US may attack Pakistan

It seems as if the US is driving Musharraf into a situation where he will cause a civil war. The US forever asks Musharraf to do the impossible. Now apparently the US is threatening to start a concerted campaign against Islamists in some of the ungovernable territories. The result will be to fan the flames of rebellion against Musharaff. The US claims that they are losing faith in Musharaff because he has not done enough to suppress radical Islamists. Do they think they can replace him with someone more able to do so? The US will never learn the limits of its power it seems. It will take thousands upon thousands of US casualties and more billions of dollars until the US develops a more realistic and less hubristic foreign policy.



This story is taken from Sacbee / Politics.


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U.S. says it might attack in Pakistan
Bush administration threatens move against al-Qaida haven.
By Tom Lasseter - McClatchy Newspapers
Published 12:00 am PDT Thursday, July 19, 2007
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- An ambush of a military convoy that killed 17 troops near the Afghan border Wednesday pushed the death toll in a series of attacks to at least 119 Pakistanis in the past six days -- and brought President Pervez Musharraf, according to a local newspaper headline, to a "Moment of Truth."

The Bush administration, after publicly demanding that Musharraf rein in militants linked to al-Qaida, threatened Wednesday to launch attacks into Pakistani territory if it sees fit.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said "there's no doubt that more aggressive steps need to be taken" against al-Qaida sanctuaries inside Pakistan. Al-Qaida's ability to maintain a safe haven in Pakistan is "something that's absolutely going to have to be addressed," he said, without discussing what the next steps might be.

"We never take options off the table, and if we find actionable targets, we're going to hit them," Snow said.

Retired Rep. Lee Hamilton, one of the leaders of the Sept. 11 commission and a White House intelligence adviser, agreed Wednesday, saying that al-Qaida's threat to the United States has reached the point where U.S. forces should "go after" terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan.

Hamilton urged the Bush administration to launch military operations against al-Qaida operatives and suspected training camps in northwestern Pakistan as well as authorize U.S. forces to enter Pakistan to pursue al-Qaida and Taliban fighters fleeing from neighboring Afghanistan.

"I believe that it is necessary for the United States to be able to go after the sanctuaries in Pakistan," Hamilton said. "I would really not exclude anything."

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his surviving leadership cadre are believed to be hiding in the remote mountainous region of North Waziristan in the semiautonomous Federally Administrated Tribal Areas.

Musharraf signed a cease-fire with tribal leaders in the area in 2006 that inadvertently permitted al-Qaida operatives and Taliban remnants from Afghanistan to establish a safe haven.

Musharraf announced plans Tuesday for a renewed crackdown on Islamic extremists in the face of U.S. pressure and a series of attacks inside Pakistan, including the seizure of Islamabad's Red Mosque.

Musharraf recently moved thousands of Pakistani troops to volatile tribal strongholds such as North Waziristan, where a Taliban council said earlier this week it was abandoning the peace deal with the government.

Facing domestic political pressure for staying in power while in uniform -- he also is Pakistan's top general -- Musharraf has relied heavily on the United States as a source of political support. But with Washington now demanding that Musharraf use force in the tribal areas, he is struggling to appear decisive while avoiding a civilian bloodbath or more military carnage.

It was in North Waziristan that a large group of gunmen opened fire on troops Wednesday, killing 17 soldiers and wounding 13, according to military officials.

It was unclear how the militants were able to kill so many soldiers. One military official said a roadside bomb hit a convoy before the shooting started, and another said that snipers were used.

Of the 119 Pakistanis killed since Saturday, 85 have been security personnel or recruits slain in tribal regions.

The situation would seem to call for a crushing military response, especially in a part of the world where appearing weak or hesitant is often taken as an opportunity to attack.

But some Pakistanis worry that the military could be stepping into a trap, that to open up a full military assault would only embolden hard-core Islamists in an area famed for supplying the jihadist fighters who helped defeat the Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the 1980s, and who are currently battling U.S. and NATO forces in that same country.

There also is concern in Pakistan that the gathering sense of crisis could prompt Musharraf to cancel elections later this year and declare a state of emergency -- despite his repeated denials.

However, Musharraf also can use the turbulence to convince Washington that he remains a vital bulwark against extremists in the Islamic world's only declared nuclear state.

Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher made it clear in Washington that while the White House supports long-term development of the tribal regions -- the United States has pledged $150 million a year for the next five years to help the Pakistani government do so -- there is a strong desire for military intervention.

"I think first and foremost we have to remember that some military action is necessary, and will probably have to be taken," Boucher said Tuesday.

Yet recent evidence suggests that sending in soldiers to confront militants in Pakistan may lead others to take up arms.

When special commando units cinched their cordon around the Islamabad mosque last week, several religious leaders warned that a stack of dead bodies in a place of worship -- no matter how radical -- would risk tumult. The commandos went ahead with their raid, and at least 75 people inside the mosque compound -- hard-core Islamic fighters and innocents alike -- were killed in two days of heavy fighting.

The operation wrapped up July 11, and by Saturday the apparent backlash had begun. Troops across the border regions were targeted with suicide bombers, machine-gun fire and roadside explosions.

A suicide car bomber attacked a police academy in a tribal area today, killing up to six people.

Assailants detonated a bomb and fired on a convoy of Chinese workers near the southern city of Karachi, police said. Twelve Pakistanis were killed but none of the Chinese was hurt.

"People ... are really angry and annoyed with what happened" at the Islamabad mosque, retired Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul said. "If our military moves in there, it will have to fight its way through and that will be very bad -- you cannot do reconstruction in that sort of environment, and you will lose the battle for hearts and minds."

Many analysts worry that if the Pakistani military takes too strong a role, it would risk killing innocents and help al-Qaida and the Taliban win more support in villages, as well as make Musharraf look like a U.S. surrogate.

"You can't just start bombing and targeting areas with civilians living around there," said Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad, a military spokesman. "It would be playing right into the hands of the militants and extremists."


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