Pakistan sent F-16s to interdict Seal team 6.

"The Pakistani military scrambled F-16 fighters and sent forces to bin Laden's compound as soon as they were aware of the raid, said Gilani. Even though they were unable to interdict U.S. forces before they were on their way back to Afghanistan, he expressed confidence in their performance."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jy6asrfI5QPL-xYSm42w3jKNocBg?docId=6789512
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4844580

If we hadn't gotten out of there fast, it would have been a mess.

from our military to theirs. Just a courtesy call, of course . . .

They cooperated with this raid, clearly.

next door to a miltary facility, Pak has nukes and could have struck back at the wrong country by accident (India), etc.

And now there is some confirmation:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4845917

:thumbsup:

Pakistan got caught having no idea what was going on. I'm sure they are fairly humiliated with their own. To save face they put this info out there.

Their entire credibility is beig questioned. I don't see where it gets them to lie to our faces.

They would be lying to the faces of their own populace. If they are lying.

It is an AP piece. It would be interesting to know what the report is based on.

Are we sure these were F-16s that got scrambled, not maybe Sopwith Camels, or weather balloons?

If they were F-16s, I'm sure their pilots would rather get lost, fly in the wrong direction, than face whatever U.S. air cover was in place protecting the helicopters. I'd bet the U.S. had a few fighters and AWACS in the air above ABBOTTville.

Are you sure they were or are you just repeating?

That is more then 12 mintutes a floor, if it did take them that long, why? From the picture of the compound it doesn't look that big to take that long. Plus they had time to find and remove a lot of data? If true. Doesn't sound like they had to hurry.

or even if they were there at all. I wasn't there.

I am just relying on what I heard from people like Sec of State, Sec of Defense, Prez, folks like that.

But no, I have no first hand knowledge and have no need-to-know.

I assume it took time to thoroughly search nooks, crannies, hidden niches in the walls, and get the computer hardware out in a non-destructive manner. And, if the news is to be believed, it took time to rig the disabled helicopter with explosives and probably remove some of the niftier electronic stuff from it before attempting to blow it up beyond the point where it could be easily reverse-engineered by Pakistan and Friends.

Even with no first or second or third-hand knowledge, I would ASSUME there were spare choppers, active AWACS, and many nastier aircraft like F-18, A-10, etc to cover the ground team activity and keep them from being surprised. Just a guess.

Pakistan does not want to seem incompetent.

showed up the compound? 'West Point' was a ten minute walk away.

I guess they were sent elsewhere or not mustered out at all. They Knew

actual news.

News to me.

:sarcasm:

had something to do with it.

In other words, when we picked up the phone and called them. At roughly the time the SEALs helo left.

Trying to bring Bin Laden in.

Then that type of operation just may have caused a failure.

Wouldn't be at all shocked if a number of senior Pakistani military/ISI officers knew that UBL's days were numbered. They weren't told exactly when, but this outcome should not have been a complete surprise.

So Pakistan wants me to believe that supersonic jet fighters were scrambled as soon as they were aware of the raid but they failed to be able chase down helicopters that are capable only of maybe a quarter of the F-16's speed?

Nah. Not buying.