Getting Ready For The Balloon Drop

We mocked TNR's conspiratorial suggestion that Sinister BushCo was planning to capture Osama during the Democratic National Convention. But who is laughing now? We have this attention-grabber from Waziristan:

Stage set for final showdown
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - A recent report by US think-tank Strategic Forecasting suggested that since "sovereignty" had now been transferred to Iraq, the United States would give its full attention to the problem of al-Qaeda fugitives in Pakistan's rugged tribal areas. Already this year, at the instigation of Washington, the Pakistani army has launched two military offensives into South Waziristan to track down foreign elements, with marginal success.

All signs now point to another offensive, but this time Islamabad and Washington have agreed that US troops stationed across the border in Afghanistan will take an active part in the action on Pakistani soil, rather than wait for suspects to be flushed out into their waiting arms. Similarly, Pakistani troops will be able to engage in hot-pursuit operations into Afghan territory.

In its single most important strike yet in the tribal areas, the Pakistani army in mid-June killed former Taliban commander Nek Mohammed, a key facilitator for al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the Afghan resistance in the tribal areas. The United States, however, played a vital role in this operation by tracking down Nek through his mobile-telephone calls, and there is even some suggestion that the US in fact launched the missiles that killed Nek and a few others in a house near Wana, the provincial capital of South Waziristan...

Other reports tell us that fighting continues.

I vouch for none of these sources, BTW, but there they are.

Comments

[The Kid]

Why not have some fun with this and start calling Wednesday, July 27th, 2004 Capture Osama bn Laden Day, or COBL Day? Those of us who work for a living can tell bosses, client’s, coworkers, and peers that we’ll be in late on Wednesday because we’ll be out late celebrating COBL.

I’ve a mind to stop by a bar or two tonight and ask if they’ll have special pricing on the good draft next Tuesday night for COBL. And why not ask florists if they’ve any ideas for a special COBL arrangement to send to a fellow traveler, loved one or spouse? Folks should have their headlights on all day to celebrate COBL, no?

We should all do our part to celebrate this special occasion.

[Timmy the Wonder Dog]

If you can expand the post to our role in Yemen, you have a hat trick.