Pakistan's military ridiculed

[SpeedRacer 1]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-south-asia-13311257

Speed Racer
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[quade 4]

They shouldn't be too hard on themselves. My guess is the helicopters were designed to be able to hide from far more sophisticated radar systems.

As far as that part goes, they probably didn't stand a chance. Generally speaking I think once our guys set out to do something, they're going to do it with the rare exception of some unfortunate mechanical failure. Even at that, this time it didn't stop them.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Andy9o8 3]

Don't be surprised if there's some kind of "incident" with India pretty soon in Kashmir. These guys have been seriously embarrassed, on a couple different levels, in front of the whole world; they desperately need a dog to wag to show that they've still got a dick to swing. Presumably India realizes this and is on heightened alert.

[SpeedRacer 1]

If the article is to be believed, I'd say our government made the right decision in Not telling the Pakistan government beforehand.

Speed Racer
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[quade 4]

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If the article is to be believed, I'd say our government made the right decision in Not telling the Pakistan government beforehand.

I agree.

I think we'd have to be extremely careful in who we notify about actions like these. I think we'd involve any of our strong allies like Canada or England and we might warn nuclear ICBM capable countries like Russia or China (my concern with countries like that is they might see it as a first strike and we'd want to avoid any button pushing), but these highly unstable middle eastern countries where loyalties are not guaranteed it's probably best if we don't tell them anything. By the time we're out, there's not a whole lot they can do about it anyway. Not that it makes an unannounced military action in a sovereign country "OK", but it's probably just the smartest thing to do all things considered for the security of everyone involved.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[shropshire 0]

Not sure how you get over the .. "invading another country is an act of war", thing.

I guess that Pakistan is just plain embarrassed or have been paid off.

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[david3 0]

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Not sure how you get over the .. "invading another country is an act of war", thing.

I guess that Pakistan is just plain embarrassed or have been paid off.

Embarrassed? Yes.
Paid off? Only billions of dollars.

[Andy9o8 3]

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Not sure how you get over the .. "invading another country is an act of war", thing

Off the top of my head, one angle might be to invoke the doctrine of "cross-border hot pursuit".

It's not a firmly-settled area of international law, but it's an interesting study for those inclined. See, for example:

http://www.cfr.org/iraq/can-states-invoke-hot-pursuit-hunt-rebels/p13440

http://www.brill.nl/right-hot-pursuit-international-law-2nd-edition

[shropshire 0]

Nice idea but they did not cross A border - they crossed loads..... Semantics aye?

(.)Y(.)
Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome

[Andy9o8 3]

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Nice idea but they did not cross A border - they crossed loads..... Semantics aye?

With military necessity, legal arguments don't win the day.

That being said: Bin Laden committed his act of war against the US from, and was sheltered in, Afghanistan. He did so with the aid and comfort, if not actual collusion, of the then-Afghan government, the Taliban. The US responded to said act of war by invading Afghanistan to pursue bin Laden and defeat a hostile enemy government. The US then remained in Afghanistan with the permission of the new Afghan govt (puppet notwithstanding; it is now the internationally-recognized govt.). Bin Laden - an enemy combatant and leader of the command-and-control of an enemy force, then fled to Pakistan. Under the general principle of hot pursuit, the US crossed the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan to engage in this mission.

[Belgian_Draft 0]

Often better to ask forgiveness rather than permission. This is a perfect example.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.