The comments by Senator
Lindsey Graham... the endangered South Carolina RINO...
, an influential Republican voice on foreign policy and military affairs, follow remarks by the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, accusing Pakistain last week of supporting the cut-thoat Haqqani network's Sept 13 attack on the US embassy in Kabul.
Graham said in an interview on Tuesday that US politicians might support military options beyond the drone strikes that have been going on for years inside Pak territory.
Those options may include using US bomber planes within Pakistain.
The South Carolina Republican said he did not advocate sending US ground troops into Pakistain."I would say when it comes to defending American troops, you don't want to limit yourself," Graham said. "This is not a boots-on-the-ground engagement -- I'm not talking about that, but we have a lot of assets beyond drones."
"A perfect world ... would be Afghan, Pakistain and (US and NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
) coalition forces working jointly on both sides of border to deny safe havens, inside of Afghanistan and on the other side," in Pakistain's western tribal regions from which the Haqqani network and other Orcs and similar vermin are believed to operate, Graham said.
Graham said US politicians will think about stepping up the military pressure. "If people believe it's gotten to the point that that is the only way really to protect our interests I think there would be a lot of support," Graham said.
The Haqqani network is allied with Afghanistan's Taliban and is believed to have close links to Al Qaeda. It fights US and NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan, operating out of bases in Pakistain's North Wazoo.
US drone aircraft in recent years have targeted mostly al Qaeda figures rather than Haqqani cut-thoats.