I will order anti-terror strikes in Pak: Obama

In a tough message to Pakistan, US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday said he will be ready to order military strikes against 'high-value terrorist targets' in that country if there are 'actionable intelligence,' even without Islamabad's permission.

Pakistan must make substantial progress in closing down the terrorist training camps, evicting foreign fighters and preventing the Taliban from using the country as a staging area for attacks in Afghanistan, the Illinois Senator said.

"Let me make this clear. There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again...If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Pervez Musharraf won't act, we will," he said, in prepared remarks to be delivered at the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars.

"I understand that President Musharraf has his own challenges," Obama said in excerpts from the speech released by his 2008 presidential campaign.

"I will make our conditions clear: Pakistan must make substantial progress in closing down the training camps, evicting foreign fighters, and preventing the Taliban from using Pakistan as a staging area for attacks in Afghanistan."

Obama's tough words to Islamabad must be seen in the context of an image that his opponents in the 2008 race, like Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, have been trying to portray -- that the Illinois Democrat is somehow inexperienced and naïve when it comes to foreign policy.

Obama's remarks should also be seen in the framework of a growing call on the Capitol Hill that the Bush administration should seek out actionable targets on its own inside Pakistan.

The comments by the Democrat presidential candidate come in the wake of a recent National Intelligence Estimate that painted a troubling portrait of a resurgent Al Qaeda, finding safe havens in the northwestern areas of Pakistan.

Obama also criticised President George W Bush stating that if elected President, he will end the war in Iraq and instead re-focus attention on the Al Qaeda threat in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"The President will have us believe that every bomb in Baghdad is part of Al Qaeda's war against us, not an Iraqi civil war. He elevates Al Qaeda in Iraq -- which did not exist before our invasion -- and overlooks the people who hit us on 9/11, who are training new recruits in Pakistan," Obama said.

"He (Bush) confuses our mission," Obama said.

He regretted a 'terrible mistake' by the Bush administration 'to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an Al Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005.'

Obama was apparently referring to a secret military plan to kill Al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, in Pakistan. Some administration officials have lately been suggesting the possibility of military strikes to deal with Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

Pakistan has strongly reacted to such suggestions, saying such actions will be 'unfortunate' and against the international law.