Pirate's Cove

Of course, if Bush was still president, the media and the left would blame him. Not Obama’s fault

Authorities in Pakistan shut down a key border crossing for NATO supply trucks bound for Afghanistan Thursday after claiming that NATO helicopters fired on a Pakistani border check post and killed three of its soldiers, an accusation likely to inflame tensions between Washington and Islamabad following similar NATO aircraft incursions into Pakistani territory in recent days.

Pakistani military officials said two NATO helicopters crossed over into Pakistan’s Kurram tribal region along the Afghan border before dawn and fired on paramilitary troops at the Mandata Kandaho border patrol post. When the soldiers fired back at the helicopters, the aircraft retaliated by firing two missiles, destroying the post and killing the three soldiers, the Pakistani military said.

While we certainly need to hit the jihadis hiding out in Pakistan, these larger scale actions can cause problems that Pakistan’s government cannot ignore, which is one of the reasons I supported Biden’s idea for more secret actions, using drones and special operations groups (which we are doing), over Obama’s “hey, let’s send a crapload of people and bomb bomb bomb Pakistan” to go with the drones and special ops forces. International relations, even with a government like Pakistan’s, is harder than it seemed on the campaign trail with no actual responsibility, eh, chump?

The Pakistani’s will put up with the drones, but, do not want foreign troops on or over their soil. Which is why specials ops, nice and quiet, work better.

Speaking of drones, Spencer Ackerman seems a bit thrilled that Pakistani’s hate the drones and back suicide attacks on U.S. troops. But, then, this tool got his blogging chops writing at the unhinged Firedoglake, where he still moonbarks.