Matt Yglesias

27 Responses to “Attack in Pakistan”

1. Freedom Fry Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 8:32 am

   No. He’s going to attribute this to the “surge strategy” that he advocated when everyone else was trying to lose the war in Iraq. Actually, it’s quite amazing how this “surge” he speaks of can be applied to all sorts of problems.

2. El Cid Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 8:37 am

   There are, in fact, only 2 eras in modern history: Before the SURGE ™, and After the SURGE ™. All else is decoration.

3. Petey Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 9:12 am

   Y’know, this may be the most important thing that’s happened in American foreign policy since 2003, and no one seems to have noticed…

4. --PatF n Madison Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 10:31 am

   Am I the only one worrying about this?

   A couple of weeks ago Musharraf got bounced.

   Yesteray, the army conducted its first cross-border raid in Pakistan. (The Pakistanis protested a little.)

   Is W. trying desperately for for an October surprise? Are we going after Osama Bin Laden extra hard now that the Republicans are in trouble? Would Osama’s capture, together with the fact that the Republicans did not look like complete incompetents during Gustav, (a) elect McCain (b) cement George Bush’s legacy and (c) subject us to another four years of Bush-like ineptitude?

   Please tell me I am crazy. I could not stand another four years of Republicans and their incipient theocracy.

5. SEAN Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 10:40 am

   i gasped and looked at my wife. she said, “what now?”

   I said, “We just conducted a raid into Pakistan following the taliban.”

   My wife doesn’t keep up with world events, and even she said, “oh, shit.”

6. LaFollette Progressive Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 10:46 am

   Last night Mayor 9/11 tried to hit out at the Democrats for not using the word “Victory” in their convention.

   Interestingly, unless I’m badly mistaken, neither McCain nor Palin ever mentioned the words “Afghanistan” or “Pakistan.”

7. pakistani Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 1:20 pm

   this is wrong to doing opration in our areas thats our ampire and we are the persons woh handle these issues of terorisum we did not giving a permission to the amaricans to enter in our boundries if they did that again and again one day the amarica is destroy .so be carefull be doing any thing.you must be think of your self a lot of issues in your country why you did interfare in others countries problems. not all the days good for amaricans one day they are lossing every thing.

8. 55 Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 1:56 pm

   Yeah, I definitely feel that they’re going hard after bin Laden to win the election.

   Also, this whole thing scares me.

9. Richard Steven Hack Says:
   September 4th, 2008 at 6:34 pm

   This has been in the cards since last December or so. At that time, when it looked like Musharraf might still be around for a while, the Pentagon wanted him to agree to allow US Special Forces into Pakistan to track down Taliban and Al Qaeda militants. Mushy said no, explaining that the Pakistani mountains were an entirely different environment than Iraq and there was no way US Special Forces were going to be able to operate in that environment.

   A couple weeks ago, the US launched an attack across the border and killed a number of Pakistani soldiers, creating major outrage in Pakistan.

   And according to the Pakistanis, this current attack was based on “bad intelligence” and the US ended up killing 20 civilians.

   One of Pakistan’s military officers said Pakistan would consider taking retaliatory action against any US military found in Pakistan.

   Bottom line: We’re heading for war with Pakistan, sooner or later.

   And they’re not really going after bin Laden, and even if they did, they won’t catch him. This whole thing is merely to expand the Afghan war into Pakistan and thus justify sending all the troops in Iraq over to fight in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

   Since Maliki is firm on getting ALL US troops out of Iraq by 2011, the military-industrial complex boys are going to see their contracts reduced after that. Starting an even bigger war in Afghanistan and Pakistan will guarantee their profits continue to soar.

   Outrage in Pakistan as US Attack Kills 20
   http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/03/outrage-in-pakistan-as-us-attack-kills-20/

   Money Quotes:

   At approximately 3 AM this morning, US helicopters landed in a tiny village in South Waziristan, not far from the Afghanistan border. Troops emerged and opened fire on the villagers, killing at least 20 civilians according to North-West Frontier Province Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani. Governor Ghani condemned the attack as “cowardly” and urged the Pakistani military “to defend the sovereignty of the country” with a response to the attack.

   And while neither NATO or American spokesmen would comment officially on the incident, CNN quotes a senior US official as having confirmed the operation, which was reportedly linked to recent attacks on US troops in Afghanistan. The New York Times quotes another official who was briefed on the incident predicting that this “is perhaps a stepping up of activity against militants in sanctuaries in the tribal areas” and that there is potential for further such moves. NATO missile and artillery strikes against targets in Pakistan’s tribal areas are not uncommon, but this is the first confirmed operation involving US ground troops in Pakistan.

   Reaction from the Pakistani government has been universally negative. In addition to the harsh comments from Governor Ghani, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry summoned US Ambassador Anne Patterson to lodge a formal protest against “the gross violation of Pakistan’s territory and immense loss of civilian life,” and they further warned that the action was “counter-productive”. Another spokesman from the Pakistani government confirmed that the operation occurred without coordination from Pakistan, and was based on faulty intelligence. But perhaps the harshest comments of all came from a Pakistani Military spokesman, who was quoted in the Pakistani media as saying there was no basis for the attack, and that Pakistan reserved the right to retaliate to protect its citizens.

   Raid based on bad intelligence -Pakistani official
   http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=327793

   Money Quotes:

   Suspected U.S. commandos blamed for killing 20 people in Pakistan were acting on faulty intelligence that was never shared with Pakistani forces inside the country, a Pakistani official said Wednesday.

   Nadeem Kiani, spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, told Reuters the predawn raid near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan in South Waziristan was a violation of Pakistan’s sovereign territory.

   “The intelligence was not correct and the people who have been killed are unarmed civilians, not militants, and those include women and children,” Kiani said in an interview.

   Pakistani security officials in the region said they suspected the attack was mounted by U.S. soldiers backed by helicopter gunships in a region known as a sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants. The targeted village is across the border from a U.S. military base in Afghanistan’s Paktika province.

   Some residents said foreign troops involved in the raid also detained people and took them away.

   “It was a violation of Pakistan’s territory,” Kiani said.

   “Being an ally, any action taken on this side of the border should have been taken by Pakistani forces. There was a need to share that information with the Pakistani side,” he added.

   “We do have the capacity to share intelligence, and if there is any intelligence, our forces are in a position to take action immediately.”

10. an intellectual midget Says:
    September 5th, 2008 at 12:34 am

    PAKISTANIS ARE FURIOUS

    here is the pakistani paper.

11. one of you Says:
    September 6th, 2008 at 12:35 pm

    we can easily understand what amarica wants because amarica is acting like a mad dog who is not only barking but also bite.we all now why amarica attack on iraq because they want oil,if you remember that there was a time when amarica support iraq against others and after completing his mission amarica attack on iraq because of usama binladan, usama binladal is just a name that amarica use for attack that is not a athantic reason. amarica doing these all because he is in power and he has a back support of israil.thousands of crime happaning in the amarica every day we know that but they are not stoping them.

12. A peace Lover Says:
    September 15th, 2008 at 5:23 am

    I have read your complete article and found it very very informative and realistic, I know currently the Govt. of Pakistan is supporting USA and in fact USA
    is allowed by pakistani Govt. to deliver bombs anywhere in Pakistan,

    USA is getting support by Paki Govt. not by paki people as USA is considers in pak the biggest enemy of Pakistan especially Muslims, As it has shown the
    willingness to kill muslims everywhere in the world.

    USA and Israeli is shouting that Iran can produce nuclear weapons which is completely baseless as Iran accepted the supervision of (IAEA) but when this
    organization took actions according to USA and Israeli desire than Iran had no choice except stop cooperating with IAEA and Iran did that which is his right !

    I have to point out to you that USA is the only nation who has more than 10,000 nuclear weapons and it is still producing more nuclear weapons which is
    quite amazing,

    I want to ask any American including you, that why your country produced such a big quantity of nuclear weapons, i think 150 to 200 nuclear weapons will
    be enough for the destoryment of the whole world, so in that occasion 10,000 or more nuclear weapons should be considered to threaten the world or it should
    be considered for the betterment of the humanity ?

    Did you remember what Israel did with Lebanon in recent years and what was USA attitude towards the fight ? I can tell you truly and frankly, that USA was
    supporting Israel to kill innocent people of Lebanon bcoz they were Muslims, The United Nations passed the resolution and condemned Israeli act but it was
    your country dear who continued supporting Israeli and WETO the resolution.

    And then Lebanon people along with Sheikhs started fighting and sent many Rockets in Israel which caused the several causalities and fear in people and as the
    time passed Sheikhs gain more power and it was time when Israel was under attack, which was not acceptable for USA.

    Then simply USA supported the resolution and fighting was stopped but during air strikes in Lebanon, Israel killed countless innocent people including
    innocent kids which were just like roses.

    Can anybody tell me how much money USA has spent on producing these nuclear weapons, I think the amount can’t be calculated as it must be in countless
    figure, so what do you think my dear, if this amount could have spent for the betterment of poor nations and for those who have no food, no water, no cloth,
    no medication, I am quite sure said amount might have changed the whole life of those needy people if it was used for the betterment of these people but why?

    It was not a duty of USA to help those needy people, instead of this, the aim of USA was to kill more and more innocent people around the world especially
    Muslims.

    Now the Israel pushing USA to attack IRAN due to iran nuclear activities which are not true, Did you remember, the same objection raised by USA before
    attacking IRAQ but could not find any prove of nuclear/chemical weapons, and during this war, You americans lost your soldier who were you sons, brothers,
    fathers and of course they were killed as they considered enemy.

    I am quite sure, if the USA will attack Iran, then it must be a start of world war 3 which will spread around the world, and i am sorry but it is true that you (
    Americans ) will have to face toughest time during war as you will be fired from everywhere and you know why it will be bcoz of your Government’s adopted
    policies.

    Here, In pakistan, if you are a foreigner then people will honor you but if they come to know that you are a American, You will see an anger in their eyes
    which is bcoz of your Govt. policies for the Muslims,

    Now USA and allies ( NATO ) attacking pakistan everyday and Govt. of Pakistan (PPP) is just formally protesting the strikes, In these Strikes they have
    killed many many females and kids who were completely innocent.

    I do not why USA is not understanding that these kind of activities will make more terrorist’s bcoz if a family member dies in these attacks, the other family
    members have two options, 1.keep silence and be patient, 2.fight with them.

    So in this way, many of them keep silence and many of them decides to fight and kill their enemy who killed their loved ones.

    Therefore they are not terrorists but you are terrorist who insisted them to take gun for their satisfaction.

    I am writing this letter to you just to clarify the differences between terrisiom bcoz i know the life is so small and it’s better for every one to spend life
    peacefully.

    In the meanwhile, However, Neither Pakistani Govt, nor Pakistani Armed Forces responding Amercian Attacks which will be caused biggest violation in country.

    Your comments will be awaited !

    Regards, A Peace Lover

13. one of you Says:
    September 21st, 2008 at 6:21 pm

    i like your comment peace lover you are writing too good man.keep it up and tell something more what you have….please

14. one of you Says:
    September 21st, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    i like your comment peace lover you are writing too good man.keep it up and tell something more what you have i want to know more about these all….please

15. one of you Says:
    September 23rd, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    some time i feel we are just like a ball everyone kick on it and feel this is his/her right.every were the muslims are living they are in trouble by the cause of non-muslims.if we look to india every terrorisum activity they are always trying to attach with muslims….are they all are feeling some threat to muslims.all greater non-muslim countries having nuclear weapons but if any muslim country try to do these all which they are doing from several years than they are feeling pain.life is life ,even a muslim or non muslim why they are not understand or not trying to understan.we are also not like terorisum if anyone who is muslim or non muslim found involve in terorist activity in your country then you are bound to punish but why opperations in other countries.

16. A peace Lover Says:
    October 18th, 2008 at 6:23 am

    Hi friends, and especially ONE OF YOU, thanks for appriciating my article,

    Tell me what you wanna know ? & also something about u

17. one of you Says:
    November 27th, 2008 at 2:49 pm

    MR.peace lover not a specific point which i want to know, mean to say that if you have this kind of knowledge that you have been sharing in your article then please tell us and …i am sorry for late answer.

18. one of you Says:
    November 27th, 2008 at 3:10 pm

    amarica is just bull shit not more then that because we know that always the amarican goverments stands on israel legs because israel is a major financer of amarican goverments and israel is a country who is having a dirty strategic mind behind the amarica,we think amarica is doing these all but amarica is …executor/adminstrator the force behind is israel…think on it

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