ABC News: Al Qaeda Finds Fertile Ground in Pakistan

[gratuitous]

Isn't this nice? Four years of our noble cause, thousands and thousands of lives spent, hundreds of billions of dollars gone who knows where, and Pakistan turns out to be the latest haven for Al Qaeda. And it's 1, 2, 3, What are we fightin' for?

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4067247&page=1

Creating a Haven for Al Qaeda
Pakistan's Paradoxical Relationship With Trans-National Terrorism

By SAJJAN GOHEL, Asia Pacific Foundation
LONDON, Dec. 30, 2007

The assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto added yet another tragic chapter to the country's turbulent and violent political landscape. Mystery also continues to cloud how exactly Bhutto died.

The fact that the regime of Pervez Musharraf then tried to blame her death on what they described as al Qaeda was met with much scepticism both in Pakistan and throughout the world.

However, whether her tragic demise came at the hands of a terrorist group or -- as her supporters claim -- members of the Pakistan military establishment, there is a fine line that now separates terrorism and elements of the military where there is a degree of ideological sympathy with al Qaeda and affiliated groups.

There has long been a symmetrical relationship between Pakistan's military and the religious extremists.

Well, I'm sure the New York Times newest, bestest columnist, William Kristol, will be able to tell us all, particularly the surviving families of the war dead, just why all this was not only desireable, but necessary. Bill?

[Igel]

1. And tomorrow's headline ...

"Day Trip to Bull Run Leads to Panic"

With short story about how the Union cakewalk turned into no picnic for the spectators, and concluding, "Nonetheless, military experts say a Union victory over Southern forces is guaranteed by fall."

[magellan]

2. ABC is presenting this as news?

Pakistan's involvement with AQ has been FACT since before Bush** invaded Afghanistan!

:banghead: