Ted Galen Carpenter proposes taking on Pakistan next. He argues that many Al Qaeda members were able to cross the border into Pakistan and are now hiding out in the northwestern frontier province. He further argues that the province is barely controlled by Musharraf and that his forces really have no ability to capture or wipe out the terrorists there.

That’s not to mention that many of Musharraf’s military henchmen are sympathetic to Al Qaeda in the first place. Indeed, it was Pakistan that for years supported the Taliban’s hold on power. Carpenter writes:

It would be a mistake to allow misplaced gratitude to the Musharraf regime for belatedly abandoning the Taliban to deter us from taking the war against al-Qaeda to its next logical stage. The principal nest of terrorist vipers is not in the Philippines, Georgia, Yemen, or Somalia. It is in Pakistan.

I do agree that the U.S. has no security reason to be in any of the countries Carpenter names, and that Pakistan poses a much more credible next target in going about the business of wiping out the folks who actually helped organize Sept. 11. I’m undecided right now about whether this is a good idea; I’d like to learn more.