MYSTERY – AT 8:27 A.M. ET:  There will be many mysteries to come out of the bin Laden operation, but one that is featuring prominently this morning involves the question of how much Pakistan actually knew about bin Laden's whereabouts, and whether elements within the Pakistan government were actually helping him.  From the L.A. Times:

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan –— The fact that Osama bin Laden was killed not in the tribal badlands of northwestern Pakistan but in a small city just north of the capital is likely to raise new suspicions in Washington about how much the country's security establishment knew of his whereabouts — and whether elements of it assisted him.

For many years, the hunt for Bin Laden focused on the rugged tribal areas along the Afghan border. Instead, he was killed in the city of Abbottabad, in a neighborhood near the Pakistan Military Academy, the training center that has produced many of the country's powerful military leaders.

Right near the training center?  I wonder how many cadets were brought in for inspiration.

That Bin Laden was caught in the heart of the Pakistani state may deepen the mistrust between the U.S. and its nominal anti-terrorist ally, which is the recipient of billions of dollars in U.S. military aid.

Officials in Washington have long accused the Pakistani government and its security bodies of providing sanctuary and other means of support to militant groups that were closely allied with Al Qaeda and helped the terrorist organization hide and operate there.

In July, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton bluntly accused the Pakistani government of less than full cooperation in the hunt for Bin Laden.

Clinton did not charge that top government officials were protecting the Al Qaeda leader, but instead said she believed that elements of the bureaucracy had to know where he was hiding.

A senior U.S. official who briefed reporters at the White House late Sunday said no Pakistani forces were involved in the operation to kill Bin Laden and that Pakistan was not told of the mission beforehand.

COMMENT:  Pakistan is insisting this morning that the bin Laden operation was an entirely U.S. affair.  Obviously, the Pakistan government fears retaliation from the huge number of fanatics residing in the country should they suspect that their own country was involved in killing the Islamist matinee idol.

May 2, 2011