Obama to Target Pakistan updated
If the speech is what ABC news is reporting, Obama just set a new line in the
sand that challenges his opponents in a whole new way.
In a strikingly bold speech about terrorism scheduled for this morning, Democratic
presidential candidate Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will call not only for a
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, but a redeployment of troops into Afghanistan
and even Pakistan — with or without the permission of Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf.“I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges,”
Obama will say, according to speech excerpts provided to ABC News by his campaign,
“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.”Obama’s mention of an “al Qaeda leadership meeting” refers to
a classified military operation planned in early 2005 to kill al Qaeda leaders
including Osama bin Laden’s top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri in Pakistan’s tribal
regions. First reported in The New York Times earlier this month, the mission
was “aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials
decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according
to intelligence and military officials.” …
I covered the al-Zawahiri botch job by Bush, which mirrors, if only slightly, what happened in the mountains of Tora Bora so many years ago.
This aggressive speech on terrorism and turning our attention to the badlands
of Afghanistan and Pakistan could be very important for Obama. It’s a great
pivot as far as I’m concerned. It will be interesting to see who responds to
it.
UPDATE: Here’s Obama’s full speech for those who didn’t see it yet.
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