U.S. should pursue terrorists over borders

THE ISSUE President Bush has authorized military units to pursue terrorists into Pakistan without Pakistan's permission.

The United States has every justification to cross any border in pursuit of the terrorists who attacked America seven years ago, and President Bush finally has authorized such assaults into Pakistan. American officials will notify Pakistan when they conduct ground attacks into the sanctuary of al-Qaida and Taliban, but Pakistan's permission should not be required.

Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's new president, has vowed to continue predecessor Pervez Musharraf's counterterrorism partnership with the U.S. Bush's secretly approved orders in July to allow U.S. Special Operations forces to carry out assaults in the tribal areas of Pakistan give Zardari an opportunity to demonstrate his commitment.

More than two dozen Navy Seals recently spent several hours on the ground in northwestern Pakistan and killed al-Qaida fighters who had been conducting attacks against a U.S. base across the border in Afghanistan.

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said more than a year ago that he would be willing to attack inside Pakistan with or without approval from Pakistan "if we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act."

Republican nominee John McCain recently said he would not pursue bin Laden if he slipped inside Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan because "Pakistan is a sovereign nation." So was Iraq, but McCain supported that invasion on the basis of flawed intelligence that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction and had something to do with 9/11.

The CIA has fired missiles from remotely piloted Predator aircraft at militants inside Pakistan for several years, but sending military forces into the Taliban sanctuary has been needed. Zardari should concentrate on ending ties between Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, which has been aiding terrorists, and the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who had advance knowledge of the terrorist bombing of India's embassy in Afghanistan in July but sounded no alarm.