IF WE HAD INTELLIGENCE SERVICES...:

Army Plans Offensive in Pakistan's Northwest: Pitched Battles Follow Killing Of 17 Troops by Insurgents (Griff Witte and Kamran Khan, 7/19/07, Washington Post)

The Pakistani army fought pitched battles with militants Wednesday in a restive tribal area bordering Afghanistan following an insurgent assault that killed 17 troops.

The fighting in North Waziristan, an area where the al-Qaeda leadership is believed to be active, went on late into the night, residents said. A local official confirmed that at least six loud explosions were heard in the hills that surround Miram Shah, the main town in North Waziristan. It was not immediately clear who or what had been targeted.

The fighting came during a period of deep turmoil in Pakistan, with radical fighters carrying out a string of deadly attacks after a government raid against a mosque in Islamabad last week.

...they'd be leaking details--even if invented out of whole cloth--about how the US and Israel are providing the Pakistani military with assistance. The more fevered the boil there the better.

MORE:
AUTHOR AHMED RASHID ON PAKISTAN'S CRISIS: 'The Umbilical Cord between the Military and Mullahs Must Be Cut' (der Spiegel, 7/19/07)

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Rashid, the battle over the Red Mosque is over and the government in Islamabad has prevailed. But can Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, also win the greater struggle against the Islamists?

Rashid: The key to winning the greater conflict will be whether Musharraf is finally able to cut the umbilical cord that connects the army to these extremist groups. The lesson of the Red Mosque is that the nexus between the military and the mullahs has to be broken. Now is the right time to do that.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: How much power do the extremists have within Pakistan's army?

Rashid: Generally, extremists aren't strongly represented in the higher command. But lower down in the ranks there is a lot of sympathy for Islamic causes. Many in the army have been brought up with the philosophy of jihad and the idea that defending Islam can at times trump defending the nation. The real issue is a political one: During the Cold War, the army depended on extremists to project its support for Kashmiri insurgents and the Taliban. These extremist groups were used as cannon fodder in those wars. Today the military even allows Pakistanis in large numbers to go and fight at the side of the Taliban. Of course, the blow back effect of this is what we are seeing in the tribal areas on the Pakistani side of the border. Today, there is a new phenomenon called the Pakistani Taliban, which has become a major threat to the state.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 19, 2007 6:59 PM