It was recently released that Osama bin Laden was in contact with senior members of the military intelligence agency of Pakistan while he was hiding within the country’s borders. This information comes from secret intelligence files released recently on the WikiLeaks website Monday. The information was found in emails from Stratfor, the United States security firm, which originally were intercepted by the hacking group known as Anonymous.
One of the emails showed information regarding papers collected from the Abbotabad compound of bin Laden following the raid that killed him by United States special forces back in May. An analyst from Stratfor said in the email that close to 12 Pakistan officials from the Inter-Services Intelligence agency knew that bin Laden had a safe house in the country. The email said that the information could be used when it comes to negotiating with Islamabad but it did not mention the Pakistani officials in question.
Officials from the United States felt that the ISI had to know bin Laden was in the country but Pakistani officials have repeatedly denied the accusations.
“Mid to senior level ISI and Pak Mil with one retired Pak Mil General that had knowledge of the OBL arrangements and safehouse,” the email said. “I get a very clear sense we (US intel) know names and ranks.”
The first publishing wave of emails included only 200 but WikiLeaks claims that it is in possession of over 5 million emails from Stratfor that it will publish. Another email in the possession of WikiLeaks is about Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela. The email discusses his health after his cancer spread to his bone marrow and his colon.
There was one email claiming that Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities successfully last year. Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has accused Stratfor of questionable practices involving private corporations.
“On the surface it presents as if it’s a media organisation providing a private subscription intelligence newsletter,” Assange said. “But underneath it is running paid informants networks.”
“Stratfor has worked to build good sources in many countries around the world, as any publisher of global geopolitical analysis would do,” the company said in a statement. “We have done so in a straightforward manner and we are committed to meeting the highest standards of professional conduct. Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questioning about them.”
The hacking group known as Anonymous originally hacked the emails back in 2011.
The account from Anonymous said, “We promised you those mails and now they’ll finally be delivered. Five million (that’s 5,000,000) emails at your pleasure. There’s a treasure trove of nasty details in those emails. We think there’s something for everyone.”