Because, after all, the Pakistani government is doing it's absolute very best to capture al-Qaeda -- except when it's pre-warning them of U.S. operations. "Pakistan 'missed chance' to catch al Qaeda deputy," by Kamran Haider, for Reuters, September 1:
ISLAMABAD, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Pakistani security forces missed a chance to catch al Qaeda second in command Ayman al Zawahri, the government's senior Interior Ministry official said on Monday.Being honest, or simply telling the infidels just enough to make them think Pakistan is on their side -- you decide.Zawahri and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden have been in hiding since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and are both believed to be in ethnic Pashtun tribal lands that straddle northwest Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
Rehman Malik did not say when security forces had missed the chance to catch Zawahri or give any more detail about the incident. He also did not say where bin Laden might be.
Malik told a news conference Zawahri was moving between Pakistan's tribal areas and the eastern Afghan provinces of Kunar and Paktia.
"We certainly had traced him at one place, but we missed the chance. So he's moving in Mohmand and, of course, sometimes in Kunar, mostly in Kunar and Paktia," he said.[...]
"They have not only connections, I would say Tehrik-e-Taliban is an extension of al Qaeda," he said, referring to a Pakistani Taliban umbrella group which authorities blame for a string of bomb attacks over the past year that have killed hundreds of people.Banned just last month? One would've thought the Taliban would've been banned after harboring the planners of 9/11?Pakistan last month banned the Taliban group, which was also accused of the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December.
The United States says al Qaeda and Taliban militants are based in sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas where they orchestrate attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan and plot violence in the West.The resignation of staunch U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf as president last month raised questions about the government's commitment to the unpopular U.S.-led campaign against militancy.
But U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week he was encouraged by recent Pakistani action against militants, while adding both Pakistan and the United States needed to do more to shore up security. (Editing by Robert Birsel and Robert Hart)
"The United States says al Qaeda and Taliban militants are based in sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas where they orchestrate attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan and plot violence in the West."
It seems like a lot of Mulsims in a lot of places are just doing the same thing...
This "just a few radicals have hijacked our religion" thing just doesn't hold water any more...
These violent plots against all Non Muslims appear to be more Islamic mainstream than "just a few"..
Saudi Arabia is the father who provided for and Pakistan, the mother who nurtured, fed and raised Taliban. In return, Taliban harbored Osama and Aiman; and helped hijacked Indian Airlines flight IC 814 ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Airlines_Flight_814 ) land in Kandahar and hijackers secure the release of Maulana Masood Azhar ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Masood_Azhar ) and Omar Saeed Sheikh ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Omar_Saeed_Sheikh ) who kidnapped Daniel Pearl and wired funds to 9/11 hijackers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Omar_Saeed_Sheikh#Alleged_connection_to_9.2F11).
Taliban, Al-Qaeda, Khalid Sheikh Muhommad, ISI, Pakistan and terror go way-way back.
But, because Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are "allies" in "war on terror", student's visas to Saudi Arabians are doubled ( http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1999287/posts ) and aid to Pakistan ( http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php?sid=382836 ), trippled, thanks to the tax-dollars Bush/Rice throw at the ummah.
Hmmmmm...Kunar and Paktia are right beside North & South Waziristan if I'm not mistaken. There have been a couple of missile strikes there in the past couple of days.
Alert you seem to forget about all the tech know how that Billy Clinton gave to the Chinese who are supporiting terrorism in the Sudan. please there is enough whoreing envolved with Clinton and appeasing the Sauds as well , even more so after he left office. and Obama/biden will be allowing iran to get nukes, the Democrats right now have more on their guilty plates. The Paks are making it appear that they are really doing a grand job, and l dont think that they have the US military one iota. what you are hearing from the US military official is double speak, l have more confidence in the US military than any politician or the elite msm media.
This story is hilarious but I'm not laughing.
Does anyone anywhere think Islamabad can't lay its hands on these jokers if it wanted to?
We need them to stop calling us until they have these guys' dead bodies or live ones in chains.
The stories of near misses are getting tiresome. They're also bad PR. All they do is point out how much money, time and trust we are wasting dealing with Pakistan.
I wasn't exactly thinking "catch" him, anyway. More like "splatter" or "incinerate". If they can't get the job done, they need to get out of our way. If they don't get out of our way, we should make them get out of our way.
"But U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week he was encouraged by recent Pakistani action against militants..."
-- from the article above
Proving, yet again, that man wants but little here below.
please there is enough whoreing envolved with Clinton and appeasing the Sauds as well , even more so after he left office.
Posted by: ZenaWarriorPrincess at September 1, 2008 6:43 PM
If you are advocating leaving Bush alone BECAUSE Clinton also did the same, when, if at all, would you call for accountibility of the highest office of this country? Not only is the POTUS the head of the executive branch, but also the commander-in-chief, in-charge of and responsible for the security of the nation and it's citizens, he took an oath to protect. Sorry for the repetition but listen once again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45f1Riv_z1I
"Bush administration took this nation to a war based on "lies", making Bush legeally responsible for the death of over 4000 young Americans. Does it not concern you that instead of protecting ther nation and it's citizens, Bush did the exact opposite? Where did I disagree that Clinton is not to be blamed? Does Clinton's appeasement of the Saudis lessen Bush's responsibility? If you are making a point that Clinton is also guilty of appeasing Saudis, it is well taken, but that is neither here nor there.
We need a group like 'the Goodies' or the old Monty Python team to do a take on 'Carry On Up the Khyber' - basic plot, Uncle Sam handing over money, and more money, and more money to pay Pakistan to catch the jihadis - while the Pakistanis pocket the money, laughing behind their sleeves, and then gallop madly round the landscape like the Keystone Kops, PRETENDING to chase the jihadis, who somehow always get away just in time.
Make sure it's made quite, quite clear that the jihadis and the Pakistani Intelligence people and army chiefs are all in cahoots to milk the US (while also ripping off anyone else stupid enough to hand over cash and weapons, such as the Chinese). Do it as the blackest of black comedy, complete with 'work accidents' like that wannabe suicide assassin who blew himself up when he tripped on the stairs.
In the background, lots of local cultural colour - 'honor' murders, marriage of nine-year-old girls, kidnappings and forced 'conversions' of Hindu and Christian minor girls, anti-Christian riots and burnings of churches, jihad raids on Hindu and Christian farmers and businessmen, arrests of 'blasphemers' and 'apostates' (showing how such charges can be trumped up at a moment's notice out of pure malice), and the jihad against girls' schools and music shops. And, of course, have lots of men disguising themselves by dressing up in burkas.
If there aren't any live actors game to do it, how about an anonymous animated short - twenty minutes of Mayhem?
Damn! He was so close.
We could've caught him if we hadn't tipped him off...
Missed him by "that much" chief....
nabi ZK (pbum)
...channeling Maxwell Smart....
I never thought I would come to appreciate Vlad the Impaler.
Missed getting Zawahiri? Almost as sad as the Pats losing the Super Bowl!
Missed getting Zawahiri? Almost as sad as the Pats losing the Super Bowl!
Missed getting Zawahiri? Almost as sad as the Pats losing the Super Bowl!
Missed getting Zawahiri? Almost as sad as the Pats losing the Super Bowl!
Hey, I didnt' send all those posts on purpose! eeeek! Sorry!
First it was -"If Osama Bin Laden was here in Pakistan, we would be able to capture him! Therefore, he must not be in Pakistan!"
Now it is - "We almost captured Zawahiri!"
Yeah and I have a bridge I can sell you guys in Brooklyn.
Its the same as the old chestnut about 'the Islamists got only a tiny percentage of the vote' when they're already taking city after city...
I bet that Pakistan's ISI receive many credible reports of Elvis sightings, too--but we'll just never know, since they haven't given us the details.