Pakistani Taliban chief likely killed: minister

Reuters on Yahoo ^ | 8/6/09 | Kamran Haider

Posted on 08/06/2009 14:04:26 by NormsRevenge

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – There is a strong likelihood that Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed along with his wife and bodyguards in a missile attack two days ago, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik told Reuters.

"We suspect he was killed in the missile strike," Malik said on Friday. "We have some information, but we don't have material evidence to confirm it."

The United States has placed a $5 million reward on the head of Mehsud, an ally of al Qaeda widely regarded in Pakistan as Public Enemy No. 1.

A U.S. defense official, speaking anonymously in Washington, said he had seen no indications that Mehsud had been killed in the strike.

The attack in a tribal region of northwest Pakistan was believed to have been carried out by a pilotless U.S. drone aircraft at around 1:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

Neither the Pakistan nor U.S. governments confirm such attacks because of sensitivities over violation of Pakistan's territorial sovereignty.

Intelligence officials and relatives had confirmed earlier that Mehsud's second wife had been killed in the missile strike that targeted her father's home in an outlying settlement close to Makeen village in the South Waziristan tribal region.

A relative of Mehsud's dead wife had initially said the Taliban leader wasn't present when the missiles struck, but rumors that he had either been wounded or killed refused to die down.

If reports of Mehsud's death are true, this is a sad day for America. Mr. Mehsud is mentioned prominently in older pages on this website because we had been wishing him good luck in his quest to capture nuclear weapons from the Pakistani government and to set one off on the national mall in Washington D.C.

You see, it would be illegal (and dangerous) for me to say or imply any personal threat against the president or any government official, but our president himself established the precedent of making friends with people who hate America, so I was just trying to do my part to make this a nicer world by wishing Mr. Mehsud well.

Below is an example of what I'm talking about. The Secret Service right now is overworked and underpaid. I read recently that they're getting over 30 death threats per day against obama, which is way the hell more than any other president has had, they keep having their requests for additional personnel rejected, and to top it off, most of them probably shake their heads at the irony of being prepared to sacrifice their lives to protect a communist asshole. Anyway, on my website, blog or comments to someone's article, I DO NOT use any language that expresses or infers that I have any intention to present a threat of harm to the president. The Secret Service is very touchy about this.

Online comment by Telegraph reader leads to brief Secret Service inquiry
Nashua [NH] Telegraph ^ | Thursday, August 6, 2009 | ALBERT McKEON

Posted on 08/06/2009 18:03:41 by LibFreeOrDie

A Telegraph reader's online criticism of President Obama that invoked New Hampshire's "Live Free or Die" motto had the Nashua man unexpectedly dealing with the Secret Service. The man, who posted his comments Wednesday under the username NashuaDan, wrote that Obama's events are often orchestrated and that the president's upcoming Town Hall meeting in Portsmouth could be more of the same.

"I hope NH is better than letting this guy off the hook. Let Obama know what 'Live Free or Die' means (hint: it isn't reckless TAXING and SPENDING). Otherwise, Portsmouth will just be another glorified photo-op for the Socialist-in-Chief," he wrote below a news brief announcing the president's Seacoast visit.

On Thursday morning, NashuaDan found himself on the phone with a Secret Service agent explaining that his remarks were only philosophical and not intended to threaten Obama, he said.

The Secret Service accepted his response, he said. And from now on, NashuaDan said he will use caution in future Internet postings.

"I do support the fact that we have freedom of speech," he said in an interview. "This incident doesn't change my thoughts on that, but the lesson is I'll have to choose my words carefully."

NashuaDan is a registered user of the Telegraph's Web site, and frequently posts comments below stories. He asked not to be identified further for this story.

On Thursday morning, after the Secret Service indicated it was interested in talking to NashuaDan, Damon Kiesow, managing editor for The Telegraph online, said the paper "decided it was in everyone's best interest to resolve the question as quickly as possible."

So Kiesow contacted NashuaDan by email. Registered users of The Telegraph comment blogs are required to provide working email addresses. NashuaDan agreed to call the Secret Service immediately. He said the agent listened to the reasoning behind the posting and was satisfied with the explanation.

The Secret Service had no comment for this story. NashuaDan said his remarks were aimed to encourage free speech - to urge anyone reading the news brief to attend the Obama event and question the president's thoughts on health care.

His posting began: "Town Hall in quotation marks is right. Everything this charlatan does is orchestrated. Good luck getting a question answered unless you are one of his 'plants.' It's guaranteed that every question will go according to plan; this empty suit of a President has never done anything that wasn't scripted or read off a teleprompter." NashuaDan said that by invoking the state motto, he intended only to remind readers of what New Hampshire stands for.

"Small government, limited taxation, and to live our lives without interference," he said. "I didn't think anyone would interpret that as a threat."

A registered user called SLRNashuan posted a comment in reply to NashuaDan on Wednesday afternoon: "Amazing, NashuaDan. All of those words and not one truth! And, by the way, is that a veiled threat 'Let Obama know what 'Live Free or Die' means' on the President's life. Just in case, I called it in."

NashuaDan said the experience has not changed his belief in freedom of speech, nor does he believe that concept is diminished.

"I take full responsibility for what I wrote," he said.

So the moral of the story is that it's all in the nuance of how you express yourself. The Secret Service would probably give you a pass on: wouldn't it be funny if obama stepped outside Air Force One for a cigarette at 40,000 feet? or: wouldn't it be nice if Senator Kennedy gave obama an auto tour of Chappaquiddick Island while he's vacationing on Martha's Vineyard?

Rule 1. Don't piss off people with guns.

Rule 2. Piss off communists frequently and repeatedly.