I would suggest that merely paying tens of thousands of dollars to a
lobbyist and/or politician will not buy much influence. To have references
to Pakistan exculpated from the 9/11 Report would have cost at least $5-6
million.

Therefore the report cannot possibly be true
"Real News" wrote in message
...
http://www.telegraphindia.com/106031...ry_5962372.asp


Pakistan weekly spills 9/11 beans
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, March 12: The Pakistan foreign office had paid tens of
thousands of dollars to lobbyists in the US to get anti-Pakistan
references dropped from the 9/11 inquiry commission report, The Friday
Times has claimed.

The Pakistani weekly said its story is based on disclosures made by
foreign service officials to the Public Accounts Committee at a secret
meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday.

It claimed that some of the commission members were also bribed to
prevent them from including damaging information about Pakistan.

The magazine said the PAC grilled officials in the presence of foreign
secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan and special secretary Sher Afghan on the
money paid to lobbyists.

"The disclosure sheds doubt on the integrity and honesty of the members
of the 9/11 inquiry commission and, above all, the authenticity of the
information in their final report," it said.

The report quoted an officer as saying that dramatic changes were made in
the final draft of the inquiry commission after the lobbyists got to
work. The panel was formed to probe the September 11 terror attack and
make suggestions to fight terrorism.

After the commission tipped the lobbyists about the damaging revelations
on Pakistan's role in 9/11, they contacted the panel members and asked
them to go soft on the country. The Friday Times claimed that a lot of
money was used to silence these members.

According to the report, the lobbyists also helped Pakistan win the
sympathy of 75 US Congressmen as part of its strategy to guard
Islamabad's interests in Washington. "US softened towards Pakistan only
because of the efforts of the foreign office," an official was quoted as
saying in the report.

The Pakistan foreign office defended the decision to hire the lobbyists,
saying it was an established practice in the US.

An observer at the Islamabad meeting said money could play an important
role in buying powerful people. The remark came in response to comments
made by some US officials after 9/11 that "Pakistanis will sell their
mothers for a dollar".

Pakistan had emerged as front-runner in the fight against terrorism
unleashed by the US after the terror strikes. Washington pumped in
billions of dollars to win President Pervez Musharraf's support in
launching a crackdown on al Qaida network thriving on the Pakistan-
Afghanistan border.