Former Pakistan President Musharraf: America's Osama raid "technically... an act of war"

Piers Morgan interviewed former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf today for a program that airs later this week. Musharraf responds to America's raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and President Barack Obama's comments this week that he would do the same thing again. "No country has a right to intrude into any other country," said Musharraf. "Actually, technically, legally, you see it, it's an act of war. So I think it is an irresponsible statement, and I think such arrogance should not be shown, publicly, to the world."

He went on to further explain the "act of war" comment:

"Theoretically, technically, yes indeed, it's an act of war," he said, but noted it wouldn't necessarily signal a war. "How to deal with it is the question, and I leave it to the government there to how they want to deal with it."

Will repeat Osama-type raid if needed: Obama

Obama said he would approve an Abbottabad-like operation which killed Osama bin Laden if another militant leader was found in Pakistan.

Urging Pakistan to give up its mistaken notion of India as a security threat, US President Barack Obama has said he would order another raid like the one which killed Osama bin Laden if Islamabad did not act on threats developing in the country towards the US or its allies.

"Our job is to secure the United States. We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But we cannot allow someone who is actively planning to kill our people or our allies' people. We can't allow those kind of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action," Obama told BBC in an interview broadcast this weekend, hours before he embarked on a tour of Ireland, Britain, France and Poland.

The US President's warning came in the face of a resolution approved by Pakistani MPs earlier this month which said the country would "no longer tolerate such actions and a repeat of unilateral measures could have dire consequences for peace and security in the region and the world."

But Obama, unmindful of Islamabad's stand, said Washington had always been clear about its willingness to act if Pakistan did not, and his administration was not the first to say this.

"Our hope is and our expectation is that we can achieve that in a way that is fully respectful of Pakistan's sovereignty. But I had made no secret. I had said this when I was running for the presidency, that if I had a clear shot at Bin Laden," Obama said when asked if he would order another raid if a high-value target was detected.

BBC: You'd take it.

Obama: That we'd take it.

In the same context, Obama linked Pakistan's behavior to its insecurity vis-a-vis India, a diagnosis he said he and British Prime Minister David Cameron shared.

"I think what Prime Minister Cameron understands, as I understand, is that Pakistan has been very obsessed with India. They see that as their existential threat. I think that's a mistake," Obama said, reiterating opinion he has expressed before.

In remarks that were clearly addressed to Pakistan and its India-obsessed military, Obama said "Peace between India and Pakistan would serve Pakistan very well" as it would free up resources and capacity for Pakistan to engage in trade and commerce, and "make enormous strides that you're seeing India make."

"But that's their (Pakistani) orientation. It's been that orientation for a long time," he added regretfully. "And so they look at issues like Afghanistan. Or the border region in the Fata (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) through the lens of what does this mean for our contest with India."

The US President said Washington has been trying to talk to the Pakistanis about how they can reorient their strategy so that they understand that the biggest threat to Pakistan and its stability is homegrown, but he did not indicate any progress, much less success, in the matter.

"If we don't go after these networks that are willing to blow up police stations, blow up crowds of people, assassinate Pakistani elected officials with impunity — if they don't get a handle on that then they're gonna see a significant destabilisation of the country," Obama said.

Reflecting on the raid which Obama and his aides followed in real time at the White House, he said, "That was as long a 40 minutes as I care to experience during my presidency." He also indicated that the killing of bin Laden could be a "wake-up call where we start seeing a more effective cooperative relationship" with Pakistan.

Obama will discuss a range of issues with European leaders during his weeklong visit, including the upheavals in Arab countries, the war in Afghanistan, and the international economic crisis, which has forced Europe to adopt austerity measures.

Osama’s Yemeni wife led US to Abbottabad?

Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik believes US had a mole right inside Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad hideout and this was how the al-Qaida chief was tracked down, a media report said on Sunday.

Top US officials said after the raid that they were only partially certain of Osama's presence inside the $1 million mansion, but Malik says only definitive information could have led them right to the room where bin Laden was killed, according to a report in The Sunday Times. The report also says that bin Laden's Saudi wives believe it was his younger Yemeni wife Amal who betrayed him.

"In my experience of years as an intelligence officer, I think someone from inside may have given information," said Malik. "If the Americans didn't have definitive information, they couldn't have gone straight to the room where bin Laden was," he was quoted as saying by the paper.

A pocket guide carried by the US Navy Seals who killed Osama, suggests "bin Laden had fathered twins in captivity" referring to the unidentified children born this year to his youngest wife Amal, 28.

The document, left behind in the compound, lists the names and ages of those who were present, including bin Laden's wives, children and grandchildren. It also details where they lived in the compound and when they arrived.

According to the report, after the mission Obama said he had been "only 45% to 55% sure that bin Laden was even in the compound". The document, which is believed to have been carried by all the Seals on the mission, however, indicates that US intelligence was certain of his presence.

Some Pakistani officials, including Malik, believe the briefing points to the presence of a mole in the compound. The two elder Saudi wives of bin Laden have accused Amal of betraying bin Laden, either by supplying information or by allowing herself to be tracked to the compound.

There have been reports of visits to the compound by donors and a Taliban commander. The other possibility is that US drone technology is far more sophisticated.

Documents also reveal for the first time that the two courier brothers moved to Abbottabad in 2006 from Mardan where Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the al-Qaida No 3, was captured in May 2005. According to Guantanamo detainee assessment published by WikiLeaks, he was caught while waiting for a courier. He had earlier been living in Abbottabad.

According to the report, an employee at Abbottabad Post Office was tracked after he received suspiciously large cash transfers and he led investigators to Umar Patek, one of the Bali bombers, arrested in Abbottabad in January. All these arrests in the same area seem more than coincidence, it said.