Mar 28, 2004: The “High Value Target” fiasco
	Last week Pakistani President told the CNN that his army has surrounded a “High Value Target” (that was expected to be the al-Qaeda number two.) The entire world media was made to believe in this “Bush-Mush Axis” that rarely delivers the goods. This is an excellent example of why America and Pakistan are the friends in their so-called “War-on-Terror” and how they serve each other’s interests. What happened at the end? The “High Value Target” (that was never there), fooled the “thousands of Pakistani troops” and escaped. Their troops managed to capture about 100 "suspects" that are overwhelming majority of Pashtun tribesmen and certainly no high-value Arab jihadis. At the End – Pakistan, ISI & al-Qaeda are happy that no major terrorist got in the net. President Bush is happy that this fiasco served to divert world attention away from the Iraq anniversary. American people are happy that Pakistan is fighting their war on terror. Mush is happy that he earned enormous American Goodwill and many more billion Dollars in future. Isn’t this a wonderful situation where everyone including the terrorists are happy with the outcome? A Win-Win situation for the America and the Pakistan!!! The “High Value Target” fiasco http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FC24Df05.html  By Pepe Escobar - Asia Times It featured all the trappings of a glorified video game. Thousands of Pakistani army and paramilitary troops played the hammer. Hundreds of US troops and Special Forces, plus the elite commando 121, were ready to play the anvil across the border in Afghanistan. What was supposed to be smashed in between was "high-value target" Ayman al-Zawahiri, as Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf enthusiastically bragged - with no hard evidence - to an eager CNN last Thursday. But what happened to this gigantic piece of psy-ops? Nothing. And for a very simple reason: al-Qaeda's brain and Osama bin Laden's deputy was never there in the first place. And even if he was, as Taliban-connected sources in Peshawar told Asia Times Online, he would choose to die as a martyr rather than be captured and paraded as a US trophy. ......... ............... ........................ ..............................