Saturday, December 03, 2005

SWNID Understood That This Wasn't Happening

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is announcing with certainty (in the words of a Reuter's reporter):

Abu Hamza Rabia, an Egyptian credited with heading al Qaeda's international operations, was among five militants killed in an explosion at a house where they were hiding in North Waziristan on Thursday.

The story notes further [bracketed explanation inserted]:

While Pakistani security forces have killed hundreds of al Qaeda members over the past four years, several of their key leaders were arrested and handed over to the United States.

Pakistani forces launched an offensive in South Waziristan [= Wild-West-istan, per the evaluation of American intelligence agents and special forces operatives, a historically lawless region of Pakistan which Pakistani military units used to avoid altogether] early last year after President Pervez Musharraf vowed to clear foreign militants from Pakistani soil.

Hundreds of militants and Pakistani troops have been killed in battles in the rugged region and about 70,000 Pakistani troops are now concentrating their search in neighboring North Waziristan.

SWNID confesses that this story confuses us. We understood from the Ds and the MSM that the United States, thanks to the ineptitude of George W. Bush, has no allies in the global war on terror. We understood further that the fight against al Qaeda had been abandoned for the quixotic, doomed campaign in Iraq. We note that 70,000 troops are a lot, even in a corrupt military dictatorship like Pakistan. Will someone please explain?

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