudge Mr. Saeed and remind him that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd- al-Azia Ali, Walid bin Attash, and Mustapha Ahmed al-Hawsawi, all suspects in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, were apprehended in Pakistan in 2002 and 2003.

They are now on trial in the United States.  The death penalty will be sought for them all in their military trials.  "The charges allege that the five accused are responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in New York and Washington D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., resulting in the killing of 2,976 people."

He's next.  And he won't be given that $10-million.