ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 28, 2008
Pakistan Launches Strike Against Taliban
Official Tells CBS News Insurgency In Volatile Border Region Represents "The Gravest Threat"
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A Pakistani paramilitary solider stands guard in the tribal area of Khyber near Peshawar on Saturday, June 28, 2008. Pakistani forces bombarded suspected militant hideouts with mortar shells Saturday as the government launched a major offensive against Taliban fighters threatening the main city in the country's volatile northwest, officials said. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)
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The offensive in the Khyber tribal region appeared to mark a refinement in strategy by the new government, backing its calls for peace deals in the tribal areas along the Afghan border with the threat of forceful action against militants who get out of line.
The United States said such deals were giving militants the freedom to regroup for attacks on U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. With growing militant threats to the nearby Pakistani city of Peshawar — and to the key Khyber supply route for U.S. forces in Afghanistan — Pakistan took action.
Late Friday, 700 troops from the paramilitary Frontier Corps moved into Kyber in preparation for the offensive, a round-the-clock curfew was imposed in the Bara area, and heavy contingents of troops blocked the main road from Peshawar into Kyber, local officials said.
By Saturday afternoon, the Frontier Corps began shelling suspected militant hide-outs in the mountains, local official Muhammad Siddiq Khan said.
Authorities blew up the headquarters of militant leader Menghal Bagh in a scene broadcast on national television. Bagh fled to the remote Tirah Valley along the Afghan border, a military intelligence official in the frontier said, speaking on condition of anonymity because identifying himself would compromise his work.
In recent weeks, Bagh's fighters waged attacks in Peshawar in what provincial officials say was an attempt to prove they wield influence outside the tribal regions and to intimidate the population. Bagh's followers also have been accused of threatening supply convoys bound for coalition troops in Afghanistan.
Maj. Gen. Alam Khattak, head of the Frontier Corps, said his troops destroyed three militant centers in Bara and killed one attacker in the operation, which was expected to last up to a week.
"We have occupied, captured all important heights, and we have taken control of the area," he said. Hinting the offensive would not be last, he said, "Other pockets of resistance and crime will also be visited."
The operation was also expected to target Haji Namdar, whose Vice and Virtue Movement is suspected of attacks against coalition soldiers in Afghanistan. Namdar has sought to impose his own strict brand of Islamic law in the region.
"If the government thinks there is any issue to address, that should be resolved through talks, not by the use of force," said Munsif Khan, spokesman for Namdar's group. "We are ready for talks with the government."
In response to the offensive and other confrontations with security forces, Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban leader in Pakistan, said he was suspending talks between his allies and the government. He implied his forces could cause trouble in Pakistan's main cities.
"Peace cannot be brought with force and aggression. This will be very unfortunate for the Pakistani nation if fighting starts again," he told The Associated Press by telephone.
The new government elected in February eclipsed former army strongman and U.S. ally President Pervez Musharraf. In a policy shift, the new administration supported peace talks with Taliban militants to try to curb an explosion in violence in the northwest.
But as militant activity grew, Pakistan's top political and military leaders signaled they would use force if necessary to combat militancy.
Concern has grown in recent weeks about militant threats to Peshawar. Two weeks ago, a Taliban force from Khyber entered the city and briefly kidnapped 16 Christians.
Mahmood Shah, a former security chief in the tribal regions, said the Taliban took advantage of a leadership vacuum in Islamabad, where the coalition government is paralyzed by infighting, to take control of the tribal regions along the border. Now, the Taliban "are on our doorstep" around Peshawar, he said.
"The situation is like water flowing into a field and until you have some obstruction to stop it, you will drown. We are drowning," he said.
Taliban have posted notices in some villages outside Peshawar telling residents to shun the judiciary and seek justice through their courts, he said.
Misrri Khan, who works for a tribal paramilitary force that patrols Khyber, said the militants kidnapped 16 of his fellow officers and threatened to behead them — and then to take more captives — if they did not abandon checkpoints in the area. Khan said the force refused.
Afrasiab Khattak, chief negotiator for the provincial government, said the province was considering a second operation in the Swat area, which is wracked by violence despite a peace deal between the provincial government and a radical pro-Taliban cleric.
Police in Swat found the bodies Saturday of four people apparently killed by militants and defused three bombs weighing a total of 45 pounds that had been planted along a main road, Swat police chief Waqif Khan said.
"The Gravest Threat We Have Faced"
News of the planned deployment came as concerns built up over the security of Peshawar, the capital of the NWFP that is now at the center of almost a week of intelligence warnings suggesting that the Taliban were poised to take over the city, reports CBS News' Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad.
On Saturday Pakistan’s prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani visited Peshawar in a show of his government’s determination to tackle the security challenge. But ahead of his arrival, a small bomb blew outside a barber shop in yet another example of eagerness by Taliban militants to attack their version of non-Islamic symbols.
Hardline Taliban have threatened to close down barber shops in other parts of the NWFP on the grounds that shaving is forbidden in Islam.
The threat to Peshawar marks the first time ever that a Pakistani provincial capital has been threatened by the Taliban in this way since the country joined the U.S.-led war on terror.
The senior Pakistani security official who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity said, “This is the gravest threat we have faced ever to a large city.”
A second security official who also spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity said, “We have to take decisive action and our options include the military option. We cannot let these people (Taliban) make further inroads.”
Lieutenant General (retired) Talat Masood, a respected commentator on security affairs, told CBS News: “Unless there is a very determined effort to tackle this problem, the threat of Taliban will only grow.”
General Masood warned that the growth of the Taliban may have been helped by Gilani’s government’s widely-held image of still being unable to bring about a strong focus to deal with Pakistan’s security challenges, notably the problem of confronting the growth of the Taliban movement.
The new government came to office in February, largely on a vote built in opposition to U.S.-backed president Musharraf. Western officials including U.S. officials have opposed new peace initiatives taken by the government.
These initiatives are built upon commitments from leaders of Taliban militants to stop fighting Pakistani military troops in return for the government withdrawing the military from parts of the NWFP. In recent weeks, such an agreement in Swat, a picturesque northern valley which has been a center of Taliban activity, has been criticized by western diplomats in Pakistan.
“The very fact that the Taliban continue to advance even after the agreement in Swat says much about the futility of such peace initiatives,” one western diplomat in Islamabad told CBS News on condition of anonymity. “The situation in Peshawar must be an eye opener. You cannot reason with the Taliban, you have to fight them” he added.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 111 CommentsOfficial Tells CBS News Insurgency In Volatile Border Region Represents "The Gravest Threat"
Thankfully SOMEONE is fighting them for us!!
DEMONIC-RAT HUSSEIN IS NOT THE SOLUTION,,,
do nothing,,, as they have done for years,,,
if you want a baby,,, you have to f''''k,,, yes it still will take 9 months,,,
if you want oil,,, you have to DRILL,,,
NORWAY had a huge find off their coast,,, they are oil independent now,,,
BRAZIL had two huge oil finds off their coast,,,
DEMONIC-RATS will let CHINA drill off the usa coast before it allows the usa to,,,
talk about putting party before country,,,
DEMONIC-RATS are the wrong way and the wrong change,,,
THE DEMONIC-RAT DOCTRINE,,,
On February 16, 1943, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said the "the defense of Saudi Arabia is vital to the defense of the United States." On February 14, 1945, while returning from the Yalta Conference, Roosevelt met with King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia on the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal, the first time a U.S. president had visited the Persian Gulf region.
The Carter Doctrine was a policy proclaimed by President of the United States Jimmy Carter in his State of the Union Address on 23 January 1980, which stated that the United States would use military force if necessary to defend its national interests in the Persian Gulf region. The doctrine was a response to the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, and was intended to deter the Soviet Union%u2014the Cold War adversary of the United States%u2014from seeking hegemony in the Persian Gulf. After stating that Soviet troops in Afghanistan posed "a grave threat to the free movement of Middle East oil," Carter proclaimed:
Let our position be absolutely clear: An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force. (full speech)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carter_Doctrine
BAGHDAD, Iraq %u2014 Outraged Iraqi officials demanded an investigation into an early morning U.S. military raid Friday near the birthplace of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, saying the operation violated the terms of the handover of Karbala province to Iraqi security forces.
Karbala Gov. Oqeil al Khazaali said U.S. forces killed an unarmed civilian and arrested at least one person in the raid in the southern town of Janaja. The governor''s brother, Hassanein al Khazaali, said late Friday that the Iraqi killed in the operation was a relative of the U.S.-backed prime minister.
The U.S. military command in Baghdad had no comment. Two senior aides to Maliki weren''t available for comment; one was still in a meeting with the prime minister after midnight. The governor is said to belong to the prime minister''s Dawa Party.
Iraqi officials in Karbala said the operation began at dawn Friday, when U.S. aircraft delivered dozens of American troops to the rural Shiite Muslim town of Janaja, which is populated mostly by members of the Maliki tribe.
Raed Shakir Jowdet, the Iraqi military commander of Karbala operations, said that four Apache helicopters and a jet fighter soared over the area. About 60 U.S. soldiers then stormed the town, "terrifying the families," he said.
HELL, IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY,,,
Obama''s Cousin Charged With Ethnic Cleansing
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-obamas-cousin-charged-with-ethnic.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7192958.stm
Obama''s relative linked to Ethnic Cleansing in Kenya
http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2008/02/obamas-relative-linked-to-ethnic.html
Signs in Kenya That Killings Were Planned
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1957451/posts
Ten Obvious Reasons Why Islam is NOT a Religion of Peace
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Pages/Top-10-Reasons.htm
Kenya Muslim Violence Pictorial *Warning Graphic*
Africa, Kenya, Muslims nothing more needs to be said
http://patdollard.com/2008/01/kenya-muslim-violence-pictorial-warning-graphic/
The Kenyan jihad
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/433766/the-kenyan-jihad.thtml
nothing new,,, more radical muslims ethnically cleansing non-muslims
19 Burned to Death in Violence in Kenya
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1960644/posts
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terror salami, you make this up as you go along, don''t you? May God forgive your soul.
The sweet smell of victory!
FROM HIS OWN MOUTH
Wright / Obama: "White Folk''s Greed Runs A World In Need"
MALCOLM-O-BAMA LAUDS MALCOLM-X
HUSSEIN THE MARXISTS
HUSSEIN THE RACIST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfC4OOm1aoM
There''s only two kinds of white folks, there''s only two kinds, bad white folks and worse white folks. That''s the only two kinds of white folks there are. Malcolm X, used to say, from the teachings of the nation of terrorislam founder Elijah Muhammad, that all white folks are bad. He said if you find one good, kill him first before he turns bad. Because he''s only faking.
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=169
SHOCKING Obama words: what he really thinks of white folks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI77cU3jsFs&feature=related
The shocking video Barack Obama does not want you to see!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Prhnc2fxAzg&feature=related
The racist NBPP is led by notorious extremist, Malik Zulu Shabazz, and is a registered team member and blogger on Obama%u2019s campaign website.
Barack Obama and The New Black Panther Party
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DQAOZlNrO8
Snarling at the White Man
Leaders of the New Black Panther Party, unlike those of its namesake of the 1960s and 1970s, speak of ''white devils'' and ''bloodsucking Jews''
Khalid Muhammad.
Muhammad, who first appeared publicly as the new Panthers'' leader at the Jasper demonstration in 1998, had long been known as the leading spokesman for the black separatist Nation of Islam. He lost that post after Nation leader Louis Farrakhan was widely criticized for Muhammad''s violently hateful speeches.
He has blamed slavery and even the Holocaust on the "hooked-nose, bagel-eating, lox-eating, perpetrating-a-fraud, so-called Jew."
He has launched repeated diatribes against his enemies: "white devil crackers," "bloodsucking Jews" and "*******."
Muhammad had clear ideas for dealing with whites who did not leave immediately: "We kill the women. We kill the babies. We kill the blind. We kill the cripples. We kill them all. We kill the *******. We kill the lesbians. ,,, When you get through killing them all, go to the ******* graveyard and dig up the grave and kill them a-*******-gain, because they didn''t die hard enough" the first time.
http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=394
we have defeated fascist nazi terrorislam before,,,
after america became a country,,, fascist nazi terrorislam demanded that america pay protection money or they would attack americas ships and enslave all on board,,,
thomas jefferson and james madison was having non of that,,, and they sent americas military to kick fascist nazi terrorislams arses in barbary war one and barbary war two,,, why two wars,,, fascist nazi terrorislamists break treaties,,, sound familiar??? can you say iraq,,,
It is a settled policy of America, that as peace is better than war, war is better than tribute. The United States, while they wish for war with no nation, will buy peace with none. President James Madison
Are you kidding? Negotiations? There is no negotiation with people who only present you with two choices, (1) convert to our beliefs or (2) you die.
When will we all learn? This idea that Jihadists such as the Taliban can be negotiated with has got to be discarded.
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Folks this idiot''s postings are a prime written display of why we need real change in our government. He is part of the grimey sludge of leftover waste from the 50''s and 60''s cultural terrorists, like McCarthy and Hoover. Everywhere you see them bubble to the surface, you need to send them back to the bottom of their cauldrons.
Okay Mr. American President. We''re ready for our next $20 billion dollars!! (Please send cash - as usual!)
Radical Christian Terrorism.
Oh, wait, that''s right, instead of fighting the real war against terrorism they invaded Iraq for Lies.
Posted by Floydzeppl at 10:17 AM : Jun 28, 2008
No such thing Floyd you big dummy.
Posted by EndTimes22 at 10:20 AM : Jun 28, 2008
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Tell it to Eric Rudolph Dummy.
What a bumpkin you are....
- Becky Fischer, teaching a new generation of Radical Christian Terrorist Jihadis at Jesus Camp
Posted by zoe2006 at 10:24 AM : Jun 28, 2008
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Thank you for the Correction: Radical Freakvangelical Terrorism. One must make the clear distinction between Christian and Freakvangelical Fake Christian.
Do your usual Floyd, ya freak....fire away with your usual daily garbage.
Posted by EndTimes22 at 10:28 AM : Jun 28, 2008
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ricky, I keep telling you, you''re not a Christian, you''re a Freakvangelical. That''s not true Christian.
Posted by zoe2006 at 10:32 AM : Jun 28, 2008
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If you start talking about evolution you''re gonna upset endtimes ricky. :^)
And notice how he doesn''t oppose Jesus Camp. He''s all for making little terrorists as long as they''ll be killing in Jesus Name.
Posted by EndTimes22 at 10:33 AM : Jun 28, 2008
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What if God approves of me battling Freakvangelicalism? I''m helping God return Christianity to its true form.
Love in the Name of Jesus.
Not Freakvangelical Hatred.
I will pray for you, ricky.
John Hagee suggested in a book called "Jerusalem Countdown" that, as Sarah Posner puts it, "military confrontation with Iran is foretold in the Bible as a necessary precondition for the Second Coming."
All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are -- were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.
Mr. Hagee also upset black leaders. To help students seeking odd jobs, his church newsletter, The Cluster, advertised a "slave" sale. "Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone," it said. "Make plans to come and go home with a slave."
In his recent book "Jerusalem Countdown," Hagee wrote: "Most readers will be shocked by the clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews."
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