SINCE MR. OBAMA HAS TRIED TO DEMONSTRATE HAWKISHNESS BY SAYING HE'D INVADE PAKISTAN...

Raids into Pakistan: What U.S. authority?: Bush's orders to send special forces after Taliban militants have roots in previous presidencies. (Howard LaFranchi, 9/15/08, The Christian Science Monitor)

But even before that declaration, two key steps had been taken: One, Congress had authorized the use of US military force against terrorist organizations and the countries that harbor or support them. Two, Bush administration officials had warned Pakistan's leaders of the dire consequences their country would face if they did not unequivocally enlist in the fight against radical Islamist terrorism.

What Mr. Bush's July orders signify is that, after seven years of encouraging Pakistan to take on extremists harbored in remote areas along its border with Afghanistan and subsidizing the Pakistani military handsomely to do it, the US has become convinced that Pakistan is neither able nor willing to fight the entrenched Taliban and Al Qaeda elements. Indeed, recent events appear to have convinced at least some in the administration that parts of Pakistan's military and powerful intelligence service are actually aiding the extremists.

...oughtn't the press be asking if he'd send ground troops and at the level's Democrats say should have been sent to Iraq?

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