Pakistan’s military today rejected the suggestion that the Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were responsible for the failed Times Square bombing attack, saying that they don’t have the capacity to hit the US mainland.
At the same time attention has focused on one of several Pakistani groups. If not the TTP, than either the Jaish-e Mohammed (JeM) of the Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT) are being presented as possibly behind it.
Whatever the case, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is openly describing the attempt as “blowback,” saying that it was a predictable retaliation for the countless US drone attacks against the tribal areas of Pakistan.
The TTP, for its part, has denied responsibility, though an earlier audiotape alleged to be from one of their top leaders said the exact opposite.
The timing is particularly awkward for US-Pakistani relations, which had just finally seemed to come to a level where the US was satisfied with the number of wars Pakistan’s military was fighting. In the wake of Times Square, it is widely expected that the US will press Pakistan to launch even more offensives, and will probably escalate its own drone strikes yet again.
Ah yes, small "Sanguinettian"–what a useful word nowadays for those who have read his analysis of Terrorism and the State–splinter groups, easily manipulatable toward any agenda or "Spectacle" use one chooses.
And dirt cheap too–couple of airline tickets, maybe take care of the wife and kiddies, who knows?
Need a justification to destabilize Pakistan, Splinter Group X.
To distract from the BP oil catastrophe, Splinter Group Y.
To remind the populace of 9-11 and how swimmingly the State war against artificial terrorism is being waged and why the local city police are carrying automatic weapons, Splinter Group Z.
Oh yes, and all your cell phone calls and other electronic communications are being "sucked up" by super-patriotic Special Forces helicopters hovering above just trying to protect you from, well, "terrorists."
Q.E.D.