something we can be very, very, very glad did not happen

Report: U.S. was ready to fight Pakistanis

It could have been the ugliest diplomatic dispute in years, if not something much worse.

I understand why Obama had to plan for it, and why he felt the stakes were high enough in this case to risk it. But still. I’m glad the U.S. did not ultimately shoot up the soldiers of a nuclear-armed quasi-ally. Yes yes, I am very happy indeed.

[ADDENDUM: Interestingly, Obama was always surprisingly hawkish on Pakistan issues all the way back to the 2008 campaign, much more hawkish on that particular point than McCain, who said he would never violate Pakistani sovereignty to go after any al-Qaeda figures. And then Obama added James Jones as his National Security Advisor, who if memory serves had expressed similarly hawkish views on that particular point. It seemed at the time like it might just be campaign positioning, but evidently it is Obama’s genuine view that he will strike inside Pakistan without their permission. This dispute is going to take awhile to play out, and could still get pretty ugly.]