US accuses Pakistan intelligence branch of aiding Al Qaeda - Holbrooke refuses to rule out strikes

[bigtree]

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States has vowed to put the heat on Pakistan's spies in its new regional strategy, with top officials openly accusing elements in powerful intelligence agency of abetting Al-Qaeda.

Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to the region, said he would visit Pakistan again next week to follow up on the plan. Of all issues, investigating the nuclear-armed nation's spy network "is the most important," he said.

"The issue's very disturbing," Holbrooke said on public television when asked if Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was assisting Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists.

"We cannot succeed if the two intelligence agencies are at each others' throat or don't trust each other and if the kind of collusion you referred to is factual," Holbrooke said.

General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, did not dispute that ISI elements have tipped off extremists to let them escape US-led forces.

"There are some cases that are indisputable in which that appears to have taken place," Petraeus said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jBs_MR2HFabpaowjNKkGDWHomWvw


U.S. cagey on possible Pakistan strikes

March 28 (UPI) -- Obama administration officials are being cagey about whether U.S. forces should directly engage terrorists operating in northwestern Pakistan, analysts said.

Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, declined Friday to say whether the United States would fight inside Pakistan to target Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders known to be based there, the Washington publication The Hill reported.

It would be "deeply injurious to our national interest to speculate" on that, Holbrooke said.

His comments came an hour after U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters that the United States was reserving the option of attacking terrorists within Pakistan, saying, "We will insist that action be taken -- one way or another -- when we have intelligence about high-level terrorist targets."

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/03/28/US_cagey_on_possible_Pakistan_strikes/UPI-98411238248726/

[EFerrari]

1. I don't trust Holbrooke or Petraeus aka, "I have a bad feeling about this".

Holbrooke is too close to the neocons and Petreaus lied his ass off for Bush before Congress. Can anyone explain to me how they can be trusted to deal with Pakistan? I sincerely don't get it.

/oops

[bigtree]

2. this looks like escalation to me

Maybe the rhetoric will be dialed back when the discussion reaches the Oval Office.

[EFerrari]

3. And I wasn't thinking about escalation but of the actors themselves.

It looks like escalation to me, too.