Fantastic news from Pakistan:
The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials. The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago. He ranks second in influence only to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the Taliban’s founder and a close associate of Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mullah Baradar has been in Pakistani custody for several days, with American and Pakistani intelligence officials both taking part in interrogations, according to the officials. It was unclear whether he was talking, but the officials said his capture had provided a window into the Taliban and could lead to other senior officials. Most immediately, they hope he will provide the whereabouts of Mullah Omar, the one-eyed cleric who is the group’s spiritual leader.
How the Cheney right has had the gall to claim that Obama has not been as ruthless as he has been effective in the real war on terror is beyond me. And why the Washington MSM buy this unhinged FNC/RNC narrative and somehow treat a fantastically incompetent war criminal like Dick Cheney as some kind of authority on national security is ... well, it says a lot about what's wrong with Washington journalism.
Of course, one dreams of getting Mullah Omar. And if Obama manages to capture Osama, well, we might just muster the political and moral fortitude to send Cheney to the Hague where he belongs.