

Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban's young 35 year old leader of their Pakistan movement has issued a dire warning that they will soon launch an attack on Washington D.C. that will amaze "everyone in the world". Mehsud is their rising star who is reportedly responsible for the recent attack on the Pakistani Police Academy which killed seven cadets and injured 90 others. He is also reported to have been connected with the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in September 2008. Government authorities say there is definite reason to take his threat seriously even though they have no evidence of an immediate threat on the capitol. Meshud says current attacks are in retaliation for the U.S. missile strikes on the Taliban and al Qaeda locations in the Afghan and Pakistan border mountain area. He also says they will continue at least two such attacks per week as long as the air strikes continue. He has a 35 million dollar bounty on his head now by the U.S. Government but he tells the Associated Press that he has no concern over that because he "wishes to die and embrace martyrdom." This present threat and activity comes within only a few days after Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, issued a conciliatory statement that the "moderate" members of the Taliban might be allowed back into Afghanistan under certain conditions. Talks are now underway by some members of the Taliban and the Afghan President. Methinks it will be a very unwise move to allow the infiltration even of moderates, especially when they are already specifying their own demands and rules for their return. With their record and certainly with the radical voices among them, it appears to be a very shaky coalition.
Webgazine Columnist.