We all remember when the Big Bad 'War President', George W., laid that Rambo-like line on America during his 2004 SOTU address. After all, it was an election year, too, so it was time for the tough to start talking. And if I remember correctly, Bush used that line again on Kerry during one of the debates.
But just as everything else has turned out with George W. Bush, the rhetoric doesn't match up with the truth.
If there's any place on Earth that the U.S. certainly should not have to 'seek a permission slip', to go into, that would be Pakistan and Afghanistan. That is where Osama bin Laden is and the U.S. should not ask either of these countries for permission to kill him.
But now we hear Condi Rice and our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Peter Pace, state that we won't directly strike at known al-Qaeda targets on Pakistani territory. We are giving bin Laden and al-Qaeda a free pass to protect President Musharraf.
Sounds like seeking permission to me.
How do you attack? I'd take 30,000-50,000 of our Special Forces in to the North Waziristan and surrounding area, give the locals, and any other people who didn't want to conceal bin Laden and his followers, about 4-5 days to get the hell out. And then I'd yell, INCOMING! And then order the DNA kits.U.S.-PAKISTAN: NO DIRECT STRIKES INSIDE PAKISTAN, WASHINGTON SAYS
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Peter Pace have indicated that the US will not launch direct military strikes at suspected al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan’s tribal region.The two officials told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the US sought no direct role in Pakistan’s northern region where US officials had noticed a rise in al-Qaeda activity.
The question of direct US military action inside the Pakistani territory was raised by Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, during a hearing on supplemental budget request for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The senator asked Rice if the Bush administration had considered sending troops inside Pakistan for eliminating al-Qaeda leadership.
“I'm rather dubious that the surge of American forces into the Federally-Administered (tribal) areas of Pakistan, those tough mountains of places like North Waziristan, would have been a workable strategy,” said Rice. Gen Pace who, Rice said, should also respond to this question, stated: “Sir, one of the most difficult problems we face in this war is how do you attack an enemy inside of a country with which you're not at war?”
