US Asks Pakistani Elite to Look for Terrorists ...

... inside their own families
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 21, 2010 12:30 PM CDT
US Asks Pakistani Elite to Look for Terrorists ...
This undated booking mug released by the U.S. shows Faisal Shahzad.   (AP Photo/U.S. Marshals Service)

The Obama administration has issued an unusual request to Pakistan's leaders: Make sure your kids aren't terrorists. A federal official tells Philip Shenon of the Daily Beast that the administration sent a “clear, if carefully worded warning” to political and and military leaders to check their families and staff for connections to terror groups.

The warning comes after a spate of arrests that turned up ties to high-ranking Pakistanis, most notably Times Square suspect Faisal Shahzad, the son of a retired air marshal. "You really see what we’re up against,” said a US official. “We’ve got elements of the Pakistani gentry—people who can get in and out of the United States with ease, if they’re not already citizens here—who are getting roped into terrorism.” (More Pakistan stories.)

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