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Titolo: Obama Says He Would Take Fight To Pakistan

Obama Says He Would Take Fight To Pakistan
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 2, 2007; A01
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama issued a pointed warning
yesterday to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, saying that as
president he would be prepared to order U.S. troops into that country
unilaterally if it failed to act on its own against Islamic extremists.
In his most comprehensive statement on terrorism, the senator from
Illinois said that the Iraq war has left the United States less safe than
it was before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that if elected he would
seek to withdraw U.S. troops and shift the country's military focus to
threats in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"When I am president, we will wage the war that has to be won," he told an
audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center in the District. He added, "The
first step must be to get off the wrong battlefield in Iraq and take the
fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Obama's warning to Musharraf drew sharp criticism from several of his
rivals for the Democratic nomination, but not from Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton (N.Y.).
Obama delivered a biting critique of President Bush's conduct of the war
in Iraq and of the administration's overall strategy for combating
terrorism, while seeking to reassure Americans that his long-stated
opposition to the Iraq war would not compromise his commitment to
defending the country from the threat of Islamic extremists.
The muscular speech appeared aimed at inoculating him from criticism that
he lacks the toughness to lead the country in a post-9/11 world, while
attempting to show that an Obama presidency would herald an important
shift in the United States' approach to the world, particularly the Middle
East and nearby Asian nations.
The speech came a week after Clinton described Obama as "irresponsible and
frankly naive" for saying during a Democratic debate that he would be
prepared to meet during his first year as president with leaders of rogue
nations without preconditions. That set off a days-long argument between
the two over diplomacy and the use of the presidency.
Obama described Clinton's approach to diplomacy as "Bush-Cheney light."
She described that comparison as "silly." Their differences on the issue
of dealing with nations such as Iran, North Korea and Syria, however,
appear not to be significant. Both favor a much more energetic and open
diplomatic strategy than they say Bush has followed.
Much of Obama's speech yesterday focused on steps designed to reinvigorate
U.S. diplomatic efforts to combat terrorism, but the most noteworthy
proposals dealt with military actions. Obama said he would deploy at least
two more brigades -- about 7,000 troops -- to Afghanistan to combat what
he said is the growing Taliban influence there while sending the Afghan
government an additional $1 billion in nonmilitary aid.
But he said he would tie U.S. military aid to Pakistan to that country's
success in closing down terrorist training camps, in blocking the Taliban
from using its territory as a staging ground for attacks on Afghanistan
and in getting rid of foreign fighters.
"There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000
Americans," he said. "They are plotting to strike again. . . . If we have
actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President
Musharraf won't act, we will."
Obama offered no direct criticism of his leading rival for the Democratic
nomination, but he indirectly rebuked Clinton and other Democrats who
voted for the 2002 resolution authorizing the war. "With that vote,
Congress became co-author of a catastrophic war," he said.
Clinton did not respond yesterday to the issue of her Iraq vote, but she
sought to show her toughness on dealing with terrorist threats without
endorsing the idea of raids into Pakistan. In an interview with American
Urban Radio News Networks, she said that if there were actionable
intelligence showing Osama bin Laden or other prominent terrorist leaders
in Pakistan, "I would ensure that they were targeted and killed or
captured." She also said she long has favored sending more troops to
Afghanistan.
Other Democratic candidates took issue with Obama's tough talk on Pakistan.
"It is dangerous and irresponsible to leave even the impression the United
States would needlessly and publicly provoke a nuclear power," Sen.
Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) said in a statement.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, in a telephone interview, said that
Obama's threat, if acted upon, could inflame the entire Muslim world. "My
international experience tells me that we should address this issue with
tough diplomacy first with Musharraf and then leave the military option as
a last resort," he said.
Former senator John Edwards (N.C.) said in a statement that he would first
apply "maximum diplomatic and economic pressure on states like Pakistan
and Saudi Arabia" to do their utmost to combat the spread of terrorism. He
also challenged both Obama and Clinton to block a proposed U.S. arms deal
with Saudi Arabia.
Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.), chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee, called Obama's threat misguided. "The way to deal with it is
not to announce it, but to do it," Biden said at the National Press Club.
"The last thing you want to do is telegraph to the folks in Pakistan that
we are about to violate their sovereignty."
Obama said opposition to the war in Iraq should not lead Americans to turn
their backs on threats of terrorism. "The terrorists are at war with us,"
he said. "The threat is from violent extremists who are a small minority
of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, but the threat is real."
Beyond military measures aimed at defeating al-Qaeda, Obama outlined a
series of other initiatives he would pursue to combat those threats. He
repeated an earlier pledge to double U.S. foreign aid to $50 billion, said
he would provide $2 billion to combat the influence of Islamic schools
known as madrassas and launch a more ambitious public diplomacy
initiative, which he promised to steer.
"As president, I will lead this effort," he said. "In the first 100 days
of my administration, I will travel to a major Islamic forum and deliver
an address to redefine our struggle."
Obama also called for additional steps to protect the homeland from
possible attack and a reassertion of American values, promising to
prohibit torture "without exception," close the terrorist prison camp at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and ensure that all intelligence gathering is done
within the letter of the law.
Rekindling last week's debate with Clinton, Obama said he would bring a
new approach to diplomacy. "It's time to turn the page on Washington's
conventional wisdom that agreement must be reached before you meet, that
talking to other countries is some kind of reward and that presidents can
only meet with people who will tell them what they want to hear."
-- 
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 Obama Says He Would Take Fight To Pakistan
wow, un nero democratico più "nero" di Bush....god bless America!

 wow, un nero democratico più "nero" di Bush....god bless America!
Obama sta facendo delle uscite direi un po' sconcertanti...
