It Begins?

IN North Waziristan, the wild border land that America hopes will be Osama Bin Laden’s graveyard, the normally busy roads are almost deserted and the fear is pervasive. Army helicopters sweep the valleys at night hunting for Al-Qaeda militants as troops and gunmen exchange artillery and rocket fire.

America and Britain regard this usually autonomous tribal area - where Bin Laden is long believed to have been hiding - as the logistics centre of Islamic terrorist attacks around the world.

President Pervez Musharraf sees it as the centre of a campaign to “Talibanise” Pakistan. Spurred on by Washington, he has abandoned a truce with Waziristan’s Islamist guerrillas and ordered his army to root them out.

So, is this a legitimate push to get rid of Al-Qaeda and move against Osama? Or is this a token advance because Musharraf is feeling the heat from us? One thing is certain, time's running out for Musharraf. If we get actionable intelligence that Osama is going to be at a place and time, you can bet your bottom dollar as long as a Republican is President, there'll be a strike called in.

Travis
travis@rightwinglunatic.com