After reading a considerable amount on the subject, I can barely muster the outrage that the public face of both governments are showing.
Is the United States saying that it didn't know? After the numerous visits by politicians and military leaders to urge Pakistan to do more and the well known history of that government with extremists, it is difficult to believe that the US did not have some idea that the Pakistanis, or some elements within, were double dealing.
At this moment, the US government is sounding considerably like the wronged mistress who complains loudly that "he said he was going to leave his wife and marry me." Ridiculous and, if true, unbelievably naive.
I don't buy it. The US knew that something was up or would not have been playing the same game.
Obviously, the public outrage is for cover. For Pakistan, for the US government to it's constituents who, if they are to believe the government, would be equally naive. We have not traded billions of dollars to get one terrorist, nor to buy Pakistan's weak assistance. We have used billions of dollars to get inside the largest state sponsor of terror, make contacts and discover exactly how far within and without the Pakistani government this endeavor goes.
Who has been supplying the millions of dollars to buy fighters and weapons? This isn't all drug money or from Saudi Arabia. Has no one wondered where all of the Russian and Chinese AK-47's and RPGs are coming from? The explosives to make IEDs? As much as Pakistan may or may not be officially directing some aspect of the Afghanistan Insurgency/Terrorist network, there is much money and duplicity running around the globe.
Ignorance is bliss, they say, but it is hard to believe this pretense of ignorance. What is more important is the message that is being sent that, strangely enough sounds like Bush's "you're either with us or against us". A short term strategy that will shake the pillars of Pakistan, shake some people and information loose, but will not have them collapse. Instead, the US will get a new bargain for the next billions spent or Pakistan will discover that the US knows just a little bit more about their internal workings.
If there is one thing that Pakistani politicians and military leaders understand, it is survival. They have many examples of what happens inside Pakistan to those who can no longer pay the headsman to put off their turn at the block.
On that, there can be no pretense of ignorance.
Update: Seven al Qaeda have "surrendered" to Saudi authorities after bin Laden's death while others flee to Yemen. The Saudis say that the men are with their families and their cases are being considered.
Pretense of ignorance.
Is the United States saying that it didn't know? After the numerous visits by politicians and military leaders to urge Pakistan to do more and the well known history of that government with extremists, it is difficult to believe that the US did not have some idea that the Pakistanis, or some elements within, were double dealing.
At this moment, the US government is sounding considerably like the wronged mistress who complains loudly that "he said he was going to leave his wife and marry me." Ridiculous and, if true, unbelievably naive.
I don't buy it. The US knew that something was up or would not have been playing the same game.
Obviously, the public outrage is for cover. For Pakistan, for the US government to it's constituents who, if they are to believe the government, would be equally naive. We have not traded billions of dollars to get one terrorist, nor to buy Pakistan's weak assistance. We have used billions of dollars to get inside the largest state sponsor of terror, make contacts and discover exactly how far within and without the Pakistani government this endeavor goes.
Who has been supplying the millions of dollars to buy fighters and weapons? This isn't all drug money or from Saudi Arabia. Has no one wondered where all of the Russian and Chinese AK-47's and RPGs are coming from? The explosives to make IEDs? As much as Pakistan may or may not be officially directing some aspect of the Afghanistan Insurgency/Terrorist network, there is much money and duplicity running around the globe.
Ignorance is bliss, they say, but it is hard to believe this pretense of ignorance. What is more important is the message that is being sent that, strangely enough sounds like Bush's "you're either with us or against us". A short term strategy that will shake the pillars of Pakistan, shake some people and information loose, but will not have them collapse. Instead, the US will get a new bargain for the next billions spent or Pakistan will discover that the US knows just a little bit more about their internal workings.
If there is one thing that Pakistani politicians and military leaders understand, it is survival. They have many examples of what happens inside Pakistan to those who can no longer pay the headsman to put off their turn at the block.
On that, there can be no pretense of ignorance.
Update: Seven al Qaeda have "surrendered" to Saudi authorities after bin Laden's death while others flee to Yemen. The Saudis say that the men are with their families and their cases are being considered.
Pretense of ignorance.
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