Were they with us before they were against us?
Pakistan soldiers 'confront US'
BBC
Pakistani troops have fired shots into the air to stop US troops crossing into the South Waziristan region of Pakistan, local officials say.
Reports say nine US helicopters landed on the Afghan side of the border and US troops then tried to cross the border.
South Waziristan is one of the main areas from which Islamist militants launch attacks into Afghanistan.
The incident comes amid growing anger in Pakistan over US attacks along the border region.
The confrontation began at around midnight, local people say.
They say seven US helicopter gunships and two troop-carrying Chinook helicopters landed in the Afghan province of Paktika near the Zohba mountain range.
US troops from the Chinooks then tried to cross the border. As they did so, Pakistani paramilitary soldiers at a checkpoint opened fire into the air and the US troops decided not to continue forward, local Pakistani officials say.
Reports say the firing lasted for several hours. Local people evacuated their homes and tribesmen took up defensive positions in the mountains.
The incident happened close to the town of Angoor Adda, some 30km (20 miles) from Wana, the main town of South Waziristan.
A Pakistani military spokesman in Islamabad confirmed that there was firing but denied that Pakistani troops were involved.
Diplomatic fury
It emerged last week that US President George W Bush has in recent months authorised military raids against militants inside Pakistan without prior approval from Islamabad.
There have been a number of missile attacks aimed at militants in Pakistan territory in recent weeks.
Pakistan reacted with diplomatic fury when US helicopters landed troops in South Waziristan on 3 September. It was the first ground assault by US troops in Pakistan.
Locals in the Musa Nikeh area said American soldiers attacked a target with gunfire and bombs, and said women and children were among some 20 civilians who died in the attack.
Prolly jist some o' that sellabratory "Weddin" gunfire.
ReplyDeletegee golly gosh, all this yammering about 'if only we'd a nuke the buggers on Sept 12' and 'it's the dems in the senate at fault for the 'macs' and 'washington is broke' and 'bomb bomb bomb iran' and 'lets cut some more taxes' and...
ReplyDelete...aren't we just the best damndest cuntry in da hole worl wit the finest bestest political system everywher!!
Well a happy September Monday morning to you all.1
Good morning Ash.
ReplyDeleteNot going after Saudia and Pakistan was a big mistake. Covering for them politically diplomatically and propaganda wise was an even bigger mistake.
ReplyDeleteMake the Jihadi oil weapon technologically obsolete. And put in place a full scale political economic military humanitarian siege on these Jihadi thiefdoms.
ReplyDelete"Pakistan reacted with diplomatic fury..."
ReplyDeleteWell, apparently not.
Diplomatic fury (like diplomatic flurry) is when Evo Morales and his buddy send your ambassadors packing ("And don't come back for eight weeks, shitty yankee!") and the DCM gets a temporary promotion.
Pakistan needs work on its diplomatic fury.
It seems the US expects the Pakistani to react to US incursions into their country the same way the US deals with Mexican incursions into the US.
ReplyDeleteLook the other way.
Better send the Paki another ten or twenty billion dollars. There's a whole new set of "leaders" to pay off, now.
If the Paki military is protecting the area...there must be a high value target in the vicinity. I suggest that we increase drone overflight that loc.
ReplyDeleteDoubt that, joe, that there is a high value target near.
ReplyDeleteThat the border guards know of, anyway.
No, they are just doin' their job, protecting Pakistan from foreign aggression and incurrsion.
Which the US does not do, even when National Guardsmen are confronted along the US/Mexico border.
The Pakistani are putting Country First.
Ash sounds to be on the bottle again.
ReplyDelete"If the Pak military is protecting the area..."
ReplyDeleteThose weren't soldiers.
It didn't even happen
ReplyDeleteKARACHI, Pakistan, Sept. 15 -- Pakistani troops turned back a U.S. attack in Pakistan's tribal areas on Monday by firing warning shots toward U.S. troops as they attempted to cross from Afghanistan in pursuit of Taliban insurgents, a Pakistani intelligence official said. U.S. and Pakistani military spokesmen denied the report.
...
But Maj. Murad Khan, a spokesman for the Pakistani military, denied reports of gunfire. "There was no firing in the area, and there was no violation of Pakistani airspace," Khan said. "We have heard there were U.S. helicopters hovering at our border area, but they were deep inside Afghanistan."
Sgt. Chris Peavy, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, said: "We fly everyday missions in that area, all the time. It's close to the border, but we did not enter that area today. There's been no firing on our forces."
By Candace Rondeaux
Washington Post Foreign Service
Obama Biden '08
ReplyDelete---
Does this link work for you?
(not Trish, of course, who feels no compunction to offer the most trivial of pleasantries)
"Which the US does not do, even when National Guardsmen are confronted along the US/Mexico border. "
ReplyDelete---
We send the Guard home, Ramos and Co. to Prison.
The kid's girlfriend says the Mexicans get a bad rap here, when the Guatemalans are often the culprits.
ReplyDelete(a Guatemalan woman found the gravey train of County Employment, and gives our tax dollars to her countrymen)
ReplyDeleteLegal, or not.
My Bitch Wife is offended by the teleprompter on the Breakfast table.
ReplyDeleteJeesh
(I've got a tele-device in bed, too, but so far she has yet to complain.)
ReplyDelete