Raids into Pakistan

[Woody]

President Bush has just now authorized raids into Pakistan to hunt for Usama Bin Laden.

My questions is. What took him SO long? We could have had Usama long ago if this would have been done sooner.

[carolaa]

Hello! He had business to take care of in Iraq before he could address actual issues.

[Woody]

Got Me.

I surrender.

I think you are correct as much as this loyal Republican hates to admit it.

[Woody]

I would also like to say that we had Bin Laden surrounded when he was in Kandahar. What did we do? We just let them all loose. So, Bin Laden just scampered to Pakistan. Go Figure.

[John317]

Another reason is that the situation in Pakistan has changed due to a new government and new leadership. The U.S. relied too much on the Pakistanis to go after bin Laden and we now realize that was a big mistake. It is true, too, that Iraq kept us from concentrating on getting bin Laden. See below:

Quote:

For seven years, the hunt for bin Laden hinged on the proposition that the U.S. government had a reliable partner in Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, who resigned under pressure last month.

But even some Pakistanis said the U.S. government was naive to think that Musharraf or his generals would do much to find bin Laden. They noted that Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency had cultivated ties with the al-Qaeda leader for two decades and that many officers remained sympathetic to his cause.

Afrasiab Khattak, a Pashtun politician based here in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said Pakistani forces would occasionally help the CIA capture second-string al-Qaeda figures, but only to keep the aid money flowing from Washington.

"The Bush administration deceived itself," he said. "From the very beginning, the Pakistani generals were playing a double game. It was an open secret."

Khattak said he has warned U.S. officials since 2000 of bin Laden's close relations with Pakistan's spymasters, adding that he tried to alert Washington after 2002 that al-Qaeda was rebuilding in the tribal areas.

"We kept telling the Americans, 'They are here.' They said: 'No, no. This cannot be true. General Musharraf is very committed, he's with us,' " recalled Khattak, president of the Awami National Party in North-West Frontier Province.

Musharraf and other Pakistani officials have repeatedly dismissed assertions that bin Laden is in their country, pointing the finger at Afghanistan instead.

Retired Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill, former commander of the NATO-led military coalition in Afghanistan, said that whenever he raised the subject of bin Laden with his Pakistani counterparts, the answer was the same.

"They'd say: 'If he's around here, he's on your side of the border. If you think you know where he is, tell us,' " said McNeill, who stepped down as commander in June. "That's always their comeback. My response is: 'If I knew, I don't believe I'd tell you. We'd go after him first.' "

Pakistani generals, in turn, blame U.S. officials for not trusting them. They point out that more than 1,000 Pakistani troops have been killed while fighting insurgents in the tribal regions.

Aurakzai, who was appointed after Sept. 11, 2001, to oversee military operations in northwestern Pakistan and later served for almost two years as governor of North-West Frontier Province, said the United States doesn't want to accept the possibility that bin Laden could be hiding elsewhere.

"We've been imprisoned by this idea that he's either on the Afghan or Pakistani side of the border," he said. "Why aren't we looking anywhere else? I think we need to change this mind-set."

So where to start?

"How... do I know?" the general replied.

Source: For seven years, the hunt for bin Laden hinged on the proposition that the U.S. government had a reliable partner in Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, who resigned under pressure last month.

But even some Pakistanis said the U.S. government was naive to think that Musharraf or his generals would do much to find bin Laden. They noted that Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency had cultivated ties with the al-Qaeda leader for two decades and that many officers remained sympathetic to his cause.

Afrasiab Khattak, a Pashtun politician based here in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said Pakistani forces would occasionally help the CIA capture second-string al-Qaeda figures, but only to keep the aid money flowing from Washington.

"The Bush administration deceived itself," he said. "From the very beginning, the Pakistani generals were playing a double game. It was an open secret."

Khattak said he has warned U.S. officials since 2000 of bin Laden's close relations with Pakistan's spymasters, adding that he tried to alert Washington after 2002 that al-Qaeda was rebuilding in the tribal areas.

"We kept telling the Americans, 'They are here.' They said: 'No, no. This cannot be true. General Musharraf is very committed, he's with us,' " recalled Khattak, president of the Awami National Party in North-West Frontier Province.

Musharraf and other Pakistani officials have repeatedly dismissed assertions that bin Laden is in their country, pointing the finger at Afghanistan instead.

Retired Lt. Gen. Dan K. McNeill, former commander of the NATO-led military coalition in Afghanistan, said that whenever he raised the subject of bin Laden with his Pakistani counterparts, the answer was the same.

"They'd say: 'If he's around here, he's on your side of the border. If you think you know where he is, tell us,' " said McNeill, who stepped down as commander in June. "That's always their comeback. My response is: 'If I knew, I don't believe I'd tell you. We'd go after him first.' "

Pakistani generals, in turn, blame U.S. officials for not trusting them. They point out that more than 1,000 Pakistani troops have been killed while fighting insurgents in the tribal regions.

Aurakzai, who was appointed after Sept. 11, 2001, to oversee military operations in northwestern Pakistan and later served for almost two years as governor of North-West Frontier Province, said the United States doesn't want to accept the possibility that bin Laden could be hiding elsewhere.

"We've been imprisoned by this idea that he's either on the Afghan or Pakistani side of the border," he said. "Why aren't we looking anywhere else? I think we need to change this mind-set."

So where to start?

"How... do I know?" the general replied.

Source and complete article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903404_pf.html

[Woody]

Good Point John317

[lazarus]

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