The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
June 16, 2011

Pakistan Denies Arrest of Top Army Major for Tipping Off CIA 
-------------------------------------------------------------



The Pakistani military is denying claims a top army major has been
arrested after feeding the CIA information that led to killing of Osama
bin Laden. According to The New York Times, the major gave the CIA the
license plate numbers of visitors to bin Laden's hideout. Pakistan’s
army and main intelligence agency have not denied claims another four
CIA informants in the bin Laden operation have also been detained. The
arrests have further strained U.S. relations with Pakistan. At a Senate
Appropriations Committee hearing, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy asked
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates about the arrests.

Sen. Patrick Leahy: "How long do we support governments that lie to us,
when do we say enough is enough. Secretary Gates, I'll start with you."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates: "Well, first of all, I would say, based
on 27 years in CIA and four-and-a-half years in this job, most
governments lie to each other, that's the way business gets done."

Sen. Patrick Leahy: "Do they also arrest the people who helped us when
they say they are allies."

Defense Secretary Gates: "Sometimes."

Sen. Leahy: "Not often."

Defense Secretary Gates: "And sometimes they send people to spy on us,
and they are our close allies."

Sen. Leahy: "And we give aid to them."

Defense Secretary Gates: "So, that's the real world that we deal with."



.