The New York Times has printed a story today that reportedly has infuriated the Bush Administration. Many have relabelled the NYT as traitors for publishing the story, but I have read the story and find little, if anything, that is new and isn't already known on the Internet.
In a story entitled
"Follow Bin Laden and Destroy Him", I published much of the same information on Sept. 17, 2006. In an earlier post, June 9, 2006,
"The Secret Operation to Kill Zarqawi" , I reported on the Special Operations group led by Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, that killed Zarqawi which is also briefly mentioned in the NYT story.
Many blogs and independent news sites report the on-going war in the smallest detail everyday. One of the finest is
The Long War Journal published by Bill Roggio. Two years ago, he posted
The Fall of Northwestern Pakistan: An Online History , detailing AQs growing involvement in Pakistan and their cross-border reach into Afghanistan.
The New York Times story begins:
June 30, 2008
Amid Policy Disputes, Qaeda Grows in Pakistan
By MARK MAZZETTI and DAVID ROHDE
WASHINGTON — Late last year, top Bush administration officials decided to take a step they had long resisted. They drafted a secret plan to make it easer for the Pentagon’s Special Operations forces to launch missions into the snow-capped mountains of Pakistan to capture or kill top leaders of Al Qaeda.
Intelligence reports for more than a year had been streaming in about Osama bin Laden’s terrorism network rebuilding in the Pakistani tribal areas, a problem that had been exacerbated by years of missteps in Washington and the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, sharp policy disagreements, and turf battles between American counterterrorism agencies.
The new plan, outlined in a highly classified Pentagon order, was intended to eliminate some of those battles. And it was meant to pave a smoother path into the tribal areas for American commandos, who for years have bristled at what they see as Washington’s risk-averse attitude toward Special Operations missions inside Pakistan. They also argue that catching Mr. bin Laden will come only by capturing some of his senior lieutenants alive.
But more than six months later, the Special Operations forces are still waiting for the green light. The plan has been held up in Washington by the very disagreements it was meant to eliminate. A senior Defense Department official said there was “mounting frustration” in the Pentagon at the continued delay.
[...]
Read the rest of the lengthy story in the
NY Times or the
International Herald Tribune.
Be as angry as you want with the New York Times, but the information in the piece is neither new nor unknown. And in this case, the Times was just doing its job. It is history and well known at that.
All too often our own biases about the War on Terror get in the way of remembering there is a war going on. We should all do better to keep up with the news the MSM is not reporting. Whether or not Barack Obama's birth certificate is real is a fun little story, but in the grand scheme of the real world struggle such stories are just stupid, a distraction, and they don't mean nothin'.
The life of Indigo Red is full of adventure. Tune in next time for the
Further Adventures of Indigo Red.Labels: Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaida, Global War on Terror, Pakistan, US military
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