Strong and Getting Stronger!

There are reasons we should have finished the job in Afghanistan before moving on to the Bush Sandbox:

Six years after the Bush administration declared war on al-Qaeda, the terrorist network is gaining strength and has established a safe haven in remote tribal areas of western Pakistan for training and planning attacks, according to a new Bush administration intelligence report to be discussed today at a White House meeting.

Pakistan, Shocked, shocked I say!! . . . I thought Musharraf was with us, not with the terrorists . . . what's going on here?!?

al-Qaeda appears "to be fairly well settled into the safe haven in the ungoverned spaces of Pakistan."

"We see more training. We see more money. We see more communications," Kringen said.

But . . but . . but . . . 'is it safe!'

White House spokesman Tony Fratto declined to sound any alarm yesterday. "There continues to be no credible, specific intelligence to suggest that there is an imminent threat to the homeland," he said in response to questions about Chertoff's remarks.

And what of Musharraf

the Defense Intelligence Agency's deputy director for analysis, traced al-Qaeda's resurgence in Pakistan to an agreement last year that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf made with the tribal chiefs when he withdrew army units from the northwest area.

In return, the tribal leaders were to prevent the Taliban, bin Laden and al-Qaeda from carrying out training and sending terrorists and arms into Afghanistan and elsewhere. But, Cardillo said: "At the end of the day, we see a worse condition than [there] was before the agreement."

When the administration is struggling just to get out the basic rudiments of their security plan out in the open, this does not help matters at all. I think someone needs to recognize that Pakistan is not as close of a friend as we would like. Iran may be a threat, but Pakistan has been gaming us for far to long!

Flash