Tuesday, July 29, 2008

George Bush blasted by Pakistan PM

The Australian

PAKISTAN'S Prime Minister lashed out at George W. Bush during talks in Washington yesterday, "reproaching" the US President over a US Hellfire drone missile strike inside Pakistani territory only hours before the leaders met.

The missile strike that reportedly killed an al-Qa'ida chemical and biological weapons expert came hours before new Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani met Mr Bush and warned him not to launch "unilateral" strikes on Pakistani soil.

Speaking immediately after his meeting with the US President, Mr Gilani said: "This action should not have been taken by the United States. It's our job because we are fighting the war for ourselves."

If the missile strike was proven to have been a US operation, it would be a violation of Pakistani sovereignty, he said.

"Basically, Americans are a little impatient. Therefore in the future I think we'll have more co-operation on the intelligence side and we'll do the job ourselves," Mr Gilani said.

But US officials strongly defended the missile strike that was claimed to have killed Abu Khabab al-Masri, al-Qa'ida's Egyptian-born chemical and biological weapons expert.........

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