Barack Obama: U.S. presidential election, 2008/al Qaeda, the Taliban and Pakistan

Barack Obama, U.S. Senator (D-Ill.)

This article is part of the SourceWatch and Congresspedia coverage of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and the 2008 presidential election

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Barack Obama: U.S. presidential election, 2008

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Democratic ticket "top tier"

Hillary Clinton John Edwards Barack Obama

In an August 1, 2007, speech at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said "he would send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists even without local permission if warranted ... [Obama warned] Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that he must do more to shut down terrorist operations in his country and evict foreign fighters under an Obama presidency, or Pakistan will risk a U.S. troop invasion and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military aid."

However, "[a]nalysts say an invasion could risk destabilizing Pakistan, breeding more militancy and undermining Musharraf. The Pakistani Foreign Office, protective of its national sovereignty, has warned that U.S. military action would violate international law and be deeply resented," the Associated Press reported. "A military invasion could be risky, given Pakistan's hostile terrain and the suspicion of its warrior-minded tribesmen against uninvited outsiders."

"The Democrat is trying to convince Americans he has the foreign policy heft to be president as a rival candidate, New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton, questioned his readiness to be commander in chief," Reuters' Steve Holland wrote. "Clinton last week labeled Obama naive for saying he would be willing to meet the leaders of Iran, Cuba, Syria, North Korea and Venezuela without preconditions in his first year in office."

Obama's speech "is online now," Jerome Armstrong at MyDD wrote, "and contrary to the Obama fans that don't want to believe the MSM's quotes, his position is very clear:

"The first step must be getting off the wrong battlefield in Iraq, and taking the fight to the terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan.... If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won’t act, we will.

"Basically, a continuation of the Bush doctrine of unilateral pre-emptive attacks in the mid-east, with Obama adding Pakistan to the list," Armstrong wrote.

The Clinton campaign did not respond immediately for a request for comment on Obama's remarks. Another Democratic rival, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, thanked him for a 'Johnny-come-lately' position," Holland wrote.

On August 5, 2007, Fox News posted a photograph captioned "Pakistani protestors chant anti American slogans after setting on fire effigies of U.S. President George W. Bush, center, Republican Tom Tancredo, left, and U.S. Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, right, at a protest rally in Lahore, Pakistan."

Update: Lahore, Pakistan, is the ancestral home of Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated December 27, 2007.

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Resources and articles

Related SourceWatch articles

• al Qaeda
• Taliban
• troop surge in Iraq

External articles

• "Pakistan slams 'ignorant' Obama attack warning," Agence France Presse (Aljazeera.com), February 8, 2007.
• "Hillary against direct action," Dawn.com, July 27, 2007.
• Transcript: "Remarks of Senator Obama: The War We Need to Win," BarackObama.com, August 1, 2007.
• Lynn Sweet, "Sweet blog special: In terrorism policy speech, Obama threatens to send U.S. troops to Pakistan. Fact sheet. UPDATE. Speech transcript," Chicago Sun-Times, August 1, 2007.
• Jake Tapper, "Obama to Deliver Bold Speech About War on Terror. Presidential Candidate to Push Aggressive Stance Toward Pakistan," ABC News, August 1, 2007.
• Samantha Hayes, "Running Mate: Spotlight On Obama & Biden," CBS4.com (Washington), August 1, 2007.
• Paul Richter, "Obama says he'd be willing to attack targets in Pakistan. Presidential candidate declares that Islamabad needs to do more to fight terrorism, and that if 'President Musharraf won't act, we will'," Los Angeles Times, August 1, 2007.
• "Obama 'would strike' in Pakistan," BBC News, August 1, 2007.
• Scott Helman, "Obama lays out counter-terrorism plan," Boston Globe, August 1, 2007.
• Lynn Sweet, "In Terrorism Policy Speech, Obama Threatens to Send U.S. Troops to Pakistan," The Huffington Post, August 1, 2007.
• Ben Smith, "Obama into Pakistan," The Politico, August 1, 2007.
• Robert Naiman, "Now Who's 'Bush-Cheney Lite'?" The Huffington Post, August 1, 2007.
• Mary Katherine Ham, "Obama, the Supah-Hawk," Townhall.com, August 1, 2007. Includes links and comments from left- and right-wing blogs.
• Allahpundit, "Messiah: Hey, Let's Invade Pakistan," Hot Air Blog, August 1, 2007. Article also links to this September 20, 2006, posting: "Video: Bush says he’ll send troops into Pakistan if Osama’s spotted."
• "White House: Obama errs on Pakistan action," UPI, August 1, 2007.
• "Obama on Terrorism:The Experts Weigh In," The Trail Blog/Washington Post, August 1, 2007.
• "Democratic Opponents Slam Barack Obama For Speech on Pakistan," Fox News, August 1, 2007.
• Marie Horrigan, "Obama’s Foreign Policy Speech Leaves Room for Debate," New York Times, August 1, 2007.
• Aaron Blake and Sam Youngman, "Hawkish new Obama gets Clinton’s policy agreement," The Hill, August 2, 2007.
• Scott Helman, "Obama stakes turf, outlines counterterrorism plan. Would add troops in Afghanistan, double foreign aid," Boston Globe, August 2, 2007.
• Tom Baldwin, "Obama willing to invade Pakistan in al-Qaeda hunt," Times Online (UK), August 2, 2007.
• Kurt Nimmo, "Obama Follows Old Neocon Murder Script," Pacific Free Press, August 2, 2007.
• "NBC on Obama's nuclear weapons comment," Brian Williams and Andrea Mitchell/ABC News on YouTube, August 2, 2007.
• Munir Ahmad, "Pakistan Criticizes Obama on Comments," Associated Press (Washington Post), August 3, 2007.
• William M. Arkin, "Obama Attacks Pakistan; Pakistan Retaliates," Early Warning Blog/Washington Post, August 3, 2007.
• Mike Dorning, "Obama remark angers Pakistan. Official: Threatened strike 'irresponsible'," Chicago Tribune, August 4, 2007.
• John Whitesides, "Clinton, Obama spar at labor union debate," Washington Post, August 7, 2007.
• Roger Simon, "Democrats woo labor but bash each other," The Politico, August 7, 2007.
• "Obama hits back in Pakistan row," Agence France Presse (The Raw Story), August 7, 2007.
• Ben Smith, "Misreporting Obama?" The Politico, August 7, 2007.
• Transcript: "The A.F.L.-C.I.O. Democratic Candidates Forum," August 8, 2007 (New York Times). See page 10.
• Dan Balz, "Obama and Clinton Take the Gloves Off In AFL-CIO Debate. Democratic Hopefuls Court Union Support," Washington Post, August 8, 2007.
• Lynn Sweet, "Obama turns to his favorite weapons. When in doubt, blame Washington," Chicago Sun-Times, August 8, 2007.
• David Schuster, "Truth-Squading the Debate," First Read/MSN, August 8, 2007.
• Matthew Pennington, "Barackistan Alert. Pervez Warns Emergency Looms," Associated Press (New York Post), August 9, 2007.
• Jane Doh, "Pakistan: An Inconvenient Autocracy," The Gate/National Journal, August 9, 2007.
• Carlotta Gall and Salman Masood, "Facing a Furor, Pakistan Rejects Emergency Rule," New York Times, August 10, 2007.
• Domenico Montanaro, "On Pakistan, Finally Edwards," First Read/MSNBC, August 19, 2007.
• Jim Davenport, "Obama Criticizes Bush, Clinton," Newsday, November 4, 2007.
• Jane Perlez, "Musharraf Consolidates His Control With Arrests," New York Times, November 4, 2007.