[Peace-discuss] Our killers & theirs

[C. G. Estabrook]

[The rest of the world has no trouble seeing who is responsible for war in the 
region.  E.g., it seems that "a peace deal between the regional government and 
hardline cleric Sufi Muhammad failed to take hold" beacuse the US ordered that 
it not "take hold."  --CGE]

      There will be 'revenge' on U.S. for offensive in Swat Valley: bin Laden
      Last Updated: Wednesday, June 3, 2009 | 11:39 AM ET

Pakistan's crackdown on Taliban militants in the Swat Valley has fuelled 
"revenge and hatred" toward the United States in the Muslim world, al-Qaeda 
leader Osama bin Laden said in an audio recording released on Wednesday.

In the recording, which was aired on al-Jazeera television, bin Laden claimed 
U.S. pressure led to a campaign of "killing, fighting, bombing and destruction" 
that prompted the exodus of a million Muslims from Swat Valley in northwest 
Pakistan.

"Let the American people prepare to continue to reap what has been planted by 
the heads of the White House in the coming years and decades," bin Laden said in 
the recording.

The message was broadcast at almost the same moment Obama touched down in Saudi 
Arabia at the start of a Middle East visit aimed at repairing frayed U.S. 
relations with the Muslim world.

Al-Jazeera did not specify how the tape was obtained.

Fighting in the Swat Valley intensified in April after a peace deal between the 
regional government and hardline cleric Sufi Muhammad failed to take hold, and a 
military operation was launched to expel the Taliban from their stronghold.

Washington has pressed Islamabad to crack down on al-Qaeda and Taliban 
strongholds along the Afghan frontier, saying the militants threaten not only 
U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, but also Pakistan's existence. The 
offensive has uprooted some 3 million people.

"Elderly people, children and women fled their homes and lived in tents as 
refugees after they have lived in dignity in their homes," bin Laden said.

In Islamabad, U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke rejected bin Laden's claim, saying 
al-Qaeda was responsible for the refugee crisis.

The military offensive to expel the Taliban from Pakistan's Swat Valley could 
take another two months to complete, and troops may have to stay for a year to 
prevent militants from retaking control, commanders said Wednesday.

The Pakistan military has secured control over several key towns, including 
Mingora, in the region.

Power, water and gas remain cut in Mingora, the largest in the Swat region, and 
food is short. Officials are discouraging refugees from returning home yet.

The army is providing security in retaken towns, however, and the military wants 
to hand over to local security forces so soldiers can be freed up to face the 
militants and people can begin to return to their homes by the end of June, 
officials said.

It will still take at least two months to root out militants from all of their 
hideouts in the lush, mountainous valleys of Swat and surrounding areas, said 
army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas.

The government is also having to contend with a rise in militant attacks in 
other parts of the country that officials say an attempt to distract the 
military's attention from Swat.

Ambush at military school

One such attack was Monday night's ambush-kidnap of scores of students from a 
military cadet school in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border.

Officials said on Tuesday that 80 students and staff had been rescued by 
paramilitary forces within hours, and that was the total number of those kidnapped.

But Javed Alam, the director of studies at the school, Cadet College Razmak, 
told The Associated Press on Wednesday that more than 100 people were taken in 
the raid and that 42 students and three teachers were still being held captive 
at an unknown place.

Some had been allowed to call their parents, though no ransom or other demands 
were made, he said. The captors did not identify themselves.

Abbas said the military was did not know until Wednesday that all the students 
had not been accounted for. "We thought it was over," he told The Associated Press.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/06/03/pakistan-taliban-swat-valley421.html?ref=rss