Pakistan's High commissioner to Britain has told the Guardian newspaper that the US travel alert was intended to justify non-UN-sanctioned drone attacks inside Pakistan.

Wajid Shamsul Hasan has accused US President Barack Obama of playing politics with the terror threat prior to the US mid-term elections next month.

Meanwhile, a high European intelligence official has told the paper that the alert was “nonsensical.”

The remarks come a week after US media extensively covered the US State Department's travel alert for Europe, even naming specific targets in Berlin and Paris.

Press TV interviewed Washington-based investigative journalist Wayne Madsen to ask his take on the issue.

Press TV: It has been said by Pakistani officials and the public alike, time and again, that Washington doesn't really care about its so-called “ally.” Is the US not putting itself in a dangerous position, of losing the support of this strategically important country?

Madsen: I think we have to look at what is happening. We have these cross-border incursions by US-led NATO forces into Pakistan. There was an attack on some Pakistani military units just the other day. And it would seem that the terrorist threat is not... to Western Europe or the United States. and I have been told by people in Pakistan that US covert operations teams may be responsible for some of the terrorist attacks in Pakistan, that were later attributed to the Pakistani Taliban.

I think there is a conscious effort by the Obama administration to destabilize Pakistan and I think they are working with Mossad and the Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to do that, in order to give a pretext for declaring Pakistan a failed state and seize the nuclear weapons.

We see all these phony terrorist alerts. We just had a report last week from a high-level British law enforcement official who said all these terrorist alerts are a load of rubbish. Now we have other people saying that they are nonsensical. So, I think we are seeing a common denominator here that people like Obama and Sarkozy in France are having political prompts. They pull the al-Qaeda rabbit out of a hat to use it for their own purposes.

Press TV: The US, about the Pakistani commissioner's statements, said: “everyone understands this cannot be taken lightly. To try to ascribe any political motivation is misguided and irresponsible.” Who's telling the truth?

Madsen: Well, I wouldn't believe anything for example that comes out of the State Department or the Pentagon as far as the rhetoric is concerned. They have a vested interest in hyping the terrorist alert. Right here in Washington, for example, at the Pentagon metro station, I personally witnessed Pentagon guards with automatic weapons stopping people, commuters, and asking for their identification....

So we have this increased alert here, but I think it just plays into the fear factor. And Obama, just like Bush before, they used the fear factor really effectively to convince the American public that [they] were in the siege by these unknown shady terrorists that are lurking in the shadows. But I think it is reassuring the people in Europe, intelligence officials in Europe and law enforcement officials in Europe are calling the Americans bluff here and saying there is no basis for these warnings.

Press TV: The official also pointed out that Obama was playing politics with the terror threat before the mid-term elections, which Republicans are expected to dominate. Is there a chance that through such dirty-tricks, Obama may actually pull off a win for his party?

Madsen: I don't think here we are going to see this be very effective, garnering votes for the Democratic Party. I think there are a lot of people on the left of the Democratic Party that are very wise [compared] to these antiques. They really saw what happened under Bush. They are seeing it happen again under Obama.

And I think Sarkozy in France, now we have him involved in a scandal where he is accused of accepting kickbacks from a French-Pakistani defense deal. So he has a vested interest in changing the subject as well, positioning French troops at the Eifel Tower, and the Louvre Museum and at various train stations in Paris.

I think we are seeing the typical neo-conservative effort to play this fear factor that al-Qaeda is the boogeyman here; and they will stop at nothing to try to use this threat of terrorism, to try to get their agenda through, political or otherwise.

Press TV: Now, thinking of what you earlier said about the US wanting to declare Pakistan a failed state. The Pakistani High Commissioner says this will justify US attacks that will "set the country on fire." Doesn't that sound a lot like the description of a full-on invasion? A short answer on that, please.

Madsen: Well, yes, I think it is. And I think this is the end game by Richard Holbrooke and others to try to destabilize Pakistan. We also see some efforts to destabilize the situation north of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. So, this is a very dangerous game the US government is playing, but one that I would suggest is being formulated within the Pentagon and the CIA.

HJL/HGH/MMN

www.presstv.ir/detail/145803.html

Oct. 8, 2010