Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (59878)	2/22/2009 7:43:14 PM
From: TideGlider	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224748

Get off it! lol You the grim reaper now Kenneth or just continuing your DEM talking point parroting?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (59878)	2/22/2009 8:19:07 PM
From: lorne	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224748

U.S. drones widen attack on militants inside Pakistan In the past week, the Obama administration has expanded the covert war run by the CIA inside Pakistan, launching attacks against a militant network seeking to topple the Pakistani government. Saturday, February 21, 2009 By MARK MAZZETTI and DAVID E. SANGER The New York Times seattletimes.nwsource.com WASHINGTON — In the past week, the Obama administration has expanded the covert war run by the CIA inside Pakistan, launching attacks against a militant network seeking to topple the Pakistani government. The two missile strikes on training camps run by Baitullah Mehsud represent a broadening of the U.S. campaign inside Pakistan, which has been largely carried out by unmanned drone aircraft. Under President George W. Bush, the United States frequently attacked militants from al-Qaida and the Taliban involved in cross-border attacks into Afghanistan but stopped short of raids aimed at Mehsud and his followers, who have played less of a direct role in attacks on U.S. troops. Mehsud was identified last year by U.S. and Pakistani officials as the man who orchestrated the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister and the wife of Pakistan's current president, Asif Ali Zardari. Bush did include Mehsud's name in a classified list of militant leaders the CIA and U.S. commandos were authorized to capture or kill. It is unclear why the Obama administration decided to carry out the attacks, which U.S. and Pakistani officials said occurred last Saturday and again Monday, hitting camps run by Mehsud's network. The U.S. strikes may have been prompted by growing concern that the militant attacks are increasingly putting the civilian government of Pakistan, a nation with nuclear weapons, at risk. For months, Pakistani military and intelligence officials have complained about the U.S. refusal to strike at Mehsud, even while CIA drones struck al-Qaida figures and leaders of the network run by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a militant leader believed responsible for a campaign of violence against U.S. troops in Afghanistan. According to one senior Pakistani official, Pakistan's intelligence service twice in recent months gave the United States detailed intelligence about Mehsud's location, but, he said, the United States did not act on the information. Bush administration officials had said it was the Pakistanis who were reluctant to take on Mehsud and his network. The strikes came after a visit to Islamabad last week by Richard Holbrooke, the special U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan. In a telephone interview Friday, Holbrooke declined to talk about the attacks on Mehsud. The White House also declined to speak about Mehsud or the new strikes. Under standard policy for covert operations, the CIA strikes inside Pakistan have not been publicly acknowledged either by the Bush or Obama administrations.