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Mullen's ex-spokesman issues confused denial of memo
News Desk
ATLANTA: A blogger on the well- known website, Foreign Policy, on Tuesday issued a statement by a former spokesman of retired Admiral Mike Mullen, who denied knowing Mansoor Ijaz or receiving any memorandum from him in May this year, adding more mystery to the ongoing controversy over the memo.
The denial, while clearly stating that Admiral Mullen did not know Mansoor Ijaz, however, left the door of receiving the memo open through someone else and not directly from Mansoor Ijaz, who in his article in the Financial Times had never claimed to have met Adm Mullen or delivered the memo himself.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had earlier in a meeting with media persons in Pakistan declined to comment on the memo, saying it was a matter between two presidents and she could not say anything on the subject.
The blog titled "The Cable" said Mullen, now retired, denied this week having ever dealt with Ijaz. He gave the comments to The Cable through his spokesman at the time, Capt. John Kirby.
"Adm. Mullen does not know Mr. Ijaz and has no recollection of receiving any correspondence from him," Kirby told The Cable. "I cannot say definitively that correspondence did not come from him - the admiral received many missives as chairman from many people every day, some official, some not. But he does not recall one from this individual. And in any case, he did not take any action with respect to our relationship with Pakistan based on any such correspondence - preferring to work at the relationship directly through Pakistani Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and inside the interagency process."
The statement by the ex-spokesman that he "could not say definitely that such a correspondence did not come from him", left doubts and the possibility that if evidence was provided by the Financial Times, Admiral Mullen could still justify receiving it through someone else and not through Mansoor Ijaz.
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