The Guardian is reporting that Pakistan gave the U.S. approval to conduct operations like the Osama bin Laden mission nearly a decade ago. The deal was reportedly negotiated between President George W. Bush and former Pakistan leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf, but it was renewed during Pakistan’s transition to a civilian government.

“There was an agreement between Bush and Musharraf that if we knew where Osama was, we were going to come and get him,” a former senior U.S. official told the Guardian. “The Pakistanis would put up a hue and cry, but they wouldn’t stop us.”

The Guardian story leans heavily on anonymous sources, but if accurate, it reflects the schizophrenic nature of the Pakistani government. Prime Minister Gilani harshly criticized the U.S. mission today, warning that Pakistan would retaliate against any similar operations in the future. But Gilani’s tough speech was jeered by opposition members, who claim that he’s a puppet of the U.S. One opposition leader derided Gilani for speaking in English, saying that it was “to appease his [U.S.] masters.”

Polls have shown that the vast majority of Pakistanis opposed the U.S. operation, and said that it put the country’s national security at risk. It is difficult to tell, then, whether Gilani’s speech today was just him trying to save his own neck, or whether he actually meant was he said. If he meant it, then it could make a U.S. investigation of the ISI much more difficult.