Pakistan Threatens America Over bin Laden Raid

Pakistan's army has issued a strongly-worded statement warning Washington that ties between the two countries and their security cooperation will be reviewed if there is another raid into the nation's territory by American troops.

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The Navy Seals mission in the heart of Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden has raised awkward questions about Pakistan intelligence and embarrassed the political establishment. Many, if not most, Pakistanis are outraged that the widely unpopular United States already conducts drone attacks in their country, but those attacks are far up north near the Afghanistan border removed from where most Pakistanis live. The night time raid last weekend crossed far into the nation's sovereignty just miles from the capital and in an affluent suburb home to a military garrison and the nation's most prestigious military academy, adding further insult and indignity to the nation.

The army's statement was meant to placate an enraged public opinion which is furious that their leaders neither were able to do anything nor even aware about the mission. President Obama has maintained that the United States will take whatever action is necessary in its defense.

Although Pakistan's president and military clearly need to appease public opinion by sounding patriotic and feigning anger, Pakistan has more to lose than America if ties worsened. The nation has been the recipient of billions in military aid and without it Pakistan's strategic interest in its rival against India would greatly be undermined, especially as any Pakistan un-cooperation would only strengthen American ties with India; something the Pakistanis would be loath to see. Thus this statement is merely a bluff. Pakistan cannot be happy that Navy Seals crossed into the country completely in stealth, but it is dependent on American aid and support and, furthermore, the nation is probably seeking to great a storm over national sovereignty as a smokescreen to distract from the vital question of how bin Laden could find harbor in the country for five years in such a community surrounded by the military and near the capital?