Is Pakistan Finally Going To Take Down Baitullah Mehsud?

For far too long, Taliban and al Qaeda linked leader Baitullah Mehsud has had his way in northwetern Pakistan, more specificially, in the Waziristan provinces...in fact, you may recall that when the political candidate Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, all evidence of that plot came directly back to Mehsud. Well now there is a report here at IBN Live that says that the Pakistani military is planning an offensive next month to go after Mehsud's army and finally take him out of control. Here's the entire article:

Pak planning offensive against Baitullah Mehsud

New Delhi: The Pakistani Army is planning to launch an offensive in Waziristan against Beitullah Mehsud next month. Sources close to the Pakistani military said the goal would be to restore state control over the area.
Western diplomats in Islamabad also confirmed plans for the offensive and said Islamabad could declare an emergency in the North West Frontier Province to facilitate the operation.
The province is already facing the pressure of having to care for an estimated half a million refugees fleeing the fighting in Swat and Buner.
The US is rushing $5 million in emergency assistance but is facing an uphill battle trying to convince Congress on releasing $400 million in counter-insurgency funding for the Pakistani military and nearly $2 billion in State Department assistance.
On Tuesday missiles fired by a US drone flattened a house in remote Pakistani tribal areas bordering Afghanistan killing eight people, all militants, official said.
Two missiles fired by the drone hit a compound in Sara Khwara in South Waziristan tribal region, in the second such drone attack in less than two days.
The house, according to officials, was being used by militants to stay before crossing the border or coming back from Afghanistan.

This offensive would be huge, if indeed it is being planned and if it actually takes place because it would show that the Pakistani government is finally serious and committed to taking back the NW provinces. I guess I am skeptical that this will happen but one has to at least cling to a little hope that the government will see the necessity of all this. I mentioned over the weeks and months that cleaning the Taliban out of a couple of districts isn't going to cut it - that a total sweep of the Northwest Provinces was needed and this operation in Waziristan would send the signal that it definitely could be done.

I'm sorry but I have long dreamt (and drooled) over the thought of a true Pakistani military push through the Northwest Provinces that would send the Taliban and al Qaeda northward to the Afghanistan border and literally bottle them all up along that line - it would be like thousands of salmon all stuck at one point in the river trying to get upstream and then we would see NATO and Pakistani air support literally obliterate the Taliban and al Qaeda. Okay, snapping out of it here! LOL

The fact that the Pakistani government has allowed Mehsud free reign for all of this time after they discovered he actually planned the murder of Bhutto showed their spineless nature and I guess I'll believe it when I see it regarding this rumored offensive against him, but if it does happen...well, it will probably mean more to the security of Pakistan than anything since the offensive in Swat.