Posted on 06/19/2004 5:18:27 PM PDT by Graybeard58
This is wonderful news ... now, if only we could trace their e-mail communications and bomb them accordingly.
Sounds like a missed opportunity to me.
I can think of several good reasons to tell the press we are tracking a certain kind of cell phone. It makes a good bit of difference whether the original source is military or civilian.
I read somewhere that Zek Mohammad was the guy driving the armored pickup that blew the checkpoint way back at the start of all this, so it seems a good bet that he was the subject of the calls for medical assistance we intercepted.
Let's see, number three in Saudi, the head supporting tribesman in Pakistan, and maybe Zarkawi in Iraq too.
I wonder if Bin Laden and Zawahiri feel martyrdom closing in on them yet? In any event, they can't be having a good day.
Once they get the people seeing them as heros they can and will accomplish much more.
Those guys don't mess around. Clinton would have sent marshalls with an arrest warrant.
Wait till the terrorist gets there to find out they are all out of virgins.
the rocket attack was probably orchestrated by task force 121 covertly hunting HVT's inside Pakistan. Pakistan's forces were given credit for the kill to ensure deniability by the US.
In those parts of the world, only terrorists and media are using satphones. Missiles away, and home in on the signal! It doesn't matter which one we get; they're both the enemy.
Some folks here were sniffing for UAVs within a few minutes of when the report of Nek Mohammad's death broke.
Regardless of what I think might or might not have happened, the official version out of Pakistan and not denied by the Colaition, to date, is that it was a Pak op, top to bottom.
That works for me. If letting the the wrong shooter take the credit gets Bin Laden and Zawahiri's head on a stick quicker, I'll be happy to stand aside while Purvez's grandma claims she whacked old Nek with her cane.
:-)
I think "Mr. Anonymous" may be feeling that events are closing in on his book release as well. He seemed to find it necessary to almost immediately comment in dismissive tones about Nek Mohammed's demise:
"Nek Mohammed is one guy in one small area. We sometimes forget how big the tribal areas are."
Now, I grant that the tribal areas are large and constitute an incredibly complex terrain, but that all the more underscores the remarkable success here. Did the Pakistani's (and/or we) just happen to get lucky? I don't think so.
Business as usual, look you right in the eye and lie to you, knowing that you know it's a lie but that you don't have the time to chase it down and prove it.
Looks like the book didn't go over so big at the New York Times, unless we are being fed a bone.
This, out from Dawn:
"Military urges fighters to surrender: Wana operation
ISLAMABAD, June 19: Military officials on Saturday renewed their calls to local and foreign fighters to surrender after Nek Mohammad and seven others were
killed in a security force raid in Wana on Thursday night.
Reuters quoted military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan as saying that amnesty would be offered to foreign fighters and the local tribesmen who had sheltered
them, but only if they laid down their arms.
"In case of locals, amnesty will be given to those who lay down their weapons and denounce militancy," Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan said. "Foreigners will have to do the
same, but they will also have to get themselves registered, photographed and fingerprinted.
Failure to take up the offer, he said, would invite a further crackdown by the military.
"If there is any backlash, we are prepared to deal with it," Sultan said, adding that more than 80 militants, mostly foreigners, and 18 soldiers had been killed in fighting
so far this month.
Maj-Gen Sultan said the local tribesmen would help the security forces to hunt foreigners. "A tribal lashkar of 2,000 men is being raised for this task."
The situation in South Waziristan "is fully under control of the security forces," Maj-Gen Sultan said when asked if there were any fears of a tribal backlash over the
killing.
Meanwhile, a ten-member team of the Spirkai tribe, led by Malik Yunas, is expected to begin a search of some houses in the Shakai area looking for foreign militants
on Sunday.
http://www.dawn.com/2004/06/20/top8.htm
Looks to me like the Paks will consolidate for a bit, maybe give the political solution a chance to work again. The situation is quite a bit different than last time around, different positions for the Pak military, and new tribes to be dealt with. Wonder how cooperative the old tribes are going to be this time, if the crowbar took or if itdidn't get a solid bite, requiring placement yet a third time?
Guess we'll find out in due time.
"The situation is quite a bit different than last time around, different positions for the Pak military, and new tribes to be dealt with."
Interesting perspective here. After watching the March Wana operation through the news stories I'm not about to get as exuberant as then. I hope that I can be a bit more realistic this time, without slipping into cynicism. I saw earlier today that the U.S. military spokesman in Kabul was voicing some cautious optimism that Nek's demise would have a beneficial disorganizing effect on the Talibani's in the area.
I'll repeat what you just wrote:
"Guess we'll find out in due time."
"They do and say things I scratch my head over weekly."
How true. It is a different world altogether. I spent a little time in SEA and am aware of radically different thought patterns, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what these guys are meaning at times. I constantly have to remind myself that the words are somewhat familiar, but the meaning behind the rhetoric is different.
I too hope that Musharraf is really going to follow through with what I think he has said and meant.
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