Pakistani PM Warns of 'Full Force' Response to Future U.S. Raids
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[QUOTE=Fox News]Pakistan's prime minister warned the United States Monday that his country could respond to any future U.S. raids on its soil with "full force," in the latest escalation of rhetoric in the wake of Usama bin Laden's death.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, like other officials in Islamabad, said the killing of bin Laden in northern Pakistan was a positive step. But, reflecting concerns that the unilateral strike violated his country's sovereignty, Gilani sent a clear message to the United States. He warned any "overt or covert" attack would be met with a "matching response" in the future.
"Pakistan reserves the right to retaliate with full force. No one should underestimate the resolve and capability of our nation and armed forces to defend our sacred homeland," Gilani said.
Pakistani officials are taking a firm stance on the raid, as the United States analyzes the trove of evidence collected from the bin Laden compound. That evidence -- described as the largest intelligence find ever from a senior terror leader -- could lead the United States to other terrorists on Pakistani soil, once again forcing President Obama to decide whether to go around the Pakistanis to capture or kill a high-value terror target.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney has said the president reserves the right to enter Pakistani territory to act against terror suspects if Pakistan will not, and reiterated that message when asked about Gilani's speech. He said Monday that while the U.S. takes Pakistanis' concerns seriously, the U.S. does "not apologize" for the raid.
Shown here are President Obama, right, and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, left.
Shown here are President Obama, right, and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, left.
"It's simply beyond doubt in his mind that he had the right and the imperative to do this," Carney said Monday.
With analysts combing through the bin Laden files for clues on the whereabouts of Al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri or Taliban chief Mullah Omar, some are calling on Obama to strike again while Al Qaeda and its allies are staggering.
"We have no right to keep our troops on the defense dying, when we know where some of the highest-ranking people in the Taliban are," Bing West, former assistant defense secretary, told Fox News on Monday.
Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said that if the U.S. gets bin Laden's deputy -- presumed to be al-Zawahiri -- in its sights, "the same calculus" that was used on bin Laden should apply.
But the thought already has Pakistani leaders fuming.
Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., told ABC's "This Week" that the Pakistani government wants to continue "joint operations," but is concerned about the nature of the raid last weekend.
"Nobody said that we didn't want Usama bin Laden taken out. What we are offended by is the violation of our sovereignty," he said. "Now, we've heard the American explanation. But at the same time, try and put yourself in the position of a Pakistani leader who has to go to votes from the same people who will turn around and say, 'You know what? You can't protect this country from American helicopters coming in.'"
U.S. officials have made clear that they did not loop in the Pakistanis on the raid out of concern that somebody would tip off bin Laden.
Asked about the Pakistanis' concerns, Carney said repeatedly Monday that the U.S. continues to view its relationship with the country as "important."
Obama, in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," confirmed that he did not inform Pakistani officials of the raid in advance, though he praised Pakistan's cooperation considering "we've been able to kill more terrorists on Pakistani soil than just about any place else."
However, Obama also questioned whether anybody inside the Pakistani government might have known about bin Laden's location all along.
"We were surprised that he could maintain a compound like that for that long without there being a tip-off," Obama said. "We think that there had to be some sort of support network for bin Laden inside of Pakistan. But we don't know who or what that support network was. We don't know whether there might have been some people inside of government, people outside of government, and that's something that we have to investigate and, more importantly, the Pakistani government has to investigate."
Read more: [url]http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/09/pakistan-backlash-mounts-does-opportunity-new-terror-targets/#ixzz1LuaDctqM[/url][/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/09/pakistan-backlash-mounts-does-opportunity-new-terror-targets/[/url]
Interesting development, in my opinion. Doubt there will be any sort of high profile raid like this any time soon that would draw the same sort of attention, but i'm intrigued that Pakistan would say this sort of thing. That type of speech sounds all too familiar lately.
At least we left em some bits of helicopter as an apology.
I wonder how much the Taliban paid him to say that.
Really now?
One of the most wanted mass murderers in the world is caught in your country and your response is a threat?
He kind of has a point. If some other country did an operation like that here without telling us, we'd be pissed.
I'm not saying anything about whether or not it was the right thing to do, just saying that you can't expect them to be totally cool with it necessarily.
Come on US empire, star a new war with Pakistan. It's going to be fun, I assure you.
It's like when you take some kids gameboy out of his hands and fix it for him and then he's not sure whether to be mad for taking his gameboy without warning or happy that you fixed it.
[QUOTE=Chilean;29730685]He kind of has a point. If some other country did an operation like that here without telling us, we'd be pissed.[/QUOTE]
That point really loses validity when its practically the most wanted person in the world.
No Pakistani politician or anything that should affect their government or their people, but a criminal.
[QUOTE=Chilean;29730685]He kind of has a point. If some other country did an operation like that here without telling us, we'd be pissed.
I'm not saying anything about whether or not it was the right thing to do, just saying that you can't expect them to be totally cool with it necessarily.[/QUOTE]
We also have a point in that if we told their government, we wouldn't have found him.
[QUOTE=Carbon Knight;29730761]That point really loses validity when its practically the most wanted person in the world.
[/QUOTE]
The U.S. =/= the world
"Stop killing the terrorists we're sheltering damnit!"
[QUOTE=Florence;29730736]Come on US empire, star a new war with Pakistan. It's going to be fun, I assure you.[/QUOTE]
You sound like a nut.
[QUOTE=Sanius;29730823]The U.S. =/= the world[/QUOTE]
Are you really suggesting that the US was the only country in the world that wanted Osama bin Laden caught?
Pakistan's military is a joke. They can't even control half their own country, in the Western regions bordering Afghanistan. And, as the DoD spokesperson said, it "isn't the first, fifth, tenth or even twentieth time" that special forces have conducted raids in Pakistan. In fact, the only reasons this one was made public was because of the helicopter crashing, and the value of the target.
Pakistan should just deal with it. Osama was Most Wanted. Pakistan was sheltering him. And we killed him. Big freaking whoop. It was just 1 MAN. Osama killed more then 1.
[QUOTE=Carbon Knight;29730655]Really now?
One of the most wanted mass murderers in the world is caught in your country and your response is a threat?[/QUOTE]
Not only in his country but close to one of their military bases.
Oh dear, we've killed an important target in your country that everyone in the world wants dead. Oh nooooo.
Seriously, where is the reason to bitch and moan here? I [b]kind[/b] of get it, but it's a big ass kinda.
I hope they realise a "full force" response would be signing their death warrent.
I won't go and say that Pakistan should be ignored. They do have nuclear weapons, after all.
Fuck you Pakistan.
Pakistan retaliates, crushed instantly.
The US: It may look like shit, but it's military isn't.
[QUOTE=lulzbocksV2;29731371]I won't go and say that Pakistan should be ignored. They do have nuclear weapons, after all.[/QUOTE]
Them threatining to use nukes would piss off the rest of the world, and if they attempted to use them the whole country would become a glass bowl
[QUOTE=UncleJimmema;29731469]Them threatining to use nukes would piss off the rest of the world, and if they attempted to use them the whole country would become a glass bowl[/QUOTE]
If they so much as wave a nuke around in the wrong way India'll probably carpet bomb them - and they've got the aircraft and ordnance to cover every square inch.
India do your thing. Get Pakistan to pull out of the war on terror, India to move in. India doesn't sponsor terrorism.
Haha yeah I'd like to see them try. Getting into to a legitimate war with the United States using a standing army is foolish.
I'm scared. I don't want my city to be nuked :ohdear:
Mouse says to the Elephant, I'm gonna hurt you badd!
[QUOTE=LinuX;29732363]I'm scared. I don't want my city to be nuked :ohdear:[/QUOTE]
The only way Pakistan can nuke a city is by rolling a nuke down a hill.
The Pakistani gov't is so blatantly corrupt that when they're actually caught in this embarassing situation (Bin Laden killed, whom they harbor for 5 or so years, within their country), they honestly think it's best to stubbornly threaten the US on the issue?
I'm sorry, but doesn't the US pour millions of dollars into that country for counter-terrorist efforts? The fuck Pakistan?
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