Pakistanis Covering Up Zawahiri's Death?
That's at least one possible explanation for their "senior intelligence official's" denial that the new al Qaeda kingpin was anywhere near Damadola village yesterday, where a U.S. Predator drone is thought to have sent him to his fiery reward:
Actually, there's not a whole lot the Pakistanis can do to prevent it. Our GWOT policy is that we're going to seek out, hunt down, and capture or eradicate the Islazis wherever they are, period. Certainly we will strive to limit collateral damage as much as possible - more difficult to do with unmanned aircraft to be sure - but given the stakes of a war of annihilation, with such an operation conceivably standing in the way of the dusting of a shopping mall, major bridge, sports stadium, or even an entire city, frankly, thems the breaks.
As with last night, what interests me is what lies between the lines of the Pakistanis' public statements. Either the attack got Zawahiri and the Pakistanis are disseminating disinformation to conceal the fact, or we didn't get him and some of their intel officials - who, after all, did establish the Taliban in next-door Afghanistan - leaked news of the attack, its tactical failure, and the civilian casualties to embarrass us. And there is a third possibility - that, whether or not we bagged bin Laden's former lieutenant, the Musharraf government, always treading a fine and narrow line with the more radicalized portion of its populace, is attempting to save face.
The forensic analysis is supposed to be completed tomorrow. Hopefully it will confirm that another jihadi bigwig has bitten the dust. But either way, the war will continue.
A U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeted al Qaeda's number two, U.S. sources said, but Ayman al-Zawahri was away at the time, according to a senior Pakistani official on Saturday.
The strike on Friday killed at least 18 people, including women and children, and three houses were destroyed in a village near the Afghan border, residents said.
Pakistan condemned the airstrike and regretted the loss of civilian lives, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said, adding "we will not allow such an incident to reoccur."
Actually, there's not a whole lot the Pakistanis can do to prevent it. Our GWOT policy is that we're going to seek out, hunt down, and capture or eradicate the Islazis wherever they are, period. Certainly we will strive to limit collateral damage as much as possible - more difficult to do with unmanned aircraft to be sure - but given the stakes of a war of annihilation, with such an operation conceivably standing in the way of the dusting of a shopping mall, major bridge, sports stadium, or even an entire city, frankly, thems the breaks.
As with last night, what interests me is what lies between the lines of the Pakistanis' public statements. Either the attack got Zawahiri and the Pakistanis are disseminating disinformation to conceal the fact, or we didn't get him and some of their intel officials - who, after all, did establish the Taliban in next-door Afghanistan - leaked news of the attack, its tactical failure, and the civilian casualties to embarrass us. And there is a third possibility - that, whether or not we bagged bin Laden's former lieutenant, the Musharraf government, always treading a fine and narrow line with the more radicalized portion of its populace, is attempting to save face.
The forensic analysis is supposed to be completed tomorrow. Hopefully it will confirm that another jihadi bigwig has bitten the dust. But either way, the war will continue.
posted by JASmius at 10:59 PM
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