Hot Pursuit Into Pakistan? Taking the War Straight to Osama bin Laden

For at least 4 years we have known that
Musharraf's Army and intelligence and the
President/General were not on our side. Neither
is the US State department, but that is old news.
Immediate unilateral action is past due.

Hot Pursuit Into Pakistan?

Friday, July 11, 2008 4:20 PM PT

War On Terror:
As Washington moves an aircraft carrier off
Pakistan's coast, U.S. commandos are reportedly
poised to launch raids against terror targets
inside Pakistan. It's about time.

It appears hawks within the Pentagon and CIA
have won a long-running policy battle with
risk-averse officials in the administration and
diplomats at the State Department. The result
is a more aggressive, go-it-alone policy in
response to Pakistan's failure to disrupt terrorist
training camps and cross-border attacks against
our troops and the Afghan government.

Politics and diplomacy had not produced the
desired results, and they've had ample
opportunity to work. For nearly seven years now
‹ as we've coaxed, cajoled and even bribed our
"ally" with billions in aid ‹ Osama bin Laden
and his henchmen have remained  inside
Pakistan's tribal areas. Patience with Islamabad
has run out. It's time for unilateral military action.

The U.S. military confirms it is sending extra air
power to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border by
moving the aircraft carrier USS Abraham
Lincoln from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of
Oman. The battle group ostensibly will provide
air support for special forces who reportedly
have been given the green light ‹ after
tumultuous debate within the White House ‹
to conduct raids deep inside Pakistan's tribal belt
to eradicate al-Qa'ida and Taliban bases.

According to a Houston Chronicle report,
quoting both Democrat and Republican
lawmakers who recently had a briefing from U.S.
commanders in the region, the White House has
authorized a secret plan to deploy commandos
into Pakistan's tribal areas.

Islamabad's ineffective campaign makes it
"imperative that U.S. forces be allowed to
pursue the Taliban and al-Qa'ida in tribal areas
inside Pakistan," said Rep. Michael McCaul,
R-Texas. "If we don't do something now, they're
going to strike us again (in the U.S.), and it is
going to be out of this area."

His concern echoes that of the chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, who recently returned from
Islamabad warning that the next al-Qaida attack
on America will originate from inside Pakistan
if we can't convince our ally to stop cutting peace
deals with our enemy and deny it safe haven.

At the same time, President Bush confirmed
rumors he's authorized a troop escalation in the
region in 2009. He didn't offer details, but
Pentagon officials expect about 6,000 in
reinforcements, raising U.S. troop presence in
Afghanistan to about 40,000.

A military buildup along the border is critical
to supporting special forces operations inside
Pakistan, which would represent a major
departure from previous policy respecting
Islamabad's ban on such operations.
Of course, in concert with launching any
covert raids into Pakistani territory, Washington
will also have to ready a black ops team to help
secure Islamabad's nuclear warheads so they
don't fall into the wrong hands in the event of a
political uprising.

What broke the long-standing bias within the
administration against unilateral action? Several
troubling developments, including:

€ A 2006 peace deal brokered by Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf that has led to a
40% increase in the number of cross-border
attacks from Pakistan's tribal belt, where
insurgents now operate with impunity.

€ U.S. intelligence reports showing al-Qaida's
leadership has carved out a secure base inside
the tribal area, along with a band of camps for
training a new cadre of Western-looking
terrorists to attack the U.S.

€ Reports that the flow of foreign fighters and
funding into the Pakistani border region from
the Middle East has soared as jihadists
relocate from Iraq.

€ U.S. and Afghan intelligence showing evidence
the Pakistani military is arming, training and
sharing logistical data with Taliban insurgents
to help them target U.S. and Afghan troops.

€ A border incident last month in which
Pakistani soldiers fired on U.S. forces.

€ Evidence the Pakistani government may be
behind a campaign to destabilize the U.S.-
backed Afghan government, including
assassination attempts on Afghan President
Hamid Karzai.

€ The bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul,
which killed 41 including Indian officials.
Karzai has blamed Pakistan's military
intelligence agency.

Pakistan's border area is a powder keg, and it
seems that rather than trying to stabilize things,
the Pakistani government is trying to light the
fuse. U.S. military intervention is the only
option left to control the region and put our
enemy out of business.


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