Pakistan soldiers ‘confront US’
US troops from the Chinooks then tried to cross the border. As they did so, Pakistani paramilitary soldiers at a checkpoint opened fire into the air and the US troops decided not to continue forward, local Pakistani officials say.
Reports say the firing lasted for several hours. Local people evacuated their homes and tribesmen took up defensive positions in the mountains.
RECALL THE FOLLOWING:
GIBSON: Al Qaida has been reconstituted and re-energized in the western part of Pakistan. And so my general question is, how aggressively would you go after Al Qaida leadership there? And let me start with you, Senator Obama, because it was you who said in your foreign policy speech that you would go into western Pakistan if you had actionable intelligence to go after it, whether or not the Pakistani government agreed. Do you stand by that?
OBAMA: I absolutely do stand by it, Charlie. What I said was that we should do everything in our power to push and cooperate with the Pakistani government in taking on Al Qaida, which is now based in northwest Pakistan. And what we know from our national intelligence estimates is that Al Qaida is stronger now than at any time since 2001. And so, back in August, I said we should work with the Pakistani government, first of all to encourage democracy in Pakistan so you’ve got a legitimate government that we’re working with, and secondly that we have to press them to do more to take on Al Qaida in their territory. What I said was, if they could not or would not do so, and we had actionable intelligence, then I [President Obama] would strike.
Bush stopped, but Obama says he wouldn’t. Obama the warmonger?
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Bush stopped, but Obama says he wouldn’t. Obama the warmonger?
Actually we don’t know whether Bush specifically ordered the halt, whether the decision was made locally based on the risks, or what Obama would have done in this particular situation if called on to make a tactical decision.
In my opinion the more interesting political point is in the similarity of Bush and Obama’s positions on Pakistan. It doesn’t sound to me like they are very different in their overall stance and goals. Anyone who wants to draw a distinction between Bush and Obama, or for that matter McCain and Obama, will have to do it on the basis of competence and experience – and Obama doesn’t have any whatsoever in this area. He should have stuck with a liberal/peacenik line, at least then someone somewhere would have had a reason to vote for him 🙂
Obama admits in THIS interview that his Pakistan policy is the same as the current doctrine-The Bush Doctrine.
It comes about 3:30into it.