[NYTr] US Continues to Issue Threats Against Pakistan

[nytr at olm.blythe-systems.com]

sent by Dave Muller (southnews)

AFP - Jul 23, 2007

US won't rule out army incursion into Pakistan

Agence France-Presse

THE White House's top counterterrorism official has refused to rule out 
a US military incursion into Pakistan's remote border with Afghanistan 
to eradicate a resurgent Al-Qaeda militant network.
"The president has made perfectly clear that job number one is 
protecting the American people.

"There are no tools off the table, and we use all our instruments of 
national power to be effective,'' Fran Townsend, assistant to the 
president for homeland security and counterterrorism said, when asked 
whether Washington would resort to military action to disable the 
network's Pakistan outpost.

There is "no question that we will use any instrument at our disposal
to deal with the problem of Osama bin Laden and (Ayman al-)Zawahiri and 
Al-Qaeda,'' Ms Townsend said, naming the leaders and second-in-command 
of the network that carried out the attacks on the United States on 
September 11, 2001.

Her comments came after a major US intelligence report, the National 
Intelligence Estimate, concluded in findings released last week that 
Al-Qaeda has regenerated, and is redoubling its efforts to get 
operatives inside the United States.

US President George W. Bush on Saturday linked the US global campaign 
against Al-Qaeda to Pakistan's efforts to quell Islamist violence, 
including the storming of a pro-Taliban mosque last week.

In his weekly radio address Saturday, US President George W. Bush 
expressed full US support for Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's 
efforts "to rid all of Pakistan of extremism'' including an Al-Qaeda 
"safe haven'' in tribal areas.

But the US leader called the establishment of such enclaves
"troubling.''

                     ***

The New York Sun - Jul 23, 2007
http://www.nysun.com/article/58888

U.S. Says It Hits Qaeda in Pakistan

BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is acknowledging publicly that the 
American military has staged attacks inside Pakistan on Al Qaeda, a 
signal that increases pressure on the leader in Islamabad, President 
Musharraf.

Yesterday on "Fox News Sunday," the president's homeland security 
adviser, Frances Townsend, was asked about military actions in the 
Pakistani border provinces where Al Qaeda's chief, Osama bin Laden, and 
one of his two leadership councils reportedly meet regularly.

"Just because we don't speak about things publicly doesn't mean we're 
not doing things you talk about," she said, using phrasing similar to 
that President Bush favors when asked whether he will use military
force against Iran's nuclear program.

American special forces operations inside the Pakistani border
provinces are an open secret among close watchers of the region, but
Ms. Townsend's words yesterday mark an escalation in public rhetoric
against Mr. Musharraf. Mr. Musharraf has for the most part withdrawn
his military from those provinces, which are dominated by tribes
although subject to Pakistani federal control.

The remarks pick up a theme that has been sounded this year by other
top aides to Mr. Bush. On February 27, in his first public remarks to 
Congress after his confirmation hearing, the director of national 
intelligence, Admiral Michael McConnell, spoke of focusing efforts with 
"great intensity" on Al Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan.

Ms. Townsend's remarks in part are prompted by the completion of last 
week's National Intelligence Estimate on Al Qaeda and its replenished 
leadership.

Yesterday on CNN, Pakistan's foreign minister, Kurshid Kasuri, said 
direct American attacks on the tribal areas would be a bad idea. "Let 
the United States provide us with actionable intelligence, and you will 
find that Pakistan will never be lacking," he said. "Pakistan's army
can do the job much better, and the result will be that there will be
far less collateral damage."

American forces in Afghanistan have cooperated with Pakistan's military 
in recent years on Al Qaeda targets on the Pakistani side of the
border. In January 2006, an American airstrike took out Abu Kebab
al-Masri, a Qaeda chemical and biological weapons engineer.

The Washington Post in 2006 reported that American forces participated 
in a raid on Saidgai, a village that was home to a Qaeda camp said to 
train forces to protect Osama bin Laden. Last month, the Pakistani
press reported that NATO forces fired a missile into the Pakistani
tribal areas.

One American military officer yesterday told The New York Sun, "There 
has been a steady stream of public reporting on this. For domestic 
reasons, the Pakistanis cannot say we are involved in any operations in 
their territory."

Last June and again in September, the Pakistani military began signing 
agreements with local jihadists in the tribal provinces, giving them, 
effectively, home rule. That provided Al Qaeda and the Taliban a safe 
haven from which to train operatives and launch attacks in Islamabad
and Afghanistan.

Those provinces host one of the two known Shura Majlis, or leadership 
councils, for Al Qaeda. The other leadership council meets in eastern 
Iran, as the Sun reported on July 17.

Iraq's foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, yesterday confirmed to the 
Associated Press that talks will resume tomorrow between the American 
and Iranian ambassadors in Baghdad.

While the U.S. State Department has publicly and privately pushed for 
the talks, the outreach to Iran after last month's meeting has met 
resistance from the command of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq, as 
well as from the remaining hawks in the Bush administration.

One concern is that the talks will lead to a deal whereby General David 
Petraeus authorizes the release of senior Iranian operatives from 
military facilities in Iraq in exchange for a halt to Iranian funding, 
arming, and training of jihadists attacking the Iraqi government and 
American soldiers.

Yesterday, the American military detained two more suspected weapons 
smugglers that a press release said might be linked to Iran's Quds
Force.

A box in the classified text of the National Intelligence Estimate, 
about "Al Qaeda leadership," contains a bullet point that says "meets 
regularly in Eastern Iran and northern Pakistan," according to one 
intelligence official.

The wording changed from the final draft. Phrases to describe the
senior Al Qaeda leaders meeting regularly in Iran considered and
dropped in the drafting process include "general management,"
"leadership council," and "Shura Majlis."

Publicly, American officials have said Al Qaeda leaders in Iran, such
as Saif al-Adel and Sa'ad bin Laden, are under "some form of house
arrest." Nonetheless, American intelligence officials believe they have
freedom of movement to some degree within Iran and have been able to 
reconstitute regular meetings of members of the leadership that reside 
there.

The Director for Media Relations for the office of the director for 
national intelligence, Steve Shaw, declined to comment Friday on the 
classified National Intelligence Estimate

                           ***

NewsBlaze - Jul 22, 2007
http://newsblaze.com/story/20070722083616kash.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html

US Will Take Away Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons: Geelani

By Fayaz Wani

Predicting America's attack on Pakistan, the chairperson of hardline 
faction of separatist amalgam, Huriyat Conference, Syed Ali Shah
Geelani has said that America's main aim is to take over the nuclear
weapons of Pakistan.

"Pakistan is the only Muslim country to have nuclear weapons and this 
has not gone well with America", Geelani said adding, "America is
making every possible means to weaken Pakistan and take away its
nuclear weapons".

The senior separatist leader, who is being considered as hardliner, 
said, "America's claim that Pakistan is providing sanctuary to the 
terrorist, is in fact aimed at providing justification for US troops to 
attack Pakistan. In near future, America is going to attack Pakistan;
an ally to US in war against terrorism".

He said that Pakistan will face the same fate as that of Iraq and its 
leaders would be given the same treatment as given to former Iraqi 
President, Saddam Hussain.

Geelani said that America does not care about friendly countries. "It 
can leave them to lurch if its interests have been served".

"The Pakistani establishment should not have surrendered before the US 
after 9/11. They should have resisted the US hegemony", he said,
adding, "The present turmoil in Pakistan is the repercussion of
Pakistan's surrender to the US after 9/11".

It is pertinent to mention here that Geelani is a die-hard Pakistani 
supporter. However, after his differences with Pakistan President, 
Parvez Musharraf, he has been maintaining distance from Pakistan. He 
misses no opportunity to criticize Musharraf and has said his one-sided 
flexibility on Kashmir is hurting the Kashmir cause.

Meanwhile, another senior separatist pro-Pakistan leader, Shabir Shah 
has expressed his concern over the precarious situation in Pakistan. He 
said that the politicians, opposition leaders and ulemas in Pakistan 
should help the Pakistan government to control the situation. He said 
that if necessary measures are not taken to control the situation this 
time, there is every possibility that it will plunge Pakistan into
civil war, which can lead to devastation.