Main suspects in Bhutto's assassination are the terrorists Obama said we should go after

[jefferson_dem]

Who killed Benazir Bhutto? The main suspects
Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent

The main suspects in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination are the Pakistani and foreign Islamist militants who saw her as a heretic and an American stooge and had repeatedly threatened to kill her.

But fingers will also be pointed at Inter-Services Intelligence, the agency that has had close ties to the Islamists since the 1970s and has been used by successive Pakistani leaders to suppress political opposition.

Ms Bhutto narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in October, when a suicide bomber killed about 140 people at a rally in the port city of Karachi to welcome her back from eight years in exile.

Earlier that month, two militant warlords based in Pakistan's lawless northwestern areas, near the border with Afghanistan, had threatened to kill her on her return.

One was Baitullah Mehsud, a top commander fighting the Pakistani army in the tribal region of South Waziristan. He has close ties to al Qaeda and the Afghan Taleban.

The other was Haji Omar, the “amir” or leader of the Pakistani Taleban, who is also from South Waziristan and fought against the Soviets with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan.

<SNIP>

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3100052.ece

***

OBAMA STATEMENT IN AUGUST --

As President, I would make the hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military aid to Pakistan conditional, and I would make our conditions clear: Pakistan must make substantial progress in closing down the training camps, evicting foreign fighters, and preventing the Taliban from using Pakistan as a staging area for attacks in Afghanistan.

I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges. But let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will.

And Pakistan needs more than F-16s to combat extremism. As the Pakistani government increases investment in secular education to counter radical madrasas, my Administration will increase America's commitment. We must help Pakistan invest in the provinces along the Afghan border, so that the extremists' program of hate is met with one of hope. And we must not turn a blind eye to elections that are neither free nor fair -- our goal is not simply an ally in Pakistan, it is a democratic ally.

Beyond Pakistan, there is a core of terrorists -- probably in the tens of thousands -- who have made their choice to attack America. So the second step in my strategy will be to build our capacity and our partnerships to track down, capture or kill terrorists around the world, and to deny them the world's most dangerous weapons."

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/08/01/remarks_of_senator_obama_the_w_1.php

[Bitwit1234]

1. Hally lou jah the saint will transform the world into Heaven

there is nothing, that the American Idol candidate's supporters will say that he is not doing or wants to do...there will be peace in the valley, in the mountains and on the sea. The people will be rich and have milk and honey. Damn aren't they ridculous...no matter what happens in the world. Obama would take care of that, Obama wanted to do that. Obama would be good at that. Hell he can't even show up to vote, what makes the Idoler's supporters think he can do anything.

[Cha]

12. There's no babble that you won't

come up with.

[Joe the Revelator]

15. I don't get your post at all...

Apparently Obama was right in this instance. How does that translate to Obama supporters seeing him through rose colored glasses?

[dionysus]

34. you really need thorazine.

[Missy M]

2. Give it a rest....

the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is not about Obama.

[jefferson_dem]

4. Of course, it isn't.

I hope you are just as strident in calling out others who put this tragedy in the context of American politics and the elections. There are several other threads already launched on this subject. See you there.

[Cha]

13. Don't worry about the critics..

just keep posting! Thank you, Jefferson.

[jefferson_dem]

18. My pleasure, zidzi!

:toast:

[Cha]

10. You give it a rest..

World shit is about getting the best US president we can and everything is important.

[H2O Man]

3. Thank you.

Nominated.

We would be in a much better position today with any of the democratic candidates being in the White House. But this reminds us that Senator Obama told us the truth about something important, even though some people refuse to listen.

[ClarkUSA]

5. Obama said the U.S. must be willing to strike al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan if Musharraf refused.

Reuters News Story: "Tough Talk on Pakistan from Obama" Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN0132206420070801

If you haven't already read it, I highly recommend this memo from Power, a Harvard Professor and top foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama.
It is one of the best and potentially most important political documents I have read in some time: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/08/memo_power_on_cw_v_cwn.php

America is plagued by a self-anointed, highly influential, and insular so-called Foreign Policy Community which spans both political parties.
They consider themselves Extremely Serious and have a whole litany of decades-old orthodoxies which one must embrace lest one be declared
irresponsible, naive and unserious. Most of these orthodoxies are ossified 50-year-old relics from the Cold War, and the rest are designed to
place off limits from debate the question of whether the U.S. should continue to act as an imperial force, ruling the world with its superior
military power.

Most of the recent "controversies" involving Barack Obama's foreign policy statements -- including his oh-so-shocking statement that it would
not make moral or political sense to use tactical nuclear weapons to bomb isolated terrorist camps as well as his willingness to attack Al Qaeda
elements inside Pakistan if the Musharraf government refuses (as they did for some time) -- were not "controversial" among the Establishment
on the merits. They were "controversial" (and "naive" and "irresponsible") because they breached the protocols and orthodoxies imposed by the
Foreign Policy Community governing how we are allowed to talk about these issues.

This was vividly illustrated by the sharpest exchange from last night's debate, where both Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd excoriated Obama for
his comments on Pakistan, not on the ground that Obama's statements were wrong on the merits (i.e, not that we should avoid military action
inside Pakistan under those circumstances), but instead on the ground that he committed the sin of actually discussing with the American people
what our foreign policy would be.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/08/08/powers/index.html

[jefferson_dem]

6. Here's a video of Obama vs. Hillary on Pakistan

From the AFL-CIO forum ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc4qnpu3N0M

Now...isn't it clear which candidate has the judgment we need?

[Cha]

16. I can't watch that

lying senator from New York, anymore. What's she sayin?

[ClarkUSA]

37. Thanks for the reminder of who the true leader is and who is the neocon follower.

I can't believe there's anyone - except neocons - who thinks Hillary is qualified to lead this country on foreign policy after all of her fuck-ups.

[MethuenProgressive]

7. ObamaNation ran away from Obama's "Attack the Pakis", but now "Loved It Always"!?

ObamaNation flipflopped faster than Obama ducking an important vote.

[chascarrillo]

11. Grow up.

kthxbai

[jenmito]

22. He said he would strike within Pakistan as a last resort to get bin Laden/al Qaeda IF

Pakistan wouldn't cooperate. I never ran away from that and I'm glad he's on record saying it (and being called "naive.") Once again, his judgement was right.

[sandnsea]

8. The real lesson of Vietnam

that John Kerry spoke of and nobody seemed to get...

if you're going to do the mission, it's either worth doing it to the last man - or not worth doing at all.

Dinking around and letting that situation fester is just one more faiure of the Bushies and Obama was absolutely right in saying it needed to be handled agressively to get it behind us and give Pakistan a chance at democracy.

[KennedyGuy]

9. Yeah..I guess we can "HOPE" they go away..

no strategy mind you...but lots and lotsa hope..

[TeamJordan23]

14. What is Hillary's strategy? Go attack Iraq ?

[Cha]

17. We did that. Now it's go

attack Iran.

[Kucinich4America]

19. Hillary doesn't know her strategy yet.

The DLC is still in a meeting with PNAC.

[jefferson_dem]

20. How clueless are you? Seriously.

---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc4qnpu3N0M

[Tellurian]

21. How do you know it wasn't Musharraf himself that ordered Bhutto's assassination?

[jefferson_dem]

23. We don't know. That's why I quoted the article, which labels them "main *suspects*"

:hi:

[Tellurian]

25. I don't understand how Obama's notion of sending troops into Pakistan would have changed

this unfortunate outcome.

[jenmito]

27. Link where he said he'd send troops rather than strike within the country?

[Tellurian]

35. Obama would consider sending troops into Pakistan

and get us into another War!..

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-08-01-obama_N.htm

[jenmito]

24. It very well could've been, which makes him a terrorist himself. And like I told you yesterday

and you ignored, Obama said he'd strike within Pakistan to get bin Laden/al Qaeda as a last resort if Pakistan wouldn't cooperate!

[Tellurian]

26. I see you as too biased a partisan for giving any credence to your opinion..

any why, I usually just ignore your repetitious clap-trap!

[jenmito]

28. Typical excuse to ignore FACTS shown to you.

Hillary is 60 and never will be 44. ;)

[Forkboy]

31. And you're such an unbiased and truthful source.

I see you as too biased a partisan for giving any credence to your opinion..

The irony is rich beyond measure.

[Usrename]

29. All I know is that our own domestic press seems to be complicit.

They keep showing the aftermath on an endless loop to imprint on the public's mind that there is only chaos over there.

That's total bullshit and a lie. Prime Minister Bhutto just gave a speech there. It had to be taped. The assassination had to be taped also.

Where are the tapes?

[TeamJordan23]

30. Looks like the decision to invade Iraq looks eve worse now.

US Foreign Policy should have been concentrated on Afghanistan/Pakistan.

[jenmito]

32. Exactly. I said the same thing in one of my posts a few minutes ago...

Of course Hillary will use this fear card to her advantage, though. I only hope Obama points out what you just said.

[jefferson_dem]

33. Hillary will do whatever it takes to promote her candidacy.

No question about that. Thankfully, people are becoming wise to her shenanigans.

[LSK]

36. meanwhile Hillary was worried about Iran

:eyes:

[jefferson_dem]

38. Pakistan claims terrorists are to blame - the ones Obama warned about

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071228/ap_on_re_as/pakistan