Truespeak

Back on July 7, I was reading Josh Marshall's blog and I came across this article that was quoting an article from the New Republic.

A third source, an official who works under ISI's director, Lieutenant General Ehsan ul-Haq, informed tnr that the Pakistanis "have been told at every level that apprehension or killing of HVTs [i.e., high-value al Qaida targets] before [the] election is [an] absolute must." What's more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: "The last ten days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during [ul-Haq's] meetings in Washington." Says McCormack: "I'm aware of no such comment." But according to this ISI official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last spring that "it would be best if the arrest or killing of [any] HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July"--the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Not being a huge fan of consipiracy theories and daring predictions, I wasn't really too sure what to make of this. Then today we hear this:

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian wanted in connection with the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, has been captured in Pakistan, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said Thursday.

The FBI had offered a reward for his capture of up to $5 million. At least 13 other people, including Ghailani's wife, a Uzbek national, were arrested along with him. Ten were non-Pakistanis, Pakistani security sources said.

A U.S. official in Washington confirmed the arrest but refused to say whether the United States had any role in the capture.

The official did note that the United States "has been working closely with the Pakistanis" and credited the Islamabad government with "stepping up things over the past few months" in its pursuit of terrorists.

Pretty scary stuff. Everyday I grow more and more uneasy about another "surprise" come October. Maybe they'll trot out bin Laden or maybe there'll be another attack. It's hard to say what depths the Republicans will sink to.