Wolf Blitzer: Bottom line, you are happy bin Laden is dead?

Husain Haqqani: You bet.

The fact that this question has to be asked is not a good sign.

Pakistan is on the hot seat. And for good reason. Osama bin Laden, the most wanted man in the world, was found living in a mansion near the scenic town of Abbottabad in northern Pakistan, just a stone’s throw away from a major military training academy in Kakul, which has been repeatedly (over the last 24 hours) referred to as Pakistan’s West Point.

So Osama wasn’t in a cave. He was living in a conspicuous house with 12-foot high walls topped with barbed wire. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, in an interview with Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, puts it this way:

“This compound was a huge compound, bigger than all the other houses in the area, with a big wall around it. Didn’t anyone from the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service, or the military, the police go in there and see what was going on?”

Watch the video below to see how Haqqani handles himself. While his defence is not bad, it is clearly not good enough. The ISI, Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, is in the business of information. The fact that it wouldn’t be at least curious as to who was building a gigantic house with Tora-Bora-sized walls around it so close to a military site is surprising to say the least.

Of course, Haqqani comes off much better than the bumbling prime minister of Pakistan who is shown in an interview clip from April 2010 talking about the potential whereabouts of bin Laden. Blitzer says the Pakistani PM was in “total denial.” What’s more worrisome is that PM Gilani actually appeared unprepared and clueless.

Yes, Pakistan’s name will be dragged farther through the mud in the days and weeks (and likely, months) to come, and Mr Haqqani will be the one getting his clothes dirty on the front lines. It’s not an easy job. But then again, he probably knew that from the get-go. As someone once reminded me, when you nurture terrorists and militants as “strategic assets,” at some point (and this happened a long time ago) they become strategic liabilities. And over the years, the cost has been a lot more than a little dirt and mud.

Click play to watch the interview with Ambassador Husain Haqqani from May 2, 2011.