Following the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, there were many comments about the untrustworthiness of (at least some) Pakistani security services, particularly the infamous ISI. Now it seems the US has handed Pakistan's government further proof of that. The Telegraph reports:
Mr Panetta visited Islamabad during the weekend to deliver damning evidence that Pakistan – or at least some elements within its security services – was continuing to protect extremists in its tribal belt.
In a meeting with Pakistani military chiefs, he handed over satellite imagery showing insurgents evacuating two bomb factories in Waziristan, days after the US had passed on surveillance video of the sites, according to a security source in Islamabad.
It is understood that Marc Grossman, US envoy to the region, delivered a video of the two installations in meetings last month with General Ashfaq Kayani, head of the Pakistan military, and Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, director of the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency. One was in a girls' school in the city of Miramshah, where the Haqqani network is headquarted. The second, in South Waziristan, was believed to be operated by al-Qaeda.
But the militants had fled by the time Pakistani forces moved in, raising suspicion that that the intelligence had been leaked.
There's more at the link.
We're caught on the horns of a dilemma here. If we stop funding Pakistan with handouts of billions of dollars a year, its fundamentalists will probably gain enough influence to take over the country - and that would put nuclear weapons and delivery systems into the hands of merciless religious fanatics. On the other hand, if we go on funding that country, we're basically throwing good money after bad, as its government dare not try to take down the fundamentalists for fear of starting a full-blown civil war. We saw just a few weeks ago how terrorist penetration of its armed forces has already reached alarming proportions.
What to do? I don't know . . . but I'm disgusted enough to want to wash my hands of the whole damn lot of them, and walk away. I know that's not the optimum solution, but right now, US lives are being lost in Afghanistan to weapons and ammunition that's reached the terrorists there through Pakistan, probably with the active co-operation of at least some in that country's security forces. That calls for a forceful response, in my opinion. I don't think Pakistan's worth a single American life.
Peter
Peter, don't worry about it -- it's really OK. What we're sending Pakistan must be Confederate money -- we don't have any of the real stuff left.
ReplyDeleteIn my less forgiving moments, I'd say nuke the entire middle-east, from top to bottom, sideways, and twice on Sunday. When if finishes glowing and the radioactive dust has settled, nuke it again, just to be sure. Then pave it under. A uniform depth of thirty feet of concrete ought to do.
ReplyDeleteThink of the jobs that could be created with that project.
WV: trepl Fine, we'll do it three times. I'm sure we have enough nukes for that.
What if we walked away after disabling every nuke site in Pakistan?
ReplyDeleteLeatherneck
Sadly, the only real solution is the one we won't do. That is to say, proportionate to THEM what they desire to do to US, which is to eliminate every single Muslim in the world.
ReplyDeleteThat'd be the only way to stop the rot.
Since we as a civilized humanity haven't got the "cajones" to do the job, then we'll end up losing the war one battle at a time until they do it to us.
We might be almost down and out, but thank God, our brains are operating on HIGH!!!! :)
ReplyDeleteCaptcha prophecy? : after
ReplyDeleteMakes me shiver a bit.
Anywho...
The money is going to stop. The Weimar Republic could not prop up an outside economy with it's funny money and eventually we won't be able to either. However, there is one check still left to balance things, or finish things off depending on how it plays out. Pakistan can go as nuts as it wants to really. It'll have a choice to make when it does. Return to sanity or be nuked by India. India is not going to stand by and let Pakistan turn into a nuclear armed Afghanistan. They have far to much to lose.
Actually the worse case scenario is that the situation stays peaceful between them in a situation like that and the radicals are able to acquire nukes for other purposes. I don't think Pakistan will forget who their neighbor is though.
"I don't think Pakistan's worth a single American life?" Damn straight.
ReplyDelete