Bush Aides See Failure in Fight with Al Qaeda in Pakistan

[Hissyspit]

Source: New York Times

Bush Aides See Failure in Fight With Al Qaeda in Pakistan

By MARK MAZZETTI and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: July 17, 2007
WASHINGTON, July 17— President Bush’s top counterterrorism advisers acknowledged today that the strategy for fighting Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan had failed, as the White House released a grim new intelligence assessment that has forced the administration to consider more aggressive measures inside Pakistan.

The intelligence report, the most formal assessment since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks about the terrorist threat facing the United States, concludes that the United States is losing ground on a number of fronts in the fight against Al Qaeda, and describes the terrorist organization as having significantly strengthened over the past two years.

- snip -

But American officials make little secret of their skepticism that General Musharraf has the capability to be effective in the mountainous territory along the Afghan border, where his troops have been bloodied before by a mix of Al Qaeda leaders and tribes that view the territory as their own, not part of Pakistan.

- snip -

The bleak intelligence assessment was made public in the middle of a bitter Congressional debate about the future of American policy in Iraq. White House officials said it bolstered the Bush administration’s argument that Iraq is the “central front” in the war on terror, since that is where Al Qaeda operatives are directly attacking American forces.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/washington/17cnd-terror.html?hp

[Beetwasher]

1. Kick

n/t

[sabra]

2. US asks Pakistan to launch military offensive against extremists

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday prodded Pakistan to launch a military offensive against fighters hiding in tribal areas after Washington hinted at a lack of commitment from its ally to hunt down violent extremists.
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US officials said Pakistan military ruler Pervez Musharraf should send his troops into the tribal border region with Afghanistan to flush out Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, following the collapse of a 10-month peace accord between Islamabad and tribal elders.

"I think first and foremost we have to remember that some military action is necessary, and will probably have to be taken," Assistant Secretary of State for South and central Asian affairs Richard Boucher said.

The United States, he said, was also prepared to help upgrade the Pakistan military, particularly its "frontier corps" that forms the bulk of the estimated 85,000 military forces in the tribal and border regions.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070718/pl_afp/pakistanafghanistanattacks;_ylt=ApFACsrO3M6ECCxFfJtZsq0Bxg8F

[Amonester]

3. Methinks Pervez Musharraf just won the jackpot...

At the PNAC'$ Lottery.

[formercia]

4. Another Summer, another Lebanon

It's Sunnis this time. I wonder how that will play.

[pettypace]

5. Unlike Iraq in '02, these people really are terrorists

Musharraf knows what must be done.