Marriott in Pakistan bombed

In Islamabad the heavily-guarded Marriot hotel was bombed Saturday. The NY Times describes "A vast crater, some 40 feet wide and 5 feet deep, lay at the security barrier to the hotel." The same hotel was previously bombed in January 2007.

Also concerning Pakistan
Thomas, the South Asian specialist at Global Moderation has an important blog post entitled "America's ill-advised new Pakistan policy." It seems that the Bush administration may now be determined to get Bin Laden at almost any cost -- even if this means jeopardizing the West's long-term interests in the region. American forces are going in heavy and causing much collateral damage in Northern Pakistan. The administration's goal may be to be to kill Bin Laden just prior to the November US election.

Even if the intention sounds good, as Thomas observes, "the American forces seem to lack the intelligence necessary for successful strikes within Pakistan." Whether the US can bomb its way to any kind of meaningful strategic advantage is a very doubtful to say the least.

Of course, Obama more or less gave the White House a carte blanche to take this kind of action when -- attempting to look strong in relation to Hillary Clinton during the Democratic Party primaries -- he said that he would not hesitate to hunt down the terrorists inside Pakistan.