US says it reserves right to target terrorists inside Pak territory if Islamabad doesn’t
May 5th, 2011 - 12:21 pm ICT by ANI
Washington, May 5(ANI): The United States reserves the right to enter Pakistani territory and act against terrorists if Pakistan does not act against them, the White House has said.
When asked during a press briefing whether Washington reserves the right to target terror suspects on Pakistani soil if Islamabad does not act against them, Obama’s spokesperson Jay Carney firmly replied: “Yes.”
“He [Obama] made very clear during the campaign that that was his view. He was criticized for it. He maintained that that was his view, and by the actions he has taken as President, feels that it was the right approach and continues to feel that way,” he added.
On being questioned as to how the way in which bin Laden was killed and buried at sea might affect President Barack Obama’s specific outreach to the Muslim world, Carney said that American efforts in the war on terror are not aimed at Islam or Muslims, but against al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations.
“I think you heard the President speak on Sunday evening about the unbelievably important fact to make clear, that President Bush made clear before President Obama, that our efforts in the fight against terrorists, against al Qaeda, are not aimed at Islam, are not aimed at Muslims,” he said.
“And the fact is, that the cooperation and assistance provided by Muslims around the world is essential to our fight and it’s not about them, because Osama bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer — a mass murderer of people around the world, including Muslims,” he added.
Carney said that it was within America’s rights to go after bin Laden, and that it needs to be recognized that the elimination of the world’s most wanted terrorist is seen as a good thing.
“We obviously believe that we were absolutely within our rights to go after the most wanted man in the world, the most wanted terrorist in the world — the man who ordered the attacks on so many Americans and killed so many Americans,” he said.
“And it needs to be recognized that this is seen as a good thing throughout the world. And yet, because of who we are, we took extraordinary measures to show the kind of respect that was shown in his burial,” Carney added. (ANI)
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Tags: al qaeda, american efforts, barack obama, carney, islam, islamabad, mass murderer, muslim leader, muslim world, muslims, osama bin laden, outreach, pakistani territory, president bush, spokesperson, sunday evening, terror suspects, terrorist organisations, wanted man, war on terror