U.S. Predator Attacks Al Qaeda, Taliban Inside of Pakistan - But Outside Of NW Tribal Areas

This is huge - this is the FIRST U.S. airstrike inside of Pakistan that wasn't confined to the tribal areas of the NW area of Pakistan. Let's look at how Bill Roggio describes it at The Long War Journal:

An unmanned US Predator aircraft attacked a Taliban and al Qaeda safe house in the Bannu Frontier Region east of North Waziristan early today, according to reports from the region.
At least five people were killed in the early morning airstrike, including two "foreigners," according to Dawn. Five people are reported to have been wounded. Arabs and other central Asian and North African al Qaeda members are often called foreigners by local Pakistanis.

Bannu, a Frontier Region, is outside of Pakistan's tribal areas. Bannu borders the Taliban-controlled North and South Waziristan tribal areas to the east. According to US intelligence officials and reports from the region, Bannu is effectively under Taliban control.
Today's airstrike is the first recorded US attack outside of Pakistan’s tribal areas, and appears to be the deepest strike inside Pakistani territory.

Did you see that? Bill says the predator attack "appears to be the deepest strike inside Pakistani territory." This is significant because it shows how willing U.S. commanders are to push the envelope with the Pakistanis. And at the same time, this is significant because of the mindset of top al Qaeda leaders and Taliban leaders hiding out in Pakistan. Let's face it...if you are a bin Laden or al Zawahiri or Mullah Omar and you were in the NW tribal areas and saw all of these predator strikes going on, your first inclination would be to move outside of that area. And now, the U.S. has sent an effective message that they are not safe ANYWHERE inside of Pakistan.

I'm not saying this airstrike came close to a target like bin Laden but the mind fuck it does on him is priceless. And I have said it before - if we can keep bin Laden and the rest on pins and needles, they will have to move more often and when they increase that frequency, the more likely they will make a mistake. This is a highly significant airstrike if not only in symbolic means.

US Predator strikes al Qaeda & Taliban outside of Pakistan's tribal areas

Today's attack is only the third since General David Petraeus took command of US Central Command, and the third in November. The attacks are tapering off after a high operational tempo in September and October, when strikes into Pakistan averaged between two to three a week.
There have been 30 recorded cross-border attacks and attempts in Pakistan this year, according to numbers compiled by The Long War Journal. Twenty-three of these attacks have occurred since Aug. 31. There were only 10 strikes during 2006 and 2007 combined.
The strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas have disrupted al Qaeda and the Taliban's operations, but will not dislodge the groups from power in the region, a senior intelligence official told The Long War Journal.
The US campaign in Pakistan is aimed at disrupting al Qaeda's ability to attack the West, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal on Sept. 19.
US intelligence believes the next attack launched against the West will originate from Pakistan's tribal areas, where al Qaeda operates 157 known training camps, intelligence officials told The Long War Journal in August.
Pakistan has been identified as one of several areas where al Qaeda has regrouped, CIA Director General Michael Hayden during a briefing to the Atlantic Council on Nov. 13.