Hotel Marriott Islamabad: Where Spies Met
While we speculated on reasons behind blast at Hotel Marriott Islamabad, thinking it could be due to presence of US Marines or CIA officials, Mark Corcoran of ABC came up with memories that shed some light on selection of Marriott as target of an event, which is now dubbed as 9/11 of Pakistan.
Mark writes about strategic location of Marriott as it was minutes away from the National Assembly, the Prime Minister’s residence, Government bureaucracy and the headquarters of Pakistan’s all-powerful spy agency, the ISI.
The characters who inhabited the Marriott were playing out a real life drama, a latter day version of the “Great Game” to control Southwest Asia. This was a neutral ground for competing politicians, diplomats, warlords, drug lords, peddlers of nuclear weapons technology, and perhaps a few who fell into all those categories.
Alcohol was a tool of the trade even in an Islamic state such as Pakistan. At first it was brought to my room in a brown paper bag - after I filled out a government form declaring myself to be an unstable foreign alcoholic. Later, hotel management discretely opened a windowless basement bar - one of the few venues in the capital to serve alcohol. Occasionally I’d disappear into this gloom for a quiet drink with the army officers-turned spies who were running Pakistan’s secret wars in Afghanistan and Indian-occupied Kashmir. Many had embraced the extremist zeal of the militants they sought to control and exploit - yet they still enjoyed a scotch or a beer when I was paying.
Change for the Marriott came after 9/11. As the Americans gathered their forces to invade Afghanistan, the hotel became media headquarters of the world.
Hundreds of foreign media established a surreal Tower of Babel in the hotel. TV networks fought for space on the roof to erect plywood studios, guests slept on stretchers three to a room. The function centre became a paying dormitory - and the room rate, like the punditry, seemed to escalate on a daily basis.
As CNN anchors shared their insight with the world from their rooftop plywood stage, South American journalists down in the foyer, watching the broadcasts on TV, transcribed every word before relaying back to anxious readers back home.
With the fall of Kabul the circus moved on, but the Marriott had changed.
After 9/11 the security barriers went up outside the hotel, but no one seriously believed it would stop a determined teenager on a one-way ticket to martyrdom.
I began to demand rooms at the back of the building, off the ground floor, but not so high that I couldn’t climb down in an emergency. For many Marriott regulars, it was a case of not if, but when, it would be attacked. In 2004 an explosion in the foyer wounded several people, then last year, a security guard died after challenging a suicide bomber at the gate.
One wonders whether our intelligence agencies and interior ministry was not aware of this? and when they had news of a possible attack in Islamabad, what they did to secure Marriott?
Other posts by Kashif Aziz
- Is Abdul Subhan Qureshi behind Mumbai Terror Attacks? - December 3rd, 2008
- Joint Statement of PCA and Zombie_KSA - November 30th, 2008
- ISI Chief summoned to India - November 28th, 2008
- Mumbai Terror Attack Goes On - November 27th, 2008
- Mumbai Under Terrorist Attack - November 27th, 2008
- IDEAS 2008: Arms for Peace and Money for the Military - November 25th, 2008
- Urgently Wanted : Federal Ministers - November 19th, 2008
- GEO TV Transmission blocked in Karachi? - November 17th, 2008
- American meat exporters using fradulent halal certificates - November 14th, 2008
- The case of Khanani and Kalia - November 10th, 2008
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September 24th, 2008 14:08 GMT
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 803-08
September 23, 2008
DoD Identifies Navy Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Cryptologic Technician Third Class Petty Officer Matthew J. O’Bryant, 22, of Duluth, Ga., died September 20 in the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan. O’Bryant was assigned to the Navy Information Operations Command Maryland, Fort Meade, Md.
For further information related to this release, please contact Naval Network Warfare Command at (757) 417-6796.
September 24th, 2008 23:35 GMT
So, this just justified the target and other over 70 non-American individuals?
September 25th, 2008 02:14 GMT
No, it does not justify the death of innocent people. This is sheer act of terrorism and we should all condemn it by heart. But at the same time we should not allow others to use our soil to fulfill their hegemonic agendas.
Can government of Pakistan justify the daily collateral damage its causing in FATA? What those women, children and men have done wrong? Nobody is giving a damn about thousands upon thousands who are displaced from their lands. Why the government is unable to kill/capture a known al-qaeda/taliban leader in this recent operation against its own people?
We can not stop these incidents from happening until we stop playing in the hands of others, who certainly are not our friends.
September 26th, 2008 06:40 GMT
Kashif,
You asked me several counter questions, one of them was why can’t Pakistani Govt capture the Taliban/Al-Qaeda leaders, here is my question to you. Do you want them to be captured or eradicated? This will even answer your question about the collateral damage.
Sadly, we as a nation do not still believe this is a war of ours, and hence forth we have no will politically or as a nation to fight them off in an effective and wholeheartedly manner.
September 26th, 2008 17:05 GMT
Priority should be to capture them alive and have a media trial so that the world can see who are these al-Qaeda people. Whats the good in killing dozens and claiming 2 out of 20 were al-Qaeda suspects.
About war on terror, was it our war pre-9/11? Clinton had a missile attack on Afghanistan but didn’t support that. So what has changed? 9/11 was not in Pakistan, nor launched from Pakistan.
If NATO and ISAF thinks people from Pakistani side of Durand Line are attacking them, why do they (and their puppet Afghan govt) resist building a wall across the border and implementation of bio-metric system?
September 26th, 2008 20:05 GMT
Okay — so what did i gain from this article?? Not a great deal. I think you are still recovering from the whisky you ordered!!
What a waste of space. And you know for certain, when you were buying your johhny on the rocks –that those spooks were really extremist minded ‘’army officers-turned spies who were running Pakistan’s secret wars in Afghanistan and Indian-occupied Kashmir'’
common man wake up…..
bombs dont discriminate against their victims…those that were killed didnt deserve it (accept the american marines)
By December 31 of 2008, a new and improved Marriott will have been erected. The owner has confirmed.