Bush Aide: Military Could Go Into Pakistan

White House Adviser Says Operations Within Pakistan Possible If Musharraf Fails To Stop Al Qaeda

(CBS/AP)  The U.S. would consider military force if necessary to stem al Qaeda's growing ability to use its hideout in Pakistan to launch terrorist attacks, a White House aide said Sunday.

The president's homeland security adviser, Fran Townsend, said the U.S. was committed first and foremost to working with Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, in his efforts to control militants in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. But she indicated the U.S. was ready to take additional measures.

"Just because we don't speak about things publicly doesn't mean we're not doing things you talk about," Townsend said, when asked in a broadcast interview why the U.S. does not conduct special operations and other measures to cripple al Qaeda.

"Job No. 1 is to protect the American people. There are no options off the table," she said.

The national intelligence director, Mike McConnell, said he believed that Osama bin Laden was living in the tribal, border region of Pakistan. Bin Laden is the leader of the al Qaeda network and mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

McConnell said Musharraf's attempt at a political solution to peace in the region had backfired by giving al Qaeda a place and time to regroup.

"Al Qaeda has been able to regain some of its momentum," McConnell said. "The leadership's intact. They have operational planners, and they have safe haven. The thing they're missing are operatives inside the United States."

In the National Intelligence Estimate released last week, analysts stressed the importance of al Qaeda's increasingly comfortable hideout in Pakistan that has resulted from a hands-off accord between Musharraf and tribal leaders along the Afghan border.

That 10-month-old deal, which has unraveled in recent days, gave al Qaeda new opportunities to set up compounds for terror training, improve its international communications with associates and bolster its operations.

Since then, U.S. officials have said they expect Pakistan to launch more military strikes on Islamic militants while the Bush administration pumps hundreds of millions of dollars in development aid into lawless tribal regions to fight extremism.

On Sunday, Townsend reiterated the importance of Musharraf's efforts.

"We should also be clear that we believe Pakistan has been a very good ally in the war on terrorism," she said. "Musharraf has been the subject of numerous assassination attempts. Al Qaeda's trying to kill him. They get what the problem is. And we're working with them to deny al Qaeda and the Taliban the safe haven."

McConnell also sought to bolster the leader of Pakistan, a key U.S. partner in its fight against terrorism. "President Musharraf is one of our strongest allies," McConnell said.

Townsend spoke on "Fox News Sunday" and "Late Edition" on CNN. McConnell appeared on "Meet the Press" on NBC.

The National Intelligence Estimate also suggested that al Qaeda was regaining strength and reconstituting its leadership in Pakistan in part because of increasing terrorism activity in Iraq. Critics have charged the administration with pulling resources from the hunt for bin Laden along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to prosecute a war in Baghdad which has subsequently strengthened the terror group.

On Tuesday Townsend said that U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq are connected.

"These aren't separate conflicts," she said. "These are clearly a single conflict by a single determined enemy who is looking for safe haven. And if they don't have safe haven in Afghanistan, they look for safe haven someplace else.

"They'd like to find it — and bin Laden has been quite clear — they'd like to find it in Iraq. But if they don't find it in Iraq, they're going to look someplace else, whether that's northern Mali, in the Maghreb or that's Somalia in West Africa."

[prinzowhales]

This is the price America is paying for electing scum to rule them in Washington. First, they turn a blind eye to Khan and the development of the Pakistani bomb. Second they turn the tribal area of Pakistan into a breeding ground for jihadists. Third, they turn them loose on Afghanistan and the world. Now, they're talking of invading precisely the area that they helped to devolve into religious and intellectual obscurantism and destabilizing the relatively secular Istanbul regime--worthless as it is....Ron White: "You can't fix stupid."

[cfin5]

j-whitman,....."If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed". --- Mark Twain

[imprisonbush]

All good and brave Republicans: enlist now!! Your country needs you (out of this country and in Iraq)!

[j-whitman]

Bush's Plan B --- Relocate all Iraq's to the unpopulated regions in the mountians of Afaganistan..... Turn Iraq into Tamy Faye Fantsyland

[lars008-2009]

I would rather go out of politics feeling that I had done what was right than stay in with the approval of all men, knowing in my heart that I had acted as I ought not to. - Speech to the New York Assembly 1884 Theodore Roosevelt

[j-whitman]

Lars,,, Start watching the news, you wouldn't sound like a knucklehead

[lars008-2009]

80 Cities & towns accross the USA are calling loudly for Impeachment of Bush & Cheney
Posted by j-whitman at 04:09 PM : Jul 23, 2007

hahahahaha

hold your breath jihad j... lol

[lars008-2009]

Lars008,,, Don't you mean, Victory at anyone's cost but yours ???? --- ENLIST
Posted by j-whitman at 03:44 PM : Jul 23, 2007

it will cost every non muslim skippy...

especially if fascist nazi terrorislam wins...

[j-whitman]

80 Cities & towns accross the USA are calling loudly for Impeachment of Bush & Cheney

[radiob-2009]

Lars008,,, Don't you mean, Victory at anyone's cost but yours ???? --- ENLIST
Posted by j-whitman



Lars is a member of the copy and past brigade, responsible for mouses, keyboards and other dangerous weapons.The longest serving member of the brigade and has taken thousands of hits.

[j-whitman]

Lars008,,,, Sad thing is -- You don't even know what the mission is.

[j-whitman]

Lars008,,, Don't you mean, Victory at anyone's cost but yours ???? --- ENLIST

[lars008-2009]

Lars008,,,, , You aren't on the recieving end of it, our Troops are, & right now they are waking up after a few hours rest wondering how they are going to make it through the day & just what thier mission is.
Posted by j-whitman at 03:37 PM : Jul 23, 2007

the mission is...

VICTORY AT ALL COSTS!!!
I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this Government: 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.' We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy. You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Winston Churchill Speech in the House of Commons, after taking office as Prime Minister (13 May 1940)

every poor sob that is non muslim and living in some fascist nazi terrorislamic state is as well as the ones that are living close to the borders of any fascist nazi terrorislamic state... and now the all the western powers are as well...

[lars008-2009]

you can't fight this type of war using the military.
Posted by antoniof123 at 03:20 PM : Jul 23, 2007

fascist nazi terrorislam has been using this type of war tactic to conquer country after country for 1400 years... and continus to today...

Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan

But the accepted assumption in India is that most of India's Muslims were converted to Islam through the sword. Meaning the Indians were given an option between death or adopting Islam. The third option was getting examined in Islam religion along with heavy taxes- Jeziya (poll tax) and Kharaj (property tax).
http://adaniel.tripod.com/Islam.htm

[j-whitman]

Lars008,,,, , You aren't on the recieving end of it, our Troops are, & right now they are waking up after a few hours rest wondering how they are going to make it through the day & just what thier mission is.

[lars008-2009]

So thank you to the administration and the GOP for allowing this to happen. Your days are numbered you will never fool me again.
Posted by antoniof123 at 03:20 PM : Jul 23, 2007

the war is legal

the resumption of hostilities was only a matter of time since iraq broke the ceasefire agreement.....

blame saddam for iraq%u2026%u2026. Even clintoon and the dems wanted the resumption of hostilities back in 1998

"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power." - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

Moreover, no international law can prevent the United States from taking actions to protect its vital interests, when it is manifestly clear that there is a choice to be made between law and survival. I believe, however, that such a choice is not presented in the case of Iraq. Indeed, should we decide to proceed, that action can be justified within the framework of international law rather than outside it. In fact, though a new UN resolution may be helpful in building international consensus, the existing resolutions from 1991 are sufficient from a legal standpoint. - Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002
http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/gore/gore092302sp.html

[mudrose-2009]

So thank you to the administration and the GOP for allowing this to happen. Your days are numbered you will never fool me again.
Posted by antoniof123

Ya think so, huh? Never say never, because Harry has been pulling your leg for months now and you obviously are buying it lock, stock and barrel.

[antoniof123]

Some people are so stupid they just don't get it you can't fight this type of war using the military. When we went into Afganistan we should not have changed course to help Cheney and Bush get rich. Now we are stuck in Iraq and al-queada is mixed in with the public to a point that we can only take them out the same way we did.

So thank you to the administration and the GOP for allowing this to happen. Your days are numbered you will never fool me again.

[mudrose-2009]

If they don't know, don't tell them. They must respect executive privilege. I'm coming from the school of don't ask, don't tell on this one.
Posted by mudrose


How is Denver?
Posted by radiob

You asked and I'm not telling.

[radiob-2009]

If they don't know, don't tell them. They must respect executive privilege. I'm coming from the school of don't ask, don't tell on this one.
Posted by mudrose


How is Denver?