PrintJanuary 6, 2008
NY Times Plasters US Pakistan Strategy all over its Front Page
There is no more dangerous situation in the world today than what is happening in Pakistan. The incendiary combination of radical Islamists, unstable government, and nuclear weapons presents the greatest challenge to US security seen in many years.
But this tense, volatile, potentially catastrophic situation only means business as usual for the New York Times and the cabal of leakers in the CIA who, unelected though they are, still arrogantly assume that they can dictate policy to the White House by leaking the most sensitive and secret plans of our government:
President Bush’s senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan."The highly delicate nature of the discussions" may be the understatement of the year. With rioters already in the streets of Pakistan and Musharraf barely able to keep the lid on, the prospect of the CIA or US Special Forces operating on Pakistani territory - even if it is only under discussion - has the potential to bring about an explosion of anti-American violence in the streets directed against Musharraf.
The debate is a response to intelligence reports that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are intensifying efforts there to destabilize the Pakistani government, several senior administration officials said. Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a number of President Bush’s top national security advisers met Friday at the White House to discuss the proposal, which is part of a broad reassessment of American strategy after the assassination 10 days ago of the Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
There was also talk of how to handle the period from now to the Feb. 18 elections, and the aftermath of those elections. Several of the participants in the meeting argued that the threat to the government of President Pervez Musharraf was now so grave that both Mr. Musharraf and Pakistan’s new military leadership were likely to give the United States more latitude, officials said. But no decisions were made, said the officials, who declined to speak for attribution because of the highly delicate nature of the discussions.
This is something all the critics of American timidity in attacking Taliban and al-Qaeda sanctuaries in the tribal areas of Pakistan have never understood. Musharraf has been adamant that no US forces operate on Pakistani territory because he well knows that the radicals would be easily be able to stir up a hornets nest of anti-American sentiment in the streets. This would destablize the government even more.
And if this were to come to pass, it would be a direct result from unnecessary leaks from the faction at the CIA opposed to any aggressive move by America to protect itself or its interests and their willing partners at the New York Times who never met a secret they didn't want to spill.
