‘Star Wars’ Terrorists Storm Pakistani Naval Base

The Pakistan Taliban launched a brazen attack on a Pakistani naval base, killing at least 11 people and destroying two spy planes provided by the United States. Not only did the melee last through the night, the terrorists appeared to call on the power of the Dark Side of the Force to press their assault.

Pakistan’s humiliations compound. About twenty gunmen and suicide bombers successfully infiltrated what’s supposed to be a secure facility in the southern port city of Karachi, right as Pakistan is trying to project an image of martial strength in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s killing and a brief gunfight with NATO forces. Then the interior minister, Rehman Malik, made the bizarre statement that the terrorists resembled… Star Wars characters.

This is the second time in under two years that the Pakistani Taliban have struck deep and destructively into the heart of Pakistan’s military. The first, in October 2009, targeted the military’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. Like the Rawalpindi attack, the raid on Karachi’s PNS Mehran base — very, very far from the tribal areas — most likely involved operatives with knowledge of the facility. Not only were they able to infiltrate successfully, they found the hangars housing the P-3 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft, blowing them up like the Death Star.

Let’s pause for the message here. The Orions are supplied by the United States, something of a bribe for Pakistan’s counterterrorism aid. They play absolutely no role against al-Qaida: Orions hunt submarines — Indian submarines. It’s possible that the bin Laden killing prompted the Taliban to target any U.S.-supplied spycraft. But they attacked a navy base, not the Shamsi airfield used for the drone war. The Pakistani Taliban appear to be saying: Continue your alliance with the Americans, and your struggle with the Indians — Islamabad’s major strategic concern — will be a casualty.

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http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/star-wars-terrorists-storm-pakistani-naval-base/#more-47489

And this is why India complains that the Military Aid America should give to Pakistan(if they ever should in the first place) ought to be in form of stuff used to combat terrorists...not India. Think how America would react if Cuba is given ballistic missiles in its fight against "political counterrevolutionaries" by the Soviets? oh wait!


Cut off any military aid that does NOT have a counter terrorist use. For example lets look at some of the military Aid Pakistan has gotten in the past

To use the old Red-Riding hood line

Granny Granny why do we give Pakistan

Upgraded f-16s. = so the Pakistan Airforce can shoot down Taliban fighter jets my dear child
Amraam and Tow missiles = to shoot down Taliban fighter jets and Main battle Tanks
Latest Air defense radars = Again to shoot down Taliban/AQ fighter jets and maybe glider borne Taliban invaders?
maritime recon and strike aircraft = to find and destroy Taliban Navy
An Oliver Hazzard Perry class destroyer - to check the Taliban Navy in the Indian ocean

:eyes:
^^ it would have been funny if not for how sad this is.

maybe it really is time for America to stop annoying a perfectly friendly ally in its headlong rush to pacify Pakistan by giving it whatever toys its generals ask for. As Wired put it so aptly...this is a Bribe and nothing but a bribe. Sometimes I really wonder if the MIC has so thoroughly subverted America that they are more than willing to commit diplomatic faux pas just so they can sell a few more Expensive weapons....America's relations with the rest of the world be dammed. Its really sickening to see none of the American Senators and politicians who made a huge hue and cry about Pakistan harboring Osama did not follow thorough with their threat to reassess the military aid.



Ps: lol@Pakistani Minister's Star Wars Claim. These people seem incompetent beyond measure...one would think that after the past few year's worth of attacks on Pakistani military installations..including its GHQ, they would have better security. I shudder to think that its these very people who are supposed to secure their nuclear weapons from Extremist takeover.

We're fine with our policies just the way they are. Sucks to be the victims, but as long as they're not us, everything's fine. We will, however, get totally militarized in our response should any of this revenge get visited on our heads. Hope the Pakistanis don't mind paying the ultimate price for our "freedom."