horse of george

Interesting take on Osama cull - he was betrayed by the Egyptian wing of AQ - the Egyptian wing apparently disagrees with the Saudi wing viz goals in Pakistan - Egyptian wing wants to destabilize Pakistan with hopes I assume of empowering Islamists there with goal of eventual insurrection of some sort one supposes - I have no idea if any of that's true, but doesn't sound nuts - and an Egyptian guy was just named temporary leader of those bearded bastards - comports with my point all along ie there's a positive take here and a negative one - the negative take is entirely legitimate but is also almost entirely ignored, even on the right - I find this curious and disturbing [the 'negative' in short is: you didn't have to go behind Pak's back, in doing so you further destabilize country, push them closer to China, disincentivize them viz helping with Afghanistan; two, you didn't have kill Osama, in doing so you possibly lost out on important intel, gave the guy exactly what he wanted and also possibly lost a bargaining chip in dealing with Pak ie maybe something along the lines of threatening to embarrass them over Osama complicity if they didn't start being more help than hindrance in Afghanistan].

update: from the Nightwatch security group the first mention of the downside [which ultimately could prove much more significant than the putative upside] of the Osama raid that I've seen in any of the mainstream sources [although Nightwatch ain't mainstream, but is read by people who are, sort of]:

As NightWatch has reported on several occasions, the US relationship with Pakistan has been irreparably broken. A new, more arms-length relationship is evolving in which the US is a friend for some purposes and a potential threat for others.

One implication is that the operating environment for drones and other aircraft appears to be about to change. The drones and their crews have ably demonstrated their war fighting capabilities under conditions in which the US owns the airspace. That is an important benchmark. However, their performance in a non-permissive environment is a different, important benchmark, which has yet to be established. It is about to be, along the Durand Line.

The second implication is that, by acting quickly, China has drawn Pakistan more tightly into its sphere of influence, countering a decade of US aid and energy. Prime Minister Gilani said on 17 May on arriving, China is Pakistan's best friend.

updated update: Pakistani newspaper The News today reports this:

On the third day of Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani's visit to China - and the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations, China warned that any attack on Pakistan would be tantamount to an attack on China, The News reported.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reportedly told Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani that Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi warned Washington during the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue to respect Pakistan's sovereignty. Moreover, Beijing will send a special envoy to Islamabad to express solidarity with Pakistan, a senior Chinese official said.

I wonder when/if the American press is ever going to quit its tireless efforts to get the incompetent Obama re-elected and actually address the real story here?