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Did Hasan Wire Money To Pakistan?
New questions are being raised about where all of Fort Hood terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan’s money has been going.
He earned more than $90,000 per year, but lived alone in a broken down apartment he rented for $300 a month. Investigators are combing through his financial records as we speak.
Better late than never — I guess.
Video: Pakistani DJ Uses Radio To Fight The Taliban
(hat tip Breitbart TV)
Video: Religion of Peace Buries Five Women Alive In Pakistan
It looks like that “religion of peace” known as Islam has struck again in Pakistan. This time five women were buried alive in a group ‘honor killing’ because they wanted to marry for love instead of having arranged marriages.
Musharraf Resigns
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf officially resigned from office today on Pakistani television.
Under pressure over impending impeachment charges, President Pervez Musharraf announced that he would resign Monday, ending nearly nine years as one of the United States’ most important allies in the campaign against terrorism.
Speaking on television from his presidential office here at 1 p.m., Mr. Musharraf, dressed in a gray suit and tie, said that after consulting with his aides, “I have decided to resign today.” He said he was putting national interest above “personal bravado.”
“Whether I win or lose the impeachment, the nation will lose,” he said, adding that he was not prepared to put the office of the presidency through the impeachment process.
Mr. Musharraf said the governing coalition, which has pushed for impeachment, had tried to “turn lies into truths.”
“They don’t realize they can succeed against me but the country will undergo irreparable damage,” he said.
In an emotional ending to a speech lasting more than an hour, Mr. Musharraf raised his clenched fists to chest height, and said, “Long live Pakistan!”
Now that Musharraf is gone, let’s just see how much better this new bunch of thugs governs Pakistan. Let’s see if this new bunch will have the courage and the political will to tame the tribal regions and clear out the terrorists.
Musharraf Expected To Resign
Pakastani President Pervez Musharraf is set to resign sometime in the next few days, this according to the NY Times. Musharraf has been under increasing pressure in recent weeks as the newly elected governing coalition in Pakistan has been moving towards a vote on his impeachment.
Mr. Musharraf was expected to resign before the governing coalition presented charges for impeachment to the Parliament early next week, said Nisar Ali Khan, a senior official in the Pakistani Muslim League-N, the minority partner in the coalition government.
Similarly, Sheikh Mansoor Ahmed, a senior official of the Pakistan Peoples Party, the major party in the coalition, said Thursday that the president would probably leave in the “next 72 hours.”
Inexorable pressure has built on Mr. Musharraf, a member of the military by profession and often impetuous by nature, to take a way out from the current crisis that would save him from embarrassing disclosures during impeachment procedures and that would protect the nation from a prolonged political agony.
The U.S. was right to back Musharraf in the beginning. He was a big help after 9/11 and the intelligence he provided was critical. Unfortunately, over the last few years he has allowed terrorists to create a new infrastructure in the tribal regions. Rather than take on the militants with the help of the U.S. he continues to try and negotiate with them while people continue to die.
There’s a new party in charge now in Pakistan that was elected by the people. Musharraf has become an obstacle in Pakistan now, and it is time for him to step aside. Although doubtful, maybe Benazir Bhutto’s party which is now in charge will be a better partner in The War on Terror.
Bush Orders Intel Community To Get Bin Laden Before He Leaves Office
A brand new effort has been launched to try and capture or kill Osama bin Laden. President Bush has asked the British special forces to assist U.S. forces in the effort and they have agreed. Some in the intelligence community believe they know what region of Northwest Pakistan Osama bin Laden is hiding and are prepared to take him out.
Special forces have been methodically rolling-up the Al-Qaeda network member by member both in the Pakistani tribal areas and around the world. The plan is to get those closest to him and push him back towards the Afghan border where unmanned drones flying overhead can spot him and take him out.
All this sounds like a great thing, but I don’t understand why we always have to know about it. We know from his recordings that UBL reads the papers, and is aware of what’s being discussed in the media. I’m sure he’ll be quite pleased to read about the plan to catch him.
-Chris Jones
U.S. Airstrikes Kill 11 Pakistani Soldiers
From the AP:
U.S.-led forces killed Pakistani troops in an airstrike along the volatile Afghan border that Pakistan’s army condemned on Wednesday as “completely unprovoked and cowardly.”
U.S. officials confirmed that three aircraft launched about a dozen bombs following a clash between Taliban militants and Afghan and U.S.- led coalition forces late Tuesday. Pakistan says the strikes killed 11 of its paramilitary troops.
The Pakistani army said the airstrike hit a post of the paramilitary Frontier Corps in the Mohmand tribal region and was a “completely unprovoked and cowardly act.”
That is really unfortunate. We cannot afford to make mistakes like this. We need Pakistan’s cooperation and foolish incidents like this jeopardize our already strained relationship. A situation like this could cause riots to break out potentially put the entire Pakistani government at risk.
U.S. Missile Fired In NW Pakistan
An American unmanned Predator Drone is thought to have fired a missile at something or someone on the Afghan/Pakistan border today.
The missile was believed to have been fired into the Mohmand ethnic Pashtun tribal area in northwest Pakistan. This makes sense, because this same area has been hit by Predator drones on at least four separate occasions, resulting in the deaths of dozens of militants.
Unnamed Pakistani govt. officials confirms there was an attack, but won’t give any specifics as to what or who the targets may have been.
“There was an attack by a spy plane close to the Afghan border but we don’t have information about casualties or damage,” said the government official based in the region. He declined to be identified.
Neither U.S. nor Pakistani authorities usually confirm U.S. missile attacks on Pakistani territory, which would be an infringement of Pakistani sovereignty.
U.S. Forces Planning Major Operation To Kill Bin Laden
U.S. intelligence agencies believes that terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden is hiding in the K2 mountains of northern Pakistan, and they intend to drive him out in a major military offensive.
General David Petraeus headed up a major meeting in the Qatari capital of Doja aimed at putting together a military operation to go after bin Laden.
Of course, all this is coming from an arab news network which automatically calls into question the entire story. If it is true, chances are bin Laden has learned of the coming operation and has already moved.
Pakistan Releases Taliban Leader
From the AP:
Pakistan freed a pro-Taliban cleric and quickly signed an accord with his hard-line group Monday, the first major step by the new government to talk peace with Islamic militants and break with President Pervez Musharraf’s policy of using force.
The day’s developments began with the release of Sufi Muhammad, who is believed in his 70s, after more than five years in custody following his dispatch of thousands of followers to fight in Afghanistan.
A few hours later, the government of North West Frontier Province said Muhammad’s group signed a pact renouncing violence in return for being allowed to peacefully campaign for Islamic law. Security forces have the right to “act against” any extremists who attack the government.
Yeah, right.
Musharraf Promises To Back New Pakistan Coalition
From VOA News:
Pakistan, in the midst of an attempt to form a new government, will see the parliament convened within two weeks. President Pervez Musharraf says he will call the national and provincial assemblies together and he is pledging to support the new government that will be formed by lawmakers.
Top Al-Qaeda Commander Killed
One of Al-Qaeda’s top commanders in Afghanistan and a key liaison with the Taliban, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed according to a Web site used by militant groups.
Pakistani intelligence officials and local residents said that a missile hit a compound in a village about 2.5 miles outside Mir Ali in North Waziristan late Monday or early Tuesday, destroying the facility.
Residents said they were not allowed to approach the site of the blast and the Pakistan government and military said they did not know who fired the missile. Local officials said that foreigners were targeted in the attack.
A knowledgeable Western official said that “it appears at this point that Al-Libi has met his demise,” but declined to talk about the circumstances. “It was a major success in taking one of the top terrorists in the world off the street,” the official said. He added that the death occurred “within the last few days.”
This was apparently not your average terror leader, but rather a central figure in the Al-Qaeda organization. Abu Laith al-Libi was an Al-Qaeda training camp leader featured in numerous Internet videos.
He is also believed to be behind a Feb. 2007 bombing at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan during a visit by V.P. Dick Cheney that killed 23 people.
Al-Libi was among the 12 most wanted terrorists with a $200,000 dollar reward on his head.
All this business about the Pakistani ISI not knowing who fired the missile is comical, but the current political climate in Pakistan certainly justifies such statements.
The real story is one that has played out several times on Pakistani soil. U.S. forces are not allowed to openly operate in Pakistan, but an agreement was reached several years ago with Musharraf to allow Predator drones to track terrorists 24 hours a day in bad weather and good.
These are not your average Predator surveillance drones however, these are a special armed version called “Reapers” that are equipped with either Hellfire missiles or 500 lb. JDAM bombs.
The Reapers criss-cross the tribal regions in Pakistan searching for wanted terrorists and when one is spotted, what follows can best be described as “swift American justice.”
There is a high degree of probability that when Osama bin Laden is eventually “brought to justice” it will be in much the same fashion.
-Chris Jones
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