On October 19, 2007, a failed assassination attempt on Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed 140 people. “On December 27 [2007], Bhutto’s enemies struck again, this time deploying a gunman to finish the job. In the minutes before Bhutto was killed in Rawalpindi, she was standing up through the sunroof of her armored vehicle–a […]
12/27/2007
“A suicide attack killed the Pakistan People’s Party leader and twice prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, in December [27] 2007.” – Deepak Tripathi, Overcoming the Bush Legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan, Page 59 […]
12/27/2007
“According to the CIA, the al Qaeda-Taliban connection in Pakistan is also responsible for the [December 27, 2007] murder of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto.” – Bruce Riedel, The Search for Al Qaeda, Page 84 […]
12/23/2007
“The fighters of Iraq’s ‘Sunni awakening’ have become as controversial as they’ve been successful. Nearly 80,000-strong, paid by the Pentagon, and independent of the Iraqi government, these Sunni ‘awakening councils’ are largely made up of former insurgents who have turned their guns on al Qaeda. ‘At the beginning, people saw it as an occupation which […]
12/15/2007
“In December 2007 two dozen tribal militias and other groups from Punjab [Pakistan] and Kashmir met in FATA [Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas], where they joined together to form a new organization, the ‘Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’ (TTP), Movement of the Pakistan Taliban, led by the charismatic 35-year-old Baitullah Mehsud from South Waziristan [Pakistan], a close ally […]
12/15/2007
Coverage of classified State Department documents exposed by WikiLeaks focused on misappropriated military aid sent by the U.S. to Pakistan. “In December [15] 2007 US diplomats reported multiple instances where ‘funds have been diverted and reimbursed claims figures have been seriously inflated.’ Despite $55m for helicopter maintenance, sometimes only two Cobra helicopter gunships were ready […]
12/15/2007
“According to a public opinion survey carried out in December 2007 by Terror Free Tomorrow, a not-for-profit group seeking to establish why people support or oppose extremism, fewer than one in ten Saudis has a favorable opinion of Al Qaeda and 88 percent approve of the Saudi authorities pursuing Al Qaeda operatives.” [The 15th of […]
12/15/2007
“In December [2007], Major General Joseph Fil, commanding general of the Multinational Division Baghdad and 1st Cavalry Division, reported that since November 2006, attacks against citizens in Baghdad had dropped almost 80 percent and vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED) incidents had declined approximately 70 percent.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes […]
12/12/2007
“On December 12, 2007, in North Warizistan [Pakistan], some forty tribal leaders who commanded separate militias had met to form the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or Movement of the Pakistani Taliban. They chose a young militant, Baitullah Mehsud, as their leader. Their stated objective was to unite their militias and establish a centralized organization, fight NATO forces […]
12/11/2007
“On December 11, 2007, AQIM [al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb] struck the UN headquarters in Algiers, a target clearly selected by the leadership in Pakistan for its symbolic value. To al Qaeda, the United Nations epitomizes Western domination of the Islamic world. A key target, UN facilities have now been attacked in Iraq and […]