Posted on 05/15/2011 10:16:18 AM PDT by Zhang Fei
On May 2nd, the United States was prepared to go to war with Pakistan. The American raid on that day, which killed Osama bin Laden and seized a huge mass of al Qaeda data from his Pakistani hideout, was carried out without informing Pakistan beforehand. Although Pakistan had years earlier agreed that the U.S. could enter Pakistani territory in hot pursuit of terrorists fleeing Afghanistan, or to grab high ranking al Qaeda leaders, it was always assumed that the U.S. would let the Pakistani military know what was coming. But because the Pakistani government was full of bin Laden fans, the U.S. did not inform Pakistan about the raid until it was underway. Apparently, that message included a reminder that if the U.S. troops in the bin Laden compound were attacked by Pakistani forces, there would be instant, and far-reaching, consequences.
The extent of those consequences have since been pieced together, from unclassified information. By May 2nd, the U.S. had assembled a huge naval and air force in the region, that was pointed at Pakistan. This force would attack any Pakistani troops or warplanes that went after the U.S. forces in the bin Laden compound, or who might be able to do so. The U.S. had assembled three aircraft carriers, hundreds of air force aircraft in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf, and dozens of helicopters, and thousands of troops, in Afghanistan. Most of these troops didn't know what they were alerted for. Such alerts happen all the time, often for no reason (as far as the troops are concerned.) But this time, as word of the bin Laden raid got out, it became obvious (at least to those who know how these things work) that the alerts throughout the region were to prepare for the possible need to quickly get the American raiders out, and destroy any Pakistani forces that sought to interfere.
Not surprisingly, the Pakistanis did not interfere. In fact, local Pakistani forces surrounded the bin Laden compound and kept anyone from getting in, or out, by land. The Pakistanis did not enter the compound until the Americans had flown away, with bin Laden's body, and documents. Pakistan later complained about this violation of their territory. The complaints were somewhat muted by the need to answer embarrassing questions about why bin Laden and his family had been in this military town (home to the national military academy, over 10,000 troops and hundreds of high ranking retired officers) for six years without being noticed.
The Pakistani was apparently willing to help hide bin Laden, but not, on a large scale, die for him.
You are more correct than you probably realise:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_Bhola_cyclone
Thanks to Wikileaks, we haven't had to wait 25 years. And it makes sense that the Saudi government wasn't involved. Because the Saudi government is composed of the several thousand debauched playboys of the Saudi Royal family whose sincerest desire is to be left alone to hang out with pricey European call girls, while their harem shops at luxury European boutiques. Saudi Arabia is the part of Arabia that belongs to the al Saud family. Pakistan is literally the Land of the Pure (i.e. non-infidel).
I'd have to disagree. Cultures and languages don't go away just because of a common religious affiliation. Muslim kings have fought against each other for over a thousand years, occasionally allying with the infidel against fellow Muslim kings.
???? The Taliban and Al Qaeda are the creation of the ISI (Paki Intelligence Service)
I agree. I was pointing out that Saudi Arabia was named for the al Saud family, whereas Pakistan's name (Land of the Pure) is as clear an indicator of religious zealotry as you can get.
They're no different than the Iranians. The only way to tell them apart is that Pakistan is the one we pretend is our ally. There's no stomach to fight an emerging Iran, whereas Pakistan actually has nuclear weapons, Chinese patronage and the ability to choke and kill our mission in Afghanistan.
Are you suggesting that the American people are in any, way shape or form are ready for what a war with Pakistan would entail?
BTW, a war with Pakistan delayed, will probably be a war with Pakistan, Iran, other Islamist states, China, and the rest of the SCO (Russia, all). But we must support our bipartisan leaders’ NIMBY family social aberrations and regulations against new, small manufacturing starts by awful looking redneck families.
My feeling is that Pakistan will slip up while conducting another major terrorist attack against us (in a way they did not on 9/11), thereby forcing Uncle Sam's hand.
“One day the whole world will have to go to war with Islam.”
We’ve already been in a world war — unofficial and granted not as jolting [thank God!], but it’s been asymmetric from the get-go. I think Islamics would back down long before serious escalation. One indicator is the lack of response after killing bin Laden. If they ever flexed their muscles again the way they did on 9-11-01 [or worse], the response will not be as merciful, and they know it.
They simply lack the economic and industrial capability to fight us in a significant way. Further, the information age is undermining their faith.
“Are you suggesting that the American people are in any, way shape or form are ready for what a war with Pakistan would entail?”
It would require such a provocation that we would actually hate them as much as we hated Japan.
As a previous poster pointed out, if it came to war with Pakistan or Islam itself we can't be hampstrung by the ROE that have burdened us for years.Without tippy-toeing around there is still nobody we can't defeat.
What will happen if their cash cow (USA) goes away???
It would require such a provocation that we would actually hate them as much as we hated Japan.
Impossible.
we are not a united states, but are mishmash of self-serving tribes and individuals all looking out for our own interests. Our nation is bankrupt yet the lines keep on growing on people looting the corpse. We have Communists and Progressives who have taken the next generation and converted them all into America and freedom hating myrmidons of the Global State.
There is no definable "American Way", therefore there is no foundation of morality, principles or ideology that a significant number of people can coalesce on to serve as some sort of front against any enemy.
For crying out loud, we as a nation can't even decide on whether we should fight Libya or even support Israel.
The current kleptocracy is interested only in keeping the American gravy flowing while keeping the local Islamists distracted. It's a very unstable government, and if it falls to the theocrats, all bets are off.
Until then, I think we're going to be locked into the same dysfunctional trap we've been in for the last ten years. There's too much pressure on each side to keep the status quo going.
Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.
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