Is Pakistan the next location for another damn US war?

[RiverStone]

I really have hope that the election of President Obama means a safer and saner planet.

Yet reading stories like this escalates my concern:

Dozens of followers of Pakistan's top Taliban commander were in a compound when a suspected U.S. missile attack hit Saturday, killing 27 militants in an al-Qaida stronghold near the Afghan border, officials said.

The strike appeared to be the deadliest yet by the American drone aircraft that prowl the frontier, and defied Pakistani warnings that the tactic is fueling extremism in the nuclear-armed Islamic nation.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008731601_apaspakistan.html

From what I hear, there are not hundreds of al-Qaida militants in Pakistan, but thousands. Fueled in part by our prior president's illegal war of aggression in Iraq. Shrub planted the seeds of hate for many, many more militants - but you that already.

It seems that Pakistan could easily grow from a place of covert ops, to another all out war front. I assume President Obama is fully aware of the killing we are already doing in Pakistan; what do you see (or hope) he does next?

I fear we are standing on a slippery slope that could lead to another war.

[Parche]

1. Al-Kida Is CIA

:hi:

[pleah]

2. We have already bomb sites in Pakistan and have

covert operations going on. Don't we?

[Lasher]

3. Yes.

It's actually going on now. Cheney let al Qaida get away because he just had to have his great adventure in Iraq. They've been rebuilding in Pakistan ever since while we wasted time and resources chasing neocon fairy tales. The economic meltdown is not the only mess we have to try to clean up from the Worst President Ever. Not by a long shot. Praise God Almighty Americans finally woke up and voted the knuckleheads out of the Executive and Legislative.

[RiverStone]

8. We are already bombing targets, what's next?

The last thing I want to see are U.S. troops openly crossing the boarder. Sadly, India will also call upon the U.S. to strike if they continue to have terrorist attacks at home which they blame on groups organizing from Pakistan soil.

I spent lots of time in protest marches raging against the Iraq war of Shrub's doing. I really, really hope we don't find ourselves facing the prospect of looking at our new (and vastly improved President) as potentially escalating US involvement in another war.

What do you think the American response should be to the Pakistan situation?

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. Pakistan is, and has been for a long, long time,

the most dangerous country in the Middle East. The United States has been one of its biggest enablers (big surprise).

Their ISI is the filthiest covert organization in the world, making even the KGB and the Stassi look angelic by comparison. They were instrumental in Al Qaeda getting their act together for 9/11.

Of all the countries in the world, Pakistan is the one that scares me, and the latest escalations are not good news.

[closeupready]

5. Israel would have to be considered the most dangerous country on Earth.

in view of the fact that it has been involved in more extraterritorial military adventurism than Pakistan or most other countries on Earth. Further, Israel's 400+ nukes (last I read) should frighten everyone, and given how very often they threaten to use that arsenal, well, there you have it. Obviously, Israel is Western, but if we are going to look at facts, those are the facts. Another thing: when did Pakistan ever detonate a nuclear weapon in a civilian area?

I think you are completely wrong, even perhaps projecting some.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

10. I don't see it as a numbers game,

as I think you do. It's about the history, the way things have unfolded, and, above all, who's zoomin' who. If you follow the history our country has with Pakistan, you'll see exactly how duplicitous and evasive the Pakistanis have been and how terribly gullible America has been.

As for detonating a nuclear weapon in a civilian area, I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm also mystified by your "projecting" comment. Is that an attempt to personalize, for some bizarre reason, a purely intellectual post on a message board? A comment that gratuitous suggests that your quiver is quite empty.

So, we disagree. I'm going to leave it at that.

[closeupready]

11. Yes, I know plenty about the history our country has with Pakistan, and I know

that the US has manipulated and meddled in Pakistani affairs for many years, right up to the present day. Pakistan is not innocent and pure by any means, but calling it the most dangerous country in the Middle East is complete garbage. Other countries in the Middle East are more dangerous, there is no question about that.

[jody]

6. IMO yes unless Obama retreats from Afghanistan. n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Yes. The generals and politicians are busily erecting it as the next bogeyman.

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken

[RiverStone]

9. But this time, we have a president WE voted for at the helm.

I'm not ready to go there yet....

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Yup. And, now, it's politically correct to be a pro-war hawk.

A "change" I'm not ready for.

[earth mom]

13. Obama was beating the war drums about Pakistan months ago. Connect the dots. nt

[FarCenter]

14. Won't happen -- Pakistan is not a minor country

It has twice the area of California, about 4.5 times the population at around 172 million. That's more than half the population of the US.

Only India has a military in the area that would be capable of taking on Pakistan, as they have three times since the 1940's.

But I doubt the Indians would be interested in another war, since it would likely be a nuclear war with a couple hundred million casualties at least.