Obama's tough talk hits raw nerve
The Australian
Correspondents in Washington
August 03, 2007
theaustralian.news.com.au
DEMOCRATIC White House hopeful Barack Obama provoked anger yesterday by warning that as president, he would order US forces to strike inside Pakistan if President Pervez Musharraf failed to act.
Senator Obama's tough remarks, which prompted the Pakistani Government to caution presidential candidates against "point-scoring" on crucial security issues, came in a bold speech laying out his anti-terrorism strategy.
Days after his chief Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, branded him "naive" and "irresponsible" on foreign policy, the Illinois senator also accused President George W. Bush of botching the war on terror.
"If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will," he said, referring to reports that al-Qa'ida had regrouped in Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
"I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges, but let me make this clear: there are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again."
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said she would not comment as Senator Obama was not president, but added: "These are serious matters and should not be used for point-scoring. Political candidates and commentators should show responsibility."
In Lahore yesterday, the new US ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, said the US had no intention of carrying out a military operation inside the tribal areas of Pakistan. "Washington will continue supporting Islamabad in the war on terror. The US and Pakistan are partners in this war. The US aid to Pakistan has not been stopped and it will continue," she said.
White House spokesman Tony Snow also sought to reaffirm US support for General Musharraf, stressing that it recognised Pakistan sovereignty. "The Pakistanis are once again engaged in very serious efforts to go after al-Qa'ida and Taliban in their midst ... We're going to do what we can to support them."
The Bush administration last week attempted to smooth a row with Islamabad over threats to act against al-Qa'ida in Pakistan's territory, saying it had full respect for its sovereignty, though reserving the right to act.
Experts, legislators and academics have worried that US action in Pakistani territory could set off a storm of protest and endanger General Musharraf, a key US anti-terror ally.
Senator Obama's speech was seen as a bid to bolster his foreign policy credentials as a new national poll showed him well behind Senator Clinton, and to counter claims he is too inexperienced to be president.
Senator Obama, a first-term senator, accused Mr Bush of misrepresenting the terror threat.
"The President would have us believe that every bomb in Baghdad is part of al-Qa'ida's war against us, not an Iraqi civil war," he said.
It was time to begin drawing down an "occupation of undetermined length" in Iraq, to focus on the "right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan".
Senator Obama said he would make hundreds of millions of dollars in US military aid to Pakistan conditional on action to close al-Qa'ida camps, evicting foreign fighters and halting Taliban strikes in Afghanistan from Pakistani soil.
AFP |
