Jul 26 2007
Pakistan Is Where The Action Is
It is clear things are heating up in Pakistan where al-Qaeda seems to be marshalling its forces after the beating they are taking in Iraq. It was clear that as Iraq is purged of the Islamo Fascists they would have to run somewhere. I suspected more would go to Iran (and this still may be the case). But there does seem to be something building in Pakistan:
Efforts by the Pakistani establishment to defuse the volatile situation in its tribal areas have failed, despite the carrot of large amounts of money being dangled before the Pakistani Taliban there.
Islamabad is now caught between militants spoiling for a fight and US and coalition troops in Afghanistan ready to give them one – and there is little Pakistan can now do to prevent this from happening.
…
Since President General Pervez Musharraf sent in the troops against the radical Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) in Islamabad this month to root out militants, Pakistan has sent thousands of troops to the tribal areas, where they have been met with open hostility resulting in the death of scores of military personnel.
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Asia Times Online has learned of increased Pakistani military activity in the Waziristans in preparation for a large-scale operation, possibly augmented by NATO forces from across the border in Afghanistan.
Taking this fight to the terrorists is the only option. They need to understand the ramifications of terrorism – their own lives. That is the only way to establish some level of peace.
Pakistan has done this in the past with prodding from the U.S.. I hope this time is different. Musharaff does have to be careful with this though as all of his forces aren’t exactly loyal to him.
It looks like things are heating up on both sides of the border. The Afghan army has killed 160 Taliturbans since Sunday while the Pakistan army works their side of the Durand Line.
The thing is that people around the globe are getting tired of being threatened by terrorists whose activities always seem to trace some connection back to Pakistan. The things going on in those hills of the tribal regions threaten ordinary folks just trying to take a train to work in the morning in London and taking a plane to visit Grandma in the US.
But we can’t look at this in terms of our political situation or the global war on terror. What happens inside Pakistan is very much tied to internal domestic Pakistani politics and the extent to which Musharraf goes after the Taliban is determined more by popular support in Pakistan for taking such action than by external international pressure to take action.
The Taliban have been increasing public support for action against them by going against the agreements they signed, by staging suicide bombings, and by killing and kidnapping others. Each Taliban incident in Pakistan fuels public support against the Taliban.
Pakistan is where the action is?
I was thinkin’ maybe Washington, D.C. is where the action is right now, as it appears that July 26 may be the official date for the s*** hittin’ the fan:
1. AG Alberto Gonzales’ appearance before Judiciary this week was so lame, so brain-dead, so transparently the work of a mediocre mind inside a mediocre man, that Redstate.com is saying It’s time to take Fredo out fishing.It’s time to take Fredo out fishing;
2. It appears that Harriet Miers and Josh Bolton will be charged with inherent contempt, bypassing the do-nothing DOJ and allowing the Sergeants-at-Arms to detain and bring them before Congress;
3. Karl Turdblossom (don’t blame me, blame the president – he coined the nickname) Rove has now been subpoenaed in US Attorneygate;
4. Conyers and Schumer have been successful in establishing enough evidence of criminality – by Gonzales and others – that it will be very hard for Bushco to prevail in their bogus claims of executive privilege when the issue reaches the Court;
5. In great part because of Fredo’s tranparently perjurious testimony this week, in which he contradicted his own prior sworn statements AND memos written contemporaneously with Gonzales’ criminal efforts to improperly influence the sedated John Ashcroft.
All in all, quite a week, and it’s only Thursday . . . and . . . oh, drat . . . the Dow’s down 350 points. Sure hope my stop loss orders worked.
Sooth can only come rant about things off topic to the post at hand and then talks about stuff that has already been debunked
How pathetic.
The funny part is that all this investigation is about a non-crime. It doesn’t matter WHY they fired the US Attorneys, the Executive branch is able to fire them because they chew Juicy Fruit if they want to.
It is like me going to the store for beer. Someone asks if I told anyone if I went to the store. I say I didn’t. They find someone who says I did tell them I went to the store. But going to the store isn’t a crime. It doesn’t matter. So they attempt to MANUFACTURE a crime by putting enough people in front of the committee to find something that conflicts and try to focus on that. All the while there is REAL work that isn’t getting done.
The Democrats in Congress are retarded. They are wasting time counting angels standing on pins when they could be solving problems. What a load of nit-wits.
I believe it’s extremely important to keep in mind, as reported by Eli Lake in the NYSun,
this purported alliance between Iran and operational groups of al-Qaeda. It’s strategic significance is bound by doctrine which demands a transformation from largely asymmetrical operations carried out by independent groups/organizations into those which are distinctly more positional and conventional and are coordinated, funded and carried-out by elements on a nation/state level. Such mandate/doctrine is necessary in this form of warfare if any such War is to be brought to some form of conclusion. Individual groups and/or organizations simply do not have the infrastructure abilities, capabilities or resources to seize, hold and administer to large areas and populations; such capabilities – as large & demanding as they are – are only available on the nation/state level. Ahmadinejad’s January/February meetings in Damascus of 06′ with the various leadership of Palestinian groups was highly indicative that this War was about to go into a more conclusive stage. One would suspect Tehran is largely relying on our Dem’s to defund the war which would in turn command that we(the US) come to some form of negotiated solution with various regional powers. As Ahmadinejad, Mottaki & Larijani have been selling Iran as the new regional superpower – one on the verge of becoming operationally nuclear(one way or ‘nother) – guess who’s looking to set-up a Shia Crescent, who has influential friends & interests in Pakistan(Khan) while playing hardball in Lebanon & Gaza?
Just my personal opinion but I wouldn’t be rushing to purchase any large quantities of ‘Peace in Our Time, Support Terrorist States – Vote Democrat 08” bumper-stickers quite yet.