McClatchy: Experts question U.S. strategy in Pakistan

[babylonsister]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/18328.html

Experts question U.S. strategy in Pakistan
By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers


WASHINGTON — The Bush administration's strategy for pursuing al-Qaida in Pakistan's tribal region could stoke support for the Islamic militants who are protecting the terrorist network's leaders and battling Pakistan's U.S.-backed military regime, some U.S. diplomatic and defense officials and experts warn.

President Bush is under pressure to act following the release last week of a new intelligence assessment that said Osama bin Laden's network has re-established itself and is plotting attacks on the United States from the mountainous tribal region that borders Afghanistan.

The National Intelligence Estimate coincided with a surge in attacks in Pakistan by Islamic militants, who called off a truce with the Pakistani government in the tribal region after more than 100 people died when security forces stormed an extremist-held mosque.

The Bush administration is backing renewed Pakistani army operations against local extremists, Taliban fighters from Afghanistan and al-Qaida in Waziristan, which is part of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Agencies (FATA).

The White House is also threatening U.S. strikes in the region, where bin Laden and his closest followers are believed to have fled after the administration decided against sending U.S. forces to block their escape from Afghanistan in December 2001.

"There are no options off the table," Frances Fragos Townsend, Bush's homeland security adviser, said on Fox News last Sunday.

Some U.S. military and diplomatic officials and many independent experts, however, warn that military intervention could fuel greater instability, anti-U.S. hatred and opposition to the Pakistani regime of Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

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[Tesha]

1. Oh it's simple: We'll go in, destabalize the existing government, and topple it...

Oh it's simple: We'll go in, destabalize the existing
semi-secular Musharif government, and topple it into
the waiting hands of a radical Islamist government.
We're experts at that!

And then we'll wonder how *THAT* happened when "no
one could have foreseen it!"

Tesha

[madrchsod]

2. pakistan has nuclear weapons

will the military be able to weed out the extremists within their ranks?