Isn't this how all this "Al-CIA-Duh" trouble started in the first place?
"U.S. Considering New Covert Push Within Pakistan" by STEVEN LEE MYERS, DAVID E. SANGER and ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON — President Bush’s senior national security advisers are debating whether to expand the authority of the Central Intelligence Agency and the military to conduct far more aggressive covert operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
The debate is in response to intelligence reports that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are intensifying efforts to destabilize the Pakistani government, according to several senior administration officials.
Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and a number of President Bush’s top national security advisers met at the White House on Friday to discuss the proposal, which is part of a broad reassessment of American strategy after the assassination 10 days ago of Pakistan’s opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto.
Gee, and CUI BONO?
Several of the participants in the meeting argued that the threat to the government of President Pervez Musharraf is now so grave that both Mr. Musharraf and Pakistan’s new military leadership are likely to give the United States more latitude, officials said. But no decisions were made, said the officials, who declined to speak on the record because of the highly delicate nature of the discussions.
The specifics of the option under discussion are unclear, and may not have been decided. But they would involve the C.I.A. working with the military’s Special Operations forces.
The Bush administration has not formally presented any new options to Mr. Musharraf, who gave up his military role last month, or to his successor as the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who the White House thinks will be more sympathetic to the American position than Mr. Musharraf. General Kayani was an aide to Ms. Bhutto early in his career, and later led the Pakistani intelligence service.
But from the White House to the Pentagon, officials see an opportunity in the changing power structure for the Americans to advocate for the expanded authority in the nuclear-armed country.
And CUI BONO, readers?!
Looks like the CIA REALLY DID KILL BHUTTO !!!!!!!!!
One senior official: “After years of focusing on Afghanistan, we think the extremists now see a chance for the big prize — creating chaos in Pakistan itself.”
The new options for expanded covert operations include loosening the reins of the C.I.A. to strike selected targets in Pakistan, in some cases using intelligence provided by Pakistani sources, officials said. Under current law, most counterterrorism operations in Pakistan have to be conducted by the C.I.A.; in Afghanistan, where military operations are under way, including with NATO forces, the military can take the lead.
The legal status would not change if the administration decided to act more aggressively. However, if the C.I.A. were given broader authority, it could call for help from the military, or deputize some Special Operations forces to act under the authority of the agency.
The United States now has about 50 troops in Pakistan. Any expanded operations using C.I.A. operatives or Special Operations forces, like Navy Seals, would be small and tailored to specific missions, military officials said. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who was on vacation last week and did not attend the White House meeting.
Pffffffft!
Some in the State Department are arguing that American-led military operations on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan could result in a tremendous backlash, and could ultimately do more harm than good. That is particularly true, they said, if Americans were captured or killed in the territory.
In part, the White House discussions may be driven by a desire for another effort to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al- Zawahri. Currently, C.I.A. operatives and Special Operations forces have limited authorities to conduct counterterrorism missions in Pakistan based on specific intelligence about the whereabouts of those two men, who have eluded the Bush administration for more than six years, or of other members of the terrorist organization hiding in or near the tribal areas.
I just laugh at this shit now!
Yup, repeat and repeat stinkshit lies, Jew press!
The C.I.A. has launched missiles from Predator aircraft in the tribal areas several times, with varying degrees of success. Intelligence officials said they believed that in January 2006, an airstrike narrowly missed killing Mr. Zawahri, who had attended a dinner in Damadola, a Pakistani village. But that, apparently, was the last real evidence American officials had about the whereabouts of their chief targets.
What, nothing about all the DEAD CIVILIANS, Times?
Just considered a "varied degree of success," huh?
No wonder AmeriKa's stinkshit Jew media makes me sick!
In the wake of the American invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, many Pakistanis suspect that the United States is trying to dominate Pakistan as well.
Now where would they ever get that idea?
The meeting on Friday, which was not publicly announced, included Stephen J. Hadley, Mr. Bush’s national security adviser; Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and top intelligence officials. The session reflected an urgent concern that a new Qaeda haven was solidifying in parts of Pakistan and needed to be countered, one official said.
I'm tired of state propaganda, readers!
Administration aides said that Pakistani and American officials shared the concern about a resurgent Al Qaeda, and that American diplomats and senior military officers had been working closely with their Pakistani counterparts to help bolster Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations.
Shortly after Ms. Bhutto’s assassination, Adm. William J. Fallon, who oversees American military operations in Southwest Asia, telephoned his Pakistani counterparts to ensure that counterterrorism and logistics operations, like trucking in fuel and supplies for American operations in Afghanistan through Pakistan, remained on track.
WAR is all AmeriKa REALLY cares about!
In early December, Adm. Eric T. Olson, the new head of the Special Operations Command, paid his second visit to Pakistan in three months to meet with senior Pakistani officers, including Lt. Gen. Muhammad Masood Aslam, commander of the military and paramilitary troops in northwest Pakistan. Admiral Olson also visited the headquarters of the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force of about 85,000 members recruited from border tribes that the United States is planning to help train and equip.
Yeah, while we freeze and starve here in America!
Some senior American officials have voiced concerns that the United States may have to take direct action against militants in the largely ungoverned tribal areas.
So we are going to be INVADING Pakistan, too, huh?
Or we just gonna flatten the Hindu-Kush with cruise missiles?
So far, American officials said the crisis surrounding Ms. Bhutto’s assassination had not diminished the Pakistani counterterrorism operations, and there were no signs that Mr. Musharraf had pulled out any of the 100,000 Pakistani forces deployed in the tribal areas to help police urban unrest."
No, but he will ARREST all the lawyers and allow Bhutto to be assassinated!
And WHERE is the INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM, readers?
This WHOLE PIECE is NOTHING but STATE-DISTRIBUTED GARBAGE, readers!!!!!!!
Yeah, I don't think I will be buying the New York Times again tomorrow.
A ONE-DAY ONLY because my friend likes the Sunday Sports!
