With any luck...
By Moe Lane Posted in Foreign Affairs — Comments (19) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
There is a possibility of a suggestion of a hint that Ayman al-Zawahri may no longer be with us:
DAMADOLA, Pakistan - An airstrike in a remote Pakistani tribal area killed at least 17 people on Friday, and a senior Pakistani official said the target was a suspected al-Qaida hideout that may have been frequented by high-level operatives, possibly the No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri.
Citing unnamed American intelligence officials, U.S. news networks reported that it was a
CIA strike and that al-Zawahri,
Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, could have been at a targeted compound in the Bajur area or about to arrive.
Update [2006-1-14 6:52:43 by Nick Danger]: ABC News now reporting that al-Zawahri was not in the village of Damadola at the time of the attack.
Update [2006-1-14 8:40:19 by Moe Lane]: Better luck next time.
Read on.
The article goes on to report that innocents were reported to have been killed in the airstrike. My prayers for any innocents killed or harmed, of course - and I condemn in the strongest terms the cowardly, effete, impotent terrorist apostates who are so terrified of meeting the righteous anger of our troops (not to mention the fury of the God that both I and ordinary, decent Muslims, but not they, worship) that they must cravenly hide behind the skirts of their hostages instead of facing us as any true men would.
And if we did catch you, al-Zawahri - enjoy your stay with Shaitan.
Moe Lane
PS: I am being moderate. I'm not calling for the man's head being stuck on a stick outside the White House, am I?
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And without apology. There are a number of suitable viewing spots on the White House grounds.
(pause)
Someone oughta open up a window!
No, no, no! Too many flies! Too many flies!
But it's hot as h*ll in Philadelphia!
Someone oughta open up a window!
Can't we compromise here?
Adams: Vote yes!
Congress: No, too many flies here!
Adams: Vote yes!
Congress: Oh for God's sake, John, sit down!
Apparently GWB did not get the "requisite warrants" to prosecute this mission. Witness the fact that the Pakistani government is registering a protest with the American ambassador about an air strike conducted on Pakistani soil without the prior approval of said government.
Although just about any of GWB's actions in the War on Terror seem to be palatable to some, I have to question how the average American would take to having another government conduct an air strike on American soil - and whether any justification they offered would be sufficient.
It seems to me that it is a rather dangerous and short sighted precedent to be setting.
...if parties responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians in "Country A" were known to be living and operating within a small village in the United States and were also known to be continuing their plots, and our own government was not doing anything about it, then I could hardly blame "Country A" for trying to take them out. Afterall, if our OWN country was not doing anything to stop them, then I don't think we'd have much of a country anyway.
I can see your point in a smaller context, but not in this particular incident.
With the unnecessary use of force. Why didn't we just drop in some commandos to arrest him and read him his miranda rights?
What's going unsaid here is that Pakistani law doesn't actually run in the tribal areas; Musharraf's last expedition there a year or two ago was handily beaten off. I suspect the only reason they haven't declared independence ''de jure'' is because that would be politically provocative enough to bring Pakistan down on them again, maybe with U.S. aid. As it is, they pretty well enjoy independence ''de facto''. If we, for example, turned Buffalo over to the street gangs and refused to interfere with weapons and drug smuggling, etc., I think the Canadians would be perfectly justified in committing a few "Caroline Incidents".
There is also the strong possibility that we did actually get permission from the Pakistanis and the protest is their cover. They need to be careful about appearing to be too pro-US. They don't want to become any more of a target of their own radical Islamists then they already are. Things are not always as they seem when it comes to this kind of thing.
ABC News now reporting that al-Zawahri was not in the village of Damadola at the time of the attack
Well, if anonymous Pakistani officials are saying that, it must be true.
I see the "patriots" over at Kos didn't waste any time to start celebrating al-Zawahri not being killed. Anything that makes Bush and our military look bad is a good thing for them, I guess.
I think the only thing that might have made them happier is if some American troops had been killed in the attack.
...buzzing around black foot hippie protesters.
...did Bush get the requisite warrants to prosecute this mission? I'd like to call for Congressional investigations to make sure the information concerning Zawahiri's whereabouts were not obtained from wiretapping American citizens' conversations with alleged "terrorist" organizations overseas. We can't just trample on this man's Consitutional rights (despite the fact he is not an American citizen).
Sorry for the sarcasm - it's Friday night and I'm just in that mood.