Might Hoax Call Have Triggered A War?

[Octafish]

Source: CBS News

(CBS) By CBS News' Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad.

How close were India and Pakistan to war, when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice picked up the phone on Friday, November 28, to call India's foreign minister to convey Pakistan’s extreme anxiety after terrorists stormed luxury hotels and a Jewish center in Mumbai?

That was one of the key questions making the rounds of the Pakistani capital Islamabad today, as speculation grew in the country’s press over reports of a phone call which turned out to be a hoax.

The rumor was that last Friday India's foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee had called Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari and threatened Islamabad with dire consequences following the Mumbai attacks.

The fear of a wider conflict after the call was so intense that Zardari picked up the phone and called Rice, a top Pakistani government official told CBS News on condition of anonymity. "It felt like the clock was ticking away to doomsday," he said.


Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/06/world/main4651908.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4651908

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Thank you Dr. Khan...and Poppy...and Rumsferatu... and Sneer...and all the nice folks at the Safari Club and BCCI.

[seemslikeadream]

1. American Judas Dick Cheney

http://americanjudas.blogspot.com/2007/03/american-judas-2nd-edition-investigate.html
AMERICAN JUDAS
2nd Edition: INVESTIGATE CHENEY & UNRAVEL THE CABAL




Who's really responsible for Mumbai? Dick Cheney doesn't want you to know.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/robertpaulsen/169

[Octafish]

16. Mysterious phone call brought nuclear rivals to the brink after Mumbai

Condescenda's wondering what Cheney's cell phone log looks like...

Mysterious phone call brought nuclear rivals to the brink after Mumbai

Saeed Shah in Islamabad
The Guardian, Monday December 8 2008

A mysterious night-time telephone call brought India and Pakistan, two nuclear armed countries, to the brink of war at the height of the crisis over the Mumbai terror attacks, it was revealed yesterday.

According to the Pakistani authorities, a "threatening" call was made by the Indian government, ostensibly from the foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee, to Pakistan's president, Asif Zardari, on Friday November 28, two days after the drama in Mumbai began. India had by then declared that all the militants who had stormed its commercial capital were from Pakistan.

The heated conversation left Zardari believing that India was about to attack his country, reportedly pushing Pakistan's armed forces to high alert. Given Pakistan's inferiority in conventional forces, analysts believe it could respond with nuclear weapons to an Indian attack.

Zardari quickly mobilised western leaders in an attempt to avert war, telephoning the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, and Britain's foreign secretary, David Miliband, among others, who in turn frantically called New Delhi. Rice reportedly telephoned Mukherjee in the middle of the night and demanded: "Why have you threatened war?"

Yesterday Mukherjee lashed out at Pakistan, denying that he had made any such call. "I can only ascribe this series of events to those who wish to divert attention from the fact that a terrorist group, operating from Pakistani territory, planned and launched a ghastly attack on Mumbai," he said.

CONTINUED...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/08/india-pakistan-mystery-telephone-call

And to think people think Valerie Plame had a desk job at Langley.

That Robert Paulsen feller is tops, like You, 'Dream. You both care.

[seemslikeadream]

17. I've been very tired lately

[lurky]

2. I see 2 possibilities:

1. The Indian foreign minister actually made the call in anger, then claimed it was a hoax to save face and prevent escalation.

2. Hard liners in one of the intelligence services (ISI, India, Cheney Inc., etc) made the call in the hopes of triggering a war.

Clearly, the caller had to know how to get Zardari's private line and convince his staff that he was legit, as well as be able to call or appear to call from a number within the Indian embassy. Definitely not something naughty teenagers would be able to pull off.

[ohio2007]

3. # 2., ISI inside job

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3632852#3633549

[formercia]

7. I choose #2

then declare martial law when the nukes start flying.


The Jihadists and Taliban would like to draw the Pakistani Army away from the Afghan border areas.

[judasdisney]

9. More confusion

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4601300

[judasdisney]

10. separate DU thread: "Threatening Call Was Not Hoax"

Sorry, that last subject line should've been less abstract ("more confusion")

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4601300

[ohio2007]

13. Pakistan's Minister for Information said it so......do you believe it ?

the rats are wrestless as the ship of state starts listing

[judasdisney]

14. There are multiple possibilities.

Of course I don't believe anyone.

The implications of what he's saying, however, could be (a) supporting evidence that could only lead to a U.S. "inside job", OR (b) that he wants us to believe that -- in which case, why?

All the pieces matter, including the lies, because they are also indirect evidence.

We are in a wilderness of mirrors.

[ohio2007]

15. Revealed: home of Mumbai's gunman in Pakistan village (They live in glass houses)

denial is getting harder and harder when even Irans Hizb'allah was allowed to comment about the writing on the wall

Since the terrorist attacks in Mumbai 10 days ago, speculation has been rife about the birthplace of the lone surviving gunman, Ajmal Amir Kasab. India and Pakistan have clashed over reports that he came from the Punjab. Saeed Shah, after spending days travelling throughout the region, tracked down the killer's home - and his grandfather - and found conclusive proof of his identity

snip

That appears to be the last piece of the jigsaw. A man called Amir and his wife, Noor, do live in Faridkot, official records show. They have a son called Ajmal.

Following our last visit to Faridkot, the mayor, Wattoo, announced via the loudspeaker at the mosque that no one was to speak to any outsiders. By yesterday, Pakistani intelligence officials had descended in force on Faridkot. Locals, speaking by telephone, said a Pakistani TV crew and an American journalist had been roughed up and run out of town. It appeared that the backlash had begun.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/07/mumbai-terrorism-india-pakistan

ISI still not a leading suspect ?:shrug:

[Junkdrawer]

4. Comverse Infosys????

:shrug:

[Oak2004]

5. While a war between the two would have the effect of relieving world overpopulation

in 30 minutes or less, such a war is not exactly the way I'd like to see it done :(

And we prop up the Pakistani military in the name of defeating "terror"??

[ohio2007]

11. divide and conquer

Pakistan has been a house divided under the MSM radar for some time
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C12%5C07%5Cstory_7-12-2008_pg7_17

they've lost control of their own country

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C12%5C07%5Cstory_7-12-2008_pg1_2

and China is expected to sound off on their mutual defense pact with Pakistan as things continue to spin down the shitter. Makes you wonder which horse they will back when it's all said and done


http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/06/content_10465071.htm
China-India joint anti-terrorism training begins


The wrath of Kahn will haunt Pakistan

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200511/aq-khan

[baldguy]

6. India? I thought this would be about "Curveball".

[alfredo]

8. Khan is a part of the group that planned the raid.

[ohio2007]

12. Pakistan has agreed to a 48-hour timetable set by India and the United States to formulate a plan to

Pakistan has agreed to a 48-hour timetable set by India and the United States to formulate a plan to take action against Lashker-e-Toiba (LeT) and to arrest at least three Pakistanis who Indian authorities say are linked to the multiple attacks in Mumbai, a top US daily reported citing a top Pakistani official.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities, said India has also asked Pakistan to arrest and hand over LeT commander Zaki ur-Rehman Lakhwi and former chief of Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI),

snip

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/mumbaiterrorstrike/Story.aspx?ID=NEWEN20080075527&type=News

Pak on track to being named terrorist state

WASHINGTON: The United States is dusting off a long-discarded proposal to declare Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism.But with the Bush
administration now in its final six weeks in office, a decision in this regard is being left to the incoming Obama government, sources said, contingent on corrective actions taken in the meantime by Islamabad to the satisfaction of India, US and other countries affected by Pakistan's toxic export of death.
US intelligence circles are now re-evaluating Pakistan's contribution to the war on terror, and the ISI's dominant role in the country and its ties with jihadi outfits, at the behest of the Bush administration. The White House itself lost faith in the Pakistan Army's bonafides several months ago which led to Washington's decision to withdraw support to military ruler Pervez Musharraf and back a new civilian government, officials and congressional aides who spoke on background explained.

snip

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pak_on_track_to_being_named_terrorist_state/articleshow/3803272.cms