blzrul Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 April 17th, 2008 GAO: Al Qaeda still operating in Pakistan’s FATA region Posted: 12:05 PM ET WASHINGTON (CNN) — Al Qaeda is still operating within Pakistan’s mountainous tribal region bordering Afghanistan, and the United States lacks a “comprehensive” plan for meetings its national security goals there, a U.S. government study released Thursday said. Despite the United States providing $10.5 billion in military and economic aid to Pakistan, a key U.S. ally, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said it “found broad agreement … that al Qaeda had regenerated its ability to attack the United States and had succeeded in establishing a safe haven” in Pakistan’s Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA). Of the $10.5 billion in U.S. aid, more than half — $5.8 billion — was specifically provided for the FATA region, the GAO said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 April 17th, 2008GAO: Al Qaeda still operating in Pakistan’s FATA region Posted: 12:05 PM ET WASHINGTON (CNN) — Al Qaeda is still operating within Pakistan’s mountainous tribal region bordering Afghanistan, and the United States lacks a “comprehensive” plan for meetings its national security goals there, a U.S. government study released Thursday said. Despite the United States providing $10.5 billion in military and economic aid to Pakistan, a key U.S. ally, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said it “found broad agreement … that al Qaeda had regenerated its ability to attack the United States and had succeeded in establishing a safe haven” in Pakistan’s Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA). Of the $10.5 billion in U.S. aid, more than half — $5.8 billion — was specifically provided for the FATA region, the GAO said. Shocked, yes shocked I am! In a region that neither the US nor Pakistan has any control over, the US and Pakistan can't exert any control? I never would have guessed! It's not like we're talking about Iowa or Montana here. Trust me, if your ass were hiding in Waziristan and you had to beg the Pakistanis for access, you couldn't find it with both hands either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blzrul Posted April 17, 2008 Author Share Posted April 17, 2008 Shocked, yes shocked I am! In a region that neither the US nor Pakistan has any control over, the US and Pakistan can't exert any control? I never would have guessed! It's not like we're talking about Iowa or Montana here. Trust me, if your ass were hiding in Waziristan and you had to beg the Pakistanis for access, you couldn't find it with both hands either. Would that it were... So the real point is all the money and fearmonging that imply that they can actually DO SOMETHING about finding these guys. If 10B+ isn't gonna do it, maybe invest somewhere where you might get results. That's sort of investment 101.....but these morons will never admit that perhaps they made a mistake and will continue to throw our money away for naught. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 Would that it were... So the real point is all the money and fearmonging that imply that they can actually DO SOMETHING about finding these guys. If 10B+ isn't gonna do it, maybe invest somewhere where you might get results. That's sort of investment 101.....but these morons will never admit that perhaps they made a mistake and will continue to throw our money away for naught. No, they can do something about marginalizing them. The flip side of the US being having a hard time operating in Waziristan because it's the ass-end of nowhere is...al Qaeda has a hard time operating from Waziristan because it's the ass-end of nowhere. There's also the fundamental issue that, for a country that recognizes international borders (like we do), it's rather difficult to just waltz into to another country (let alone an ally...let alone a nuclear ally...let alone a nuclear ally that's at any given time about a week from becoming a "rogue state") and do whatever the hell we want, even if the people we're after don't recognize said borders (which most people in the tribal areas in that region do not). It's a very touchy situation...as evidenced by the fact that several months ago Barack Obama, simply by publicly observing that the military "should" be in Pakistan, almost got Musharraf killed. The GAO's report, interpreted as a matter of policy, is over-simplistic and doesn't take into account the reality of the situation. And every single !@#$ing year, somebody reports that "al Qaeda" and/or "the Taliban" has "reestablished" a "safe haven" in "Pakistan". Either it's a "yeah, no sh--, so what?" statement, or simple fear-mongering. Or typical government idiocy in stating the obvious. Given it's a congressional organization generating this scintillating body of work, I vote the first option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molson_golden2002 Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 April 17th, 2008GAO: Al Qaeda still operating in Pakistan’s FATA region Posted: 12:05 PM ET WASHINGTON (CNN) — Al Qaeda is still operating within Pakistan’s mountainous tribal region bordering Afghanistan, and the United States lacks a “comprehensive” plan for meetings its national security goals there, a U.S. government study released Thursday said. Despite the United States providing $10.5 billion in military and economic aid to Pakistan, a key U.S. ally, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said it “found broad agreement … that al Qaeda had regenerated its ability to attack the United States and had succeeded in establishing a safe haven” in Pakistan’s Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA). Of the $10.5 billion in U.S. aid, more than half — $5.8 billion — was specifically provided for the FATA region, the GAO said. Hey, at least they busted these guys, the gang that couldn't shoot! They had no guns, ya see! http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4665658&page=1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts