Al Qaeda’s World Base in Pakistan, says Petraeus

Pakistan has become the nerve centre of Al Qaeda’s global operations, Gen David Petraeus has said.

The head of the US Army’s Central Command, who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, has told an interviewer that Al Qaeda leaders have re-established its organisational structure and stronger ties to Al Qaeda offshoots in Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, North Africa and parts of Europe. "It is the headquarters of the Al Qaeda senior leadership," said the general.

Read more...

What a load of bollocks, just ramping up the hype for a NATO/US invasion and start of a major war on Pakistan

Bush Had No Plan to Catch Bin Laden after 9/11

New evidence from former U.S. officials reveals that the George W. Bush administration failed to adopt any plan to block the retreat of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders from Afghanistan to Pakistan in the first weeks after 9/11. That failure was directly related to the fact that top administration officials gave priority to planning for war with Iraq over military action against al Qaeda in Afghanistan.As a result, the United States had far too few troops and strategic airlift capacity in the theatre to cover the large number of possible exit routes through the border area when bin Laden escaped in late 2001.Because it had not been directed to plan for that contingency, the U.S. military had to turn down an offer by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in late November 2001 to send 60,000 troops to the border passes to intercept them, according to accounts provided by former U.S. officials involved in the issue.

Read more...

US Steps Up Pakistan Raids To Thwart al-Qaeda 'October Surprise' Plot

The Pentagon has ordered that raids on suspected terrorist targets within Pakistan be stepped up to pressurise al-Qaeda leaders and distract them from preparing attacks on American targets elsewhere.
"The aim is to disrupt their scope for planning and keep their leaders on the move so that it is more difficult for them to co-ordinate complicated plots," a senior US intelligence official told The Sunday Telegraph.
The operations launched from neighbouring Afghanistan have led to sharply increased tensions with Pakistan's armed forces since President George W.Bush recently authorised assaults involving "boots on the ground" without prior approval by Pakistan's government, a supposed US ally.
Those hostilities almost turned lethal last week when Pakistani troops shot at two clearly marked US helicopters, and the two sides then traded fire. The Pentagon said the aircraft were just inside Afghan air space but Pakistani officials insisted they had crossed the volatile border.

Read more...

Just another excuse to bring Democracy to Pakistan!!!

View from Dubai: Prisoner No. 650

Just when you think Uncle Sam's war has no more surprises to spring on an unsuspecting world, he comes up with yet another gem. Take the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist who grew up in the U.S. and went to top universities including the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The woman who had been a star student and a topper throughout a remarkable career had to leave the United States when the authorities began harassing her and her husband for their charity activities in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001 upheavals.
The family settled down in Karachi and was never involved in any illegal activities. One day in March 2003, this talented young woman went missing with her three children when she was on her way to Karachi airport.
Dr. Siddiqui resurfaced this week after five years in a New York court as a "top al-Qaida terrorist." She was barely able to walk and speak, which was not surprising given the fact she had been recently involved in a "gun fight with FBI agents" in Afghanistan. The U.S. authorities claim Dr. Siddiqui was captured near the governor's offices in Ghazni, Afghanistan last month with a bag full of "suspicious liquids in tubes."

Read more...