Re: Obama warns he would attack Al-Qaeda in Pakistan
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If destroying AQ would be a real goal, that would happen 5 years ago.
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Not really.
The main reason we haven't gone after OBL in Pakistan is that we're trying to stay on Pakistan's good side. Musharraf has done a lot to help us in the War On Terror. His government has captured several high level Al-Qaeda operatives including Khalid Shake Mohammed and all of the basing and overflight rights we need. Bush likely feels that we owe it to Musharraf to let him handle his own country.
Also, Bush rightly fears the destabilizing effect an American invasion would have on Musharraf's government. His people hate American and barely tolerate him. If Musharraf's government fell, it would likely be replaced with an islamic fundamentalist government. Throw in nuclear weapons and the ongoing conflict with India and this would be a disaster. Just because destroying Al-Qaeda is a priority doesn't mean it should be the only priority (hello civil liberties).
Also, LOL at saying that we would have crushed Al-Qaeda in months if we wanted to. Governments have been trying and failing to crush insurgencies for centuries and those were concentrated in one country. Al-Qaeda operates in dozens of countries.
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