US-LET 2 LST

A French court had issued arrest warrant against Mir, now
considered a mastermind of 26/11 attacks, some two years
before the Mumbai terrorist attacks. But Pakistan did not
respond, nor did the French government exert enough pressure
on the then Musharraf regime to take action against Mir, which
many believe is an army officer.
"In October 2006, two years before the Mumbai attacks,
(Jean-Louis) Bruguiere (of France) issued an arrest warrant
for Mir that was circulated worldwide by Interpol. There was
no response from Pakistan," said the investigative report.
Jean-Louis Bruguiere is France's top counter-terrorism
magistrate, who had spent three years investigating Mir after
one of Mir's French operatives, Willie Brigitte, was arrested
in a foiled bomb plot in Australia. A Paris court convicted
Mir in absentia and sentenced him to 10 years in prison in
2007.
Nonetheless, Bruguiere says most Western investigators he
dealt with continued to view LeT as a regional actor confined
to South Asia.
"For me it was a crucial case, a turning point,"
Bruguiere said, "because of what it revealed about the role
played by Pakistani groups in the global jihad and about the
role of the Pakistani security forces in terrorism. We had the
impression that Mir was protected at the highest levels of the
state."
In summer 2007, Bruguiere met at the White House with a
top security adviser to the then President George W Bush.
The French judge shared his fears about LeT and his suspicion
that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was playing a
"double game."
Rotella wrote that Bruguiere said the White House
official, whom he declined to identify publicly, did not seem
convinced.
"The US government is a huge machine," said Bruguiere,
who is now the European Union's envoy to Washington in efforts
against terrorism financing. "It's difficult to make it change
course," he was quoted as saying. PTI LKJ
HMI


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