I guess we don't have to care about supporting Musharraf anymore. Reuters reports Pakistan raid may signal more U.S. attacks.
"U.S. commandos attacked an al Qaeda target in Pakistan this week in an operation that could signal more intense American efforts to thwart militant attacks in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said on Thursday."
"Pentagon officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the raid by special operations forces targeted suspected operatives in an effort to disrupt militant safe havens in Pakistan that pose an escalating threat to U.S., NATO and Afghan forces just across the border."
The AP has more on the political tensions this raised.
I think it's hard to have an informed opinion on this. I think I support a military raid against al Qaida in Pakistan, certainly if it's actually al Qaida that's hit and not civilians. But I understand the political situation is tricky and I really don't trust this administration to get any aspect of that right. Two months ago they seemed confused on the topic.
Kevin Drum writes: "But I wonder what the political fallout is going to be? In one of those weird inversions that you occasionally get in presidential campaigns, Barack Obama is semi-committed to supporting this kind of action and John McCain is semi-committed to opposing it. Both would probably prefer to stay quiet about this particular raid, but what if the Times is right and this is just the "opening salvo in a much broader campaign"? Then they have to say something. But what? McCain strongly criticized Obama earlier in the year when Obama suggested he might follow actionable intelligence over the border ("Pakistan is a sovereign nation," McCain said), but that's not a winning formula in these latter days of base-appeasing jingoism. So I imagine he'll change his mind on this. There's an election to win, after all."
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