Nightline talking about Pakistan

[Cush]

talking about terrosim, divisions/factions within the country

[Wonk]

1. kick

[jiacinto]

2. It is so horrible and tragic

It really is.

[seasat]

3. The scary thing is they are our "ally" in the war on terror.

I saw that Nightline and it only furthered my suspicions about what a potential explosive situation it is. With our troops spread thin throughout Iraq and Afganistan, can y'all imagine what will happen if a militant Islamic group overthrows Pakistan's military dicatator? Al Queda with nuclear missles would not be a good thing and we would be powerless to intervene.

[Resistance Is Futile]

7. Powerless?

An al Qaida takeover of Pakistan is the kind of doomsday scenario where the taboo against using nuclear weapons offensively would be quickly forgotten. Unlike the conventional forces, Trident isn't overdeployed.

[seasat]

9. Firing our nukes would be a good thing?!?!

I was referring to the ability to sweep into Pakistan and control the situation before they gain control of the Nukes in the event of a fundamentalist Islamic coup. If they managed to launch a few of them, it would reek havoc on the world. The fallout would affect most of the Middle East and Asia whether we fired ours or they fired theirs. Pakistan in the hands of Al Queda would probably try and hold the rest of the world hostage. The only real hope would be that China or some other nation could mobilize quickly enough to move in and stop them before they took control.

[maggrwaggr]

4. After 9/11 I thoroughly expected us to invade Pakistan

and to be honest, when we didn't, I let out a big "huh?"

If Al Queda actually committed 9/11 and if we are serious about a "war on terror" it simply follows logically that we not only destroy the Taliban and invade Afghanistan but we follow the bastards right over the border in to Pakistan.

If this administration were serious about catching Al Queda and Osama Bin Laden, they would have had a million troops on the ground looking under every rock in Karachi.

But no. That's not what happened. We did a lame-ass job in Afghanistan, then they started talking about Iraq.

WHAT? Iraq?

That is what ultimately led me to DU! Because I started to smell a rat. That's when I really started to look into what was what ...

And now I know a hell of a lot more, and it's not pretty. The more you look, the worse it gets. Worse than you ever thought possible.

[_Jumper_]

6. Pakistan has nuclear weapons

That is why there is no chance of it being attacked, even by India.

[maggrwaggr]

8. So? Can they hit the U.S.?

Like I said, if we were serious about the "war on terror" and stopping Al Queda and catching Osama Bin Forgotten ...

We would have put our MUCH BIGGER nuclear gun to Pakistan's head and said "say Uncle" and gone into their country looking under every rock.

But the US wasn't serious.

Nukes or not, Pakistan is no match for the U.S. (well, until now anyway, now that our military is totally tied down in Iraq)

[TacticalPeek]

10. cf Tora Bora, and Operation Anaconda.

?

:shrug:

[maggrwaggr]

11. didn't work. Everybody just ran off into Pakistan

which is where they are now.

The Pakistani police "helping" the U.S.?

Yeah, right. They hate our guts.

So we go invade Iraq instead of finishing the job?

We don't start inspecting air cargo? We don't inspect shipping cargo?

It doesn't add up ONE BIT.

[TacticalPeek]

5. "I would have started with India and Pakistan"

snip

At Wednesday's luncheon, Clinton said his inability to convince Bush of the danger from al Qaeda was "one of the two or three of the biggest disappointments that I had."

Clinton said that after bin Laden, the next security priority would have been the absence of a Middle East peace agreement, followed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

"I would have started with India and Pakistan, then North Korea, and then Iraq after that," he said. "I thought Iraq was a lower order problem than al Qaeda."

snip

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/031016/3/1625q.html


If we only had a real president . . .