Posted on 01/27/2009 11:27:08 AM PST by BGHater
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said missile strikes in Pakistan will continue in an effort to root out al Qaeda members.
Gates spoke to the Senate Armed Services Committee in his first comments to Congress as President Obama's defense secretary.
In response to a question from committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Michigan, Gates said the strikes will continue to target terrorists who have based themselves across the border from Afghanistan.
"Let me just say, both President Bush and President Obama have made clear that we will go after al Qaeda wherever al Qaeda is. And we will continue to pursue this," Gates said.
Asked by Levin whether Pakistan is aware of this continued pursuit, Gates replied simply, "Yes, sir."
Seventeen people were killed Friday in two missile strikes in the ungoverned tribal area of Pakistan. A government official and two military officials said they were U.S. attacks. They were the first such strikes since Obama took office Tuesday.
The tribal region of Pakistan has seen a sharp spike in the number of aerial attacks carried out by unmanned drones.
The United States has the only military with drones operating in the area.
In 2008, there were 30 suspected U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan, based on a count by CNN in Islamabad.
Gates opened his comments with a clear message that Afghanistan is at the top of his to-do list.
In one of the clearest indications of the military planning for adding troops, Gates outlined a deployment of two brigades by spring and the third by late summer. Read Gates' prepared testimony (PDF)
Additional troops, even if available to deploy, could not be added until later this year because it would take that much time to build out the required infrastructure in Afghanistan to support the troops, Gates explained.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
Where are Murtha and Kerry now that Obama is killing civillians in cold blood?
Wait, wha...? Where’s his U.N. madate? What did Pakistan ever do to us? Illegal air strikes! Did Congress authorize this?
Waiting for Katie Couric/Charlie Gibson/David Gregory/New York Times/Keith Olbermann/Chris Matthews/Alan Colmes/Air America/Daily Kos outrage!
Hearing crickets.
we have not declared war on Pakistan!
Stop these illegal cold-blooded murders!!!
Why is Obama killing so many innocent civilians??
We need big protest marches in DC right now!!
Delicious sentence! It puts Bush and Obama on the same page for more missile attacks which in turn drives the moonbats crazy! And it's the right thing to continue to do!
Defending Obama eh? No....it isn't the "right thing" to do. We can't afford to keep policining the world. This policy is futile....unless we want more dead babies.
Obama lied, people died!! He’s air raiding villages!! Have any civilians died?? OMG,, Obama is a war criminal!!
Im going to also remember and live that old democrat/leftist thing,, “dissent is the highest form of patriotism”
Oh wait,,, i forgot, that only applies to us, socialists can kill all all they want, and we have a century of proof.
What does bombing terrorists have to do with “more dead babies”? Please explain.
LoL yeah i have the feeling that code pink won’t be interrupting any of his press conferences any time soon.
Obama is just air raiding pakistan. No blood for oil!
This is blood for blood! Revenge!
See the following :
locals also said that three children lost their lives
I haven't seen any denials that this happened from the Messiah....but after all, they weren't his children.
As far as attacking terrorists, I don't share your faith in Obama's abilityt to hit the target. My questions for you are this: Do trust him to do the right thing in foreign policy? Do you trust his motivations? Do you think he is competant to police the world and micromanage the situation in Pakistan? If you do, why?
Actually I don’t trust him to do anything; but if terrorists are being killed on his watch, or people believed to be terrorists according to our generals, then so be it.
Damn!
This demonstrates the phoniness of the left. It was never about policy or issues...it was all about style and culture.
Bush = low class. Obama = high class. Country versus City. Redneck versus the "sophisticated". Authentic versus unauthentic. Real versus phony.
What about due process? It’s required for Gitmo detainees, so why not the peace loving people of Pakistan? Eh, 0?
Delicious deep triplicate irony and sarc.
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