- CHICAGO -- The Pentagon has
drawn up contingency plans for a military strike inside Pakistan at Osama
bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, The Chicago Tribune newspaper reported today
citing military sources. The daily said the offensive could occur this
year but the timing "would be driven by events in the region."
-
- The plan calls for the use of Special Operations forces,
Army Rangers and Army ground troops, and the deployment of a Navy aircraft
carrier to the Arabian Sea, according to military sources.
-
- It would involve thousands of US troops, many of them
drawn from US forces already on the ground in Afghanistan, working with
Pakistani troops, according to military planners.
-
- A series of planning orders for the operation, which
is referred to as the "spring offensive," in internal military
communications, were issued in recent weeks. The basic planning was supposed
to have been finalised by January 21, according to the Tribune.
-
- Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has repeatedly said
that US forces will not be allowed to enter Pakistan in search of Al Qaeda
operatives - and reiterated that position as recently as Friday in Davos,
Switzerland.
-
- But a military source in Washington told the daily last
week, "We are told we're going into Pakistan with Musharraf's help."
-
- The daily said military planners believe that notwithstanding
his public statements, Musharraf's thinking has changed in light of recent
events.
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- http://web.mid-day.com/news/world/2004/january/75080.htm
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