And Don't Forget (4.00 / 1)

In another sign of how well Bush policy is working in Pakistan, just lask week, The New York Times reported that unknown amounts of $5 billion in aid to Pakistan had been diverted from supposedly fighting al Qaede to fighting India:

After the United States has spent more than $5 billion in a largely failed effort to bolster the Pakistani military effort against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, some American officials now acknowledge that there were too few controls over the money. The strategy to improve the Pakistani military, they said, needs to be completely revamped.

In interviews in Islamabad and Washington, Bush administration and military officials said they believed that much of the American money was not making its way to frontline Pakistani units. Money has been diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India, not Al Qaeda or the Taliban, the officials said, adding that the United States has paid tens of millions of dollars in inflated Pakistani reimbursement claims for fuel, ammunition and other costs.

"I personally believe there is exaggeration and inflation," said a senior American military official who has reviewed the program, referring to Pakistani requests for reimbursement. "Then, I point back to the United States and say we didn't have to give them money this way."

There are so many layers of scandal and corruption in Pakistan, you might almost think it was Bush's America.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 09:21:25 AM CST

You know, call me a philistine, but I don't care if Pakistan's 'democratic'. (0.00 / 0)

Oh wait--stable countries don't see opposition leaders assassinated…

It depends on what you mean by 'stable,' innit? Think Black Panthers? Move, in Phila, PA?

Pakistan is a fucking nuclear state, god-blighted, beset with anarchic/sectarian rebellion, a fascist dictatorship, and an authoritarian (at best) history. It's been like that for at least 50 of the 60 years of its existence.

That's 'stable.'

The kind of democracy that marks the regimes of Central Asia is not one that inspires trust. Call me crazy, but I don't think a country like that is the best place to arm with armageddon-style weaponry, and any expedient that keeps that militant, fundamentalist, tribal ontology at bay, out of power, and away from the Nukes, is OKAY with me.

It's "good" for the Pukes because it contributes to their one and only campaign platform plank: fear, in all its permutations and ramifications. It was USer officialdom beginning with Carter, but growing exponentially during the Raygun Reign, which either facilitated or, at least, turned a blind eye to the development, because the Pakistanis were seen aas a potential counterweight to China and Russia in the region.

As for the tiger, it wasn't her fault. She was just being a tiger. It was the kid's fault for taunting and macho posturing.

But mebbe that's potentially a metaphor for the Paki thing: "We" shouldn't expect 'em to be what they are not. And probably we shouldn dangle a leg in the cage...

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by: konopelli @ Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 11:50:10 AM CST

For the focus on Iran.... (0.00 / 0)

...it seems that Pakistan may be the real test of our next President - if, indeed, the "former" General running the place  can hold off the looming civil war that long.

I can imagine the US military being "invited" to occupy key parts of Pakistan - say, to secure their nuclear arsenal - by the current leadership in a ploy to save his own ass.


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

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by: SpitBall @ Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 11:54:01 AM CST

Was there a trade-off? (0.00 / 0)

It is unlikely that Bhutto would be assassinated without at least negligence, if not something more, from the state security services, known to be very conservative and sympathetic with fundamentalist Islamists. 

Cheney is in charge of our Pakistan policy.  Could turning a nearly blind eye to this be the price of those special forces coming into Pakistan?

Sending in "military advisors" to teach some country's military to do what they were loathe to do themselves is just how we got into Vietnam.  I hope this doesn't turn into a repeat, with the next Dem as LBJ.

John McCain--He's not who you think he is.

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by: Mimikatz @ Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 12:07:05 PM CST

Doesn't Iraq qualify, too? (0.00 / 0)

"Sending in "military advisors" to teach some country's military to do what they were loathe to do themselves is just how we got into Vietnam.  I hope this doesn't turn into a repeat, with the next Dem as LBJ."

By my calculations - these developments in Pakistan have increased the chances that the "next Dem" President will begin channeling LBJ in January 2009.  Actually, the whole "residual forces" issue might just indicate that they already have....


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

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by: SpitBall @ Thu Dec 27, 2007 at 12:13:59 PM CST

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