- Oct 7, 2011
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Sen. Rand Paul is threatening to hold up Senate business until lawmakers address the case of jailed Pakistani doctor Shakil Afridi, after Afridi detailed in an exclusive jail-cell interview how the same spy-service interrogators who tortured him also revealed they consider Americans to be their "worst enemies."
Afridi, the doctor who helped the CIA track Usama bin Laden, described brutal torture at the hands of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence. He said, in an interview with Fox News, that they told him "the Americans are our worst enemies, worse than the Indians." Afridi said the country's claims of cooperation with the U.S. are a sham to "extract" billions in U.S. aid.
Paul, after reading the account, on Monday renewed his months-long effort to compel a vote on a bill to freeze U.S. aid to Pakistan unless Afridi is released -- even if it means stalling the Obama administration's nominee to be the next ambassador to Islamabad.
"Because of the urgency of seeing that Dr. Afridi is freed, I am prepared to pursue any and all means to secure a vote on my bill immediately, including objecting to other Senate business and recessing the Senate for the election," Paul wrote in a letter Monday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Paul wrote that, given repeated delays in Afridi's appeals hearing, it is "now abundantly clear that Pakistan has no intention of pursuing a proper and just hearing" for the doctor.
In a separate statement Monday, Paul said the U.S. "should not give foreign aid to a country whose government is torturing the man who helped us kill Usama bin Laden.
"We should not be giving foreign aid to any country that is not clearly our ally. This must end, and this week I will renew my push for a vote on this issue, including holding up Senate business to accomplish this goal," he said...
Read more: Sen. Paul vows to press vote on Pakistan aid cutoff after jailed doc speaks out | Fox News
Afridi, the doctor who helped the CIA track Usama bin Laden, described brutal torture at the hands of Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence. He said, in an interview with Fox News, that they told him "the Americans are our worst enemies, worse than the Indians." Afridi said the country's claims of cooperation with the U.S. are a sham to "extract" billions in U.S. aid.
Paul, after reading the account, on Monday renewed his months-long effort to compel a vote on a bill to freeze U.S. aid to Pakistan unless Afridi is released -- even if it means stalling the Obama administration's nominee to be the next ambassador to Islamabad.
"Because of the urgency of seeing that Dr. Afridi is freed, I am prepared to pursue any and all means to secure a vote on my bill immediately, including objecting to other Senate business and recessing the Senate for the election," Paul wrote in a letter Monday to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Paul wrote that, given repeated delays in Afridi's appeals hearing, it is "now abundantly clear that Pakistan has no intention of pursuing a proper and just hearing" for the doctor.
In a separate statement Monday, Paul said the U.S. "should not give foreign aid to a country whose government is torturing the man who helped us kill Usama bin Laden.
"We should not be giving foreign aid to any country that is not clearly our ally. This must end, and this week I will renew my push for a vote on this issue, including holding up Senate business to accomplish this goal," he said...
Read more: Sen. Paul vows to press vote on Pakistan aid cutoff after jailed doc speaks out | Fox News
