Credit where it’s due, the Obama administration received a wake-up call when Faizal Shahzad’s SUV failed to detonate in Times Square. The would-be terrorist’s damp squib went badly not because of our vaunted security apparatus, but because his infernal device was poorly constructed. The White House is waking up to the fact that some fists may remain clenched no matter we wish things were otherwise:
Ties between the alleged Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, and elements of the Pakistani Taliban have sharpened the Obama administration’s need for retaliatory options, the officials said. They stressed that a U.S. reprisal would be contemplated only under extreme circumstances, such as a catastrophic attack that leaves President Obama convinced that the ongoing campaign of CIA drone strikes is insufficient…
U.S. Special Operations teams in Afghanistan have pushed for years to have wider latitude to carry out raids across the border, arguing that CIA drone strikes do not yield prisoners or other opportunities to gather intelligence. But a 2008 U.S. helicopter raid against a target in Pakistan prompted protests from officials in Islamabad who oppose allowing U.S. soldiers to operate within their country.
Well, they can police their country or we will.
I don’t know if I’d go there. All the signs and portents are of our version of a withdrawal “East of Suez”. The second step to gaining important detailed knowledge of horrible things deeper into Pakistan and our continued pressing of forces into a nuclear power defy description. Why push a whole country on the brink of madness over the edge? There may be tactical reasons but I don’t see any compelling strategic reasons.
Yeah, how many guys are we going to “capture” for intelligence with Holder in charge of DOJ? More predators for everyone!
I was thinking exactly the same thing, ProwlerAMDO… Police Predators!
Yup. I’m really developing a thing for that itty, bitty, Small Diameter Bomb, which, affixed to a Predator or Globalhawk for release, would make for some pretty cool target discombobulation.
I’ll bet if they started rummaging around in the shelves at Pantex Corp., they’d find something that would work just fine.
For some reason or other my mind just put “target discombobulation” together with the late 60s early 70s movie “The Nude Bomb” (iirc). Imagine the results in the land of the Wahhabi if such a bomb were set off and everyone suddenly found themselves sans clothing. I imagine the explosions of the Imam’s heads would be clearly heard here.
Can’t you see the ‘men’ wailing as they are forced to kill their daughters, sisters, mothers, wives, neices, aunts for ‘shaming’ the family honor.
Sad really.
I’m half with Curtis here. Just cut off all aid, every bit of every kind, from the Pakistanis. Any country that can afford to build (and export) its own nuclear weapons doesn’t need a cent of ours Apply that $12bn to our own problems. I suspect the Pakistanis, whose intelligence service has a hand in every group that operates on their soil, might be a tad more cooperative under those circumstances.
The order in which it is done is crucial. Don’t threaten to cut it off, don’t pinch a bit here or there. Cut it all off, dribble little bits back in as they come across with real, tested actionable intelligence or actual bodies (verifiable by biometrics, of course, or they don’t get any cash).
Of course, neither this or any other administration has the balls and brains to do that, never mind the shortshightedness of the current COCOM.
During his campaign Obama said he would put boots on the ground in Pakistan if need be. Well, need be.
Frankly, if we went into Pakistan I think we would be trying to take a bite we would be unable to swallow. We simply don’t have an Army large enough to take it on. As it is, we need one about twice the size of what we have.
One of my first military history profs used the words, “infernal device”. Dated it back to the Revolution here when the English Army ran across some that were left behind for them at or before Ticonderoga.
Apparently the saying “it’s all Bush’s fault” did not translate well. (Sarcasm)