^ I guess this statement was what caused me to refer you that way. But I guess if you were not implying the need to specify war plans, Which was the crux of my argument, then what were you implying?
And it wasn't long ago that you were asking about withdrawals and timetables and then when you were cornered denied that you weren't for time tables. But I guess being ambigous can give you alot of room to BS.
Chump,
Quit being a tool.
It's the same as one saying "Geesh you should of told me to turn left."
followed later by "Hey, i didn't ask for help."
Looks like the attacks in Pakistan intended to kill Ayman Al-Zawahiri have led to massive street protests in Karachi and other cities...
Indian ExpressISLAMABAD, JANUARY 15: Islamic groups across Pakistan staged massive protests on Sunday condemning President Pervez Musharraf and the US for the deadly air strikes in a remote border village that were intended to target Al-Qaeda No 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Thousands of people chanting anti-US slogans took part in rallies in Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar. The country’s main Islamist alliance, Muttahida Majlis Amal, took out protest rallies in the port city of Karachi condemning the missile attack.
Significantly, pro-Musharraf party and ally, the MQM, also took part in the rally. The marches were held in the backdrop of Musharraf’s appeal to his countrymen not to harbour foreign militants. “If we kept sheltering foreign terrorists here, our future will not be good,” Musharraf said in an address broadcast by state-run PTV.
“We want Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to cancel his visit to the US as a protest,” deputy chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, Senator Prof Ghafoor told the rally. Aziz is scheduled to pay a week-long visit to the US from January 17.
Protesters hold their party flags as they take part in an anti-U.S. rally in Karachi, Pakistan on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2006. Islamic groups staged nationwide protests Sunday against a purported CIA airstrike that Pakistan says killed innocent civilians instead of the apparent target, top al-Qaida lieutenant Ayman al-Zawahri.
Meanwhile, back at the farm...
Zawahri missed dinner that prompted U.S. strike
ALERTNETISLAMABAD, Jan 15 (Reuters) - A dinner invitation to al Qaeda's second-in-command triggered a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan but Ayman al-Zawahri failed to show up, Pakistani intelligence officials said on Sunday.
Pakistan condemned Friday's strike, which killed at least 18 people, including women and children, and summoned U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker to protest.
There were anti-American demonstrations in several towns and cities on Sunday, and supporters of Islamist and secular parties mustered close to 10,000 people for a rally in the southern city of Karachi.
The Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that foreigners had been near the village of Damadola in the Bajaur region bordering Afghanistan and were the probable target.
See what can happen if you fail to include RSVP in your invitations!
Friends...
He's not going for Dubya's wallet
NEWSSENIOR US senator John McCain has lamented the loss of innocent life during a US bombing raid in Pakistan, but said such casualties were unavoidable as Washington robustly pursued its "war on terror".
"It's terrible when innocent people are killed, he said. " We regret that. But we have to do what we think is necessary to take out Al-Qaeda, particularly the top operatives."
"We regret it. We understand the anger that people feel, but the United States' priorities are to get rid of al-Qaeda, and this was an effort to do so," the Republican lawmaker said.
"We apologize, but I can't tell you that we wouldn't do the same thing again."
On one hand, he's the president, but on the other hand, he's soft and warm and smells like reeking perspiration. So what are ya gonna do? If you're John McCain, you HUG him for spreading false rumors about your illegitimate black daughter who is neither "illegitimate" nor "black."
It's a filthy job, but McCain's more than happy to do it.
I sure hope Musharraf has an iron grip on power. If he is overthrown and Pakistan falls into less friendly (read Islamic nutjobs) hands, the terrorists won't have to wait for Iran to develop a bomb.
A very valid point. But I suspect some of these demonstrations are
directed by the governments to let people blow off steam and show
they (the Government) is not involved.
I hope you're right.
Musharraf's al-Qaeda hunt crisis
By Zaffar Abbas
BBC correspondent, Islamabad
The American missile strike that killed many civilians in a Pakistani border village is the latest in a series of failed attempts by the US intelligence and military to eliminate al-Qaeda's top two men. The attack destroyed three houses in Bajaur agency near the Afghan border - with or without the knowledge of Islamabad.
It has strengthened the widely-held view in Pakistan that in their sheer desperation to hunt down Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri the Americans have decided not to care about collateral damage.
It's a marked departure from the policy of a few years ago when the fear of civilian deaths discouraged the Americans from bombing suspected Bin Laden hideouts in and around the tribal region.
And the new policy certainly means more trouble for Pakistan's military ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf, who is already perceived by many to be surviving mainly on American life-support.
Taleban sympathy
The first indication of trouble came when a couple of pro-government groups joined protest demonstrations to condemn the missile attack on the village of Damadola.
The missile attack raises new questions, both about US tactics and possible al-Qaeda related activity
Countrywide rallies were as vociferous in their condemnation of the American action as they were of the failure of the Pakistani authorities to prevent it.
And, as expected, the criticism of Pakistan's military ruler was not restricted just to the single issue of Friday's missile attack.
He was accused of everything under the sun. In some cases there were also demands for him to step down.
Much of the fuel for this latest wave of protests was provided by the lack of official details, the friction the incident caused between the American and Pakistani authorities and the mystery that surrounds the place and the people that came under attack.
Although the Bajaur tribal agency doesn't have much history of al-Qaeda-linked activities, it has long been regarded as an area where pro-Taleban elements dominate local politics.
Hundreds of local tribesmen joined a force to fight a so-called jihad (holy war) to defend Afghanistan's Islamic status after the US-led military invasion in 2001.
Damadola first attracted the media's attention early last year when the Pakistani security forces raided the house of a firebrand cleric, Maulana Faqir Mohammed, and arrested an Uzbek militant hiding there.
This was the first clear indication that some local tribesmen may have links with foreign militants, possibly with al-Qaeda.
'Serious mistake'
The missile attack raises new questions, both about US tactics and possible al-Qaeda related activity.
In fact, since the attack there have been some strange and contradictory reports emanating from the village.
The destroyed houses belonged to local jewellers, who had no history of taking part in religious or tribal politics.
Analysts of Pashtun (Pathan) society say such people are not land-owners and do not command the kind of status or respect to invite a militant leader of the stature of Ayman al-Zawahiri for dinner, as some reports have suggested.
Al-Qaeda watchers say there is a strong possibility that US intelligence made a serious mistake in trying to identify his hideout.
However, this still leaves unanswered questions about the al-Qaeda second-in-command's possible visits to this particular village, or Bajaur agency, in the past.
Empty graves
But the strangest developments surrounding the attack have been in the form of the death toll, which locals revised downwards from 18 to 13.
President Musharraf can only hope that the next American military strike from across the border results in the death of a key al-Qaeda figure, and not civilians
Eyewitnesses have confirmed that villagers initially dug 18 (at least one account says 20) graves to bury the dead.
Later on, bodies of only 13 people (eight men and five women) were brought for burial, and the rest of the empty graves were filled with mud.
The explanation given by some local tribesmen is that first they thought that all 20 occupants of the three houses had died, and so as many graves were prepared.
But later they discovered that some were not in the house at the time of the attack.
Rumours are now going round that at least five of the dead were probably foreigners, and their bodies were taken away by a group of people, before the arrival of the media.
If that's true, then no one knows who these people were, and whether they belonged to Zawahiri's band of operatives or were security personnel.
Tide of opposition
The controversy about the Pakistani authorities being aware of the attack has also not gone away.
Local Bajaur MP Maulana Haroonur Rasheed insists the Americans took Pakistani intelligence into their confidence before carrying out the missile attack.
But despite the controversy, and the street protests, most analysts are convinced that the crisis is not too big for President Musharraf to handle.
With nearly 70,000 Pakistani troops deployed to contain foreign militancy in the tribal region, his government's contribution to the so-called war on terror is too big for the Americans to ignore.
And the domestic opposition is not powerful or organised enough to launch an anti-Musharraf campaign on this single issue.
However, many believe the incident has brought to fore friction between Pakistani and US security agencies over the handling of al-Qaeda related operations in the highly sensitive tribal region.
Privately, US officials are believed to be trying to convince Pakistan that the utmost care will be taken in future to avoid civilian casualties.
But publicly they have not even admitted having carried out the attack, and are not expected to hand out any guarantees of better behaviour.
In such a situation, President Musharraf can only hope that the next American military strike from across the border results in the death of a key al-Qaeda figure, and not civilians.
Otherwise, the growing tide of domestic opposition might become quite difficult to control.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...ia/4618476.stm
Published: 2006/01/16 19:11:21 GMT
© BBC MMVI
, I wouldn't expect anything less from you boutons. The BBC hates America and hates Bush. Nice slant to that article.
Meanwhile, even the Pakistani government admitted today that we got 14 bad guys all told. 18 people dead, 14 people terrorists, 4 of them "high level", I'd say the intel was pretty spot on except we missed Osama's right hand jerker.
The US has Special Forces in the region positioned specifically to go in and grab Pakistan's nukes should that regime fall, we have had them in position for two years now.If he is overthrown and Pakistan falls into less friendly (read Islamic nutjobs) hands, the terrorists won't have to wait for Iran to develop a bomb.
Curveball???
CNNThe knowledgeable source -- who declined to be identified more specifically -- on Tuesday was not clear how many foreigners were killed by the airstrike, but said, "certainly some of them were of Egyptian origin," and had direct ties with al-Zawahiri.
Probably the same unreliable source who said Al-Zawahiri was gonna be there in the first place.
I can't fault us for trying to get him and OBL. If we missed him it does end up being a P.R. coup for the anti-American Islamo nutjobs. C'est la vie.
I support the war on terror.
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigat...ory?id=1517986
* AQ's top bomb maker and chemical weapons maker... DEAD.
* AQ's leader in Pakistan & Afghanistan... DEAD.
* Senior leader for the Paki/Afghanistan region... DEAD.
Damn, guess we got some bad guys after all.
Collateral damage is part of war.
While I support the capture of terrorists I never support the taking of innocent lives but it happens.
And as much as I support it it still sucks for any parent to have to bury their innocent child.
As a parent I know how hard that would be.
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