Posted on 03/01/2007 8:35:40 AM PST by USMMA_83
WASHINGTON, Feb 28: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Peter Pace have indicated that the US will not launch direct military strikes at suspected Al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan’s tribal region.
The two officials told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the US sought no direct role in Pakistan’s northern region where US officials had noticed a rise in Al Qaeda activity.
The question of direct US military action inside the Pakistani territory was raised by Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, during a hearing on supplemental budget request for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The senator asked Ms Rice if the Bush administration had considered sending troops inside Pakistan for eliminating Al Qaeda leadership.
“I'm rather dubious that the surge of American forces into the federally-administered (tribal) areas of Pakistan, those tough mountains of places like North Waziristan, would have been a workable strategy,” said Ms Rice. Gen Pace who, Ms Rice said, should also respond to this question, stated: “Sir, one of the most difficult problems we face in this war is how do you attack an enemy inside of a country with which you're not at war?”
Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican and a prominent supporter of the India caucus on Capitol Hill, asked the secretary if Vice-President Dick Cheney had sought assurances from Pakistan to stop cross-border attacks into Afghanistan when he visited Islamabad on Monday.
Secretary Rice said she had not yet heard from Mr Cheney what he discussed with President Musharraf in Islamabad.
“But I do think that we need to remember that the Pakistanis have a very strong interest also in not having extremism breed in that area. After all, Al Qaeda's had a couple of attempts on Musharraf's life itself. And so I'm certain that the cooperation remains good.”
She urged the senator to remember this was a “very, very tough” area but said the Bush administration also had “some concerns” about the Waziristan accord that the senator referred to in his question, “and about how it is working.”
“The particular agreement that was signed between the Pakistani government and some of the tribal leaders I think there have been some problems with,” she said. “And we've been working our way through ways to cooperate with the Pakistanis to make sure that that doesn't become a terrorist safe haven.”
Despite its reservations about the Waziristan accord, Ms Rice said the US administration believed that “we have the commitment of the Pakistanis to fight these extremists, because they threaten Pakistan as well.”
Can anyone belive this sentence
Secretary Rice said she had not yet heard from Mr Cheney what he discussed with President Musharraf in Islamabad.
believe not belive...
ISLAMABAD, Feb 28: Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan on Wednesday disclosed that the Foreign Office had ‘called’ the US envoy over reports of US Vice-President Dick Cheney’s remarks to a group of journalists at the US embassy here.
Mr Cheney reportedly informed the journalists about the ‘tough message’ said to have been conveyed to President Pervez Musharraf and the leadership of the ruling PML and the MMA over the regrouping of Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Mr Khan was talking to a group of journalists after attending a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly at the Parliament House here.
Acting with extreme care, he avoided using the word ‘summoned’. He initially refused to answer the question pertaining to Mr Cheney’s reported remarks, but on insistence from the journalists, he said: “In normal circumstances, we also call our friends, and yes we have called the US envoy.”
The foreign secretary also dispelled the impression that the US would block financial aid for Pakistan in case a strong action was not taken to prevent the Taliban and Al Qaeda from regrouping.
He said the meeting with the US envoy was a normal one as the Foreign Office routinely invited guests.
He said he had now invited the ambassadors of the OIC member-countries on Pakistan’s Middle East initiative.
“Pakistan will not allow any country to interfere in its internal affairs,” Mr Khan said in reply to a question.
That crazy Condi, acting on her own, without accountability-- she's a loose cannon. Seriously, do you really believe that? I can't stop laughing when I hear some of the criticism of Condi. She's Bush's agent. Blame him if you don't like what she does.
This guy has to be an idiot. What kind of answer did he expect:
"Well, yes Senator, we do plan direct action against terrorist facilities in Afghanistan. In fact we are launching a major attack on March 17 when the terrorists will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day."
Let those dopes think they're safe...for now.
Iraq says police kill dozens of al Qaeda in Anbar
And it has an interesting statement....
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf said foreign Arabs and Afghanis were among some 80 militants killed and 50 captured in the clashes in Amiriyat al Falluja, a village where local tribes had opposed al Qaeda.
Pakistan is probably the scariest nation on the planet next to N. Korea.
It is Islamic. It has nukes. And it's full of islamofascists. Losing Musharraf would be a tragedy of the first order.
Al-qaeda in Iraq is going to have to be dealt with by US Special Ops. I hope we've had a ton of them in school learning all those Pakistani dialects.
See info at post #8.
See info at post #8.
Coming through Iran...getting safe passage, and then into Iraq. Seems we just can't control any border anywhere!
Does this mean boots on the ground?
Is a cruise missle an indirect military strike?
No direct strikes, meaning the stuff you don't hear about on the news, anywhere.
The 'black' strikes will continue on, I'm sure.
The foreign secretary also dispelled the impression that the US would block financial aid for Pakistan in case a strong action was not taken to prevent the Taliban and Al Qaeda from regrouping. Who's more scarier...Pakistan or our State Department saying the above....
Tinfoil stuff here...but, this whole Afganistan operation sounds like a ponzi scheme.
ridiculous. wtf is wrong with these people? why on earth would you go on record like that?
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