Linn Supervisor Rogers left Pakistan day before raid on bin Laden

Linn County Supervisor Ben Rogers' trip to Pakistan last week took on new meaning with Osama bin Laden's killing less than 24 hours after Rogers' delegation left the country.

“It helps lend a very different perspective, having literally just been there,” Rogers said this afternoon.

Rogers, of  Cedar Rapids, was one of a 10-member “citizen diplomacy” delegation that spent a week in the capital city of Islamabad. The group left the capital city about 4 a.m. local time Saturday. The attack on bin Laden's compound in Abbotabad, about 70 miles north of Islamabad, came about 1:30 the following morning.

“We had some very high-level, very visible meetings,” said Rogers.

Because the trip was organized by World Learning, a Vermont nonprofit, instead of the U.S. government, “we had a lot of freedom as to what we could say, and in where we could go,” said Rogers.

The delegation met with students at International Islamic University, where American embassy personnel aren't allowed to visit.

“They were also very open and honest with their anger over U.S. policy toward Pakistan, and they made it known to us,” said Rogers.

Dissatisfaction with U.S. policies didn't extend to the Americans personally, Rogers said.

“The people were incredibly hospitable and friendly,” he said.

Because it wasn't a government-organized visit, the delegation didn't have a security detail, and members ventured out in small groups, escorted by Pakistanis.

“We did get to do a little sightseeing,” said Rogers, who blogged about the trip.

Every street has a checkpoint manned by armed guards, and Rogers sensed “this mentality that everyday citizens have that anything could happen at any time.”

The circumstances of bin Laden's hideout – in a large compound literally down the street from Pakistan's top military academy – have Rogers convinced the terrorist was in the country with the government's knowledge if not its outright protection.

“That's my conclusion,” Rogers said. “He was hiding in plain sight, and I don't see how the Pakistani goverment and their intelligence agency wasn't aware.”