[Peace-discuss] We have to kill them

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Like the Iraqis and Afghans, the damn Pakistanis won't do what they're told. 
So our soldiers have to "defend freedom" = our freedom to order these foreigners 
around.  --CGE]

	US Ambassador Accuses Pakistan’s Jang
	Media Group of Endangering Americans
	Accuses Top Media Outlet of 'Conspiracy Theories'
	by Jason Ditz, September 07, 2009

Adding fuel to an already serious diplomatic fire, US Ambassador to Pakistan 
Anne Patterson discussed the contents of an angry letter she wrote to the Jang 
Group, Pakistan’s largest media conglomerate. Ambassador Patterson accused Jang 
of spreading “wildly incorrect” information and said the group had “compromised 
the security of Americans.”

Patterson’s very public clash with Jang was brought to the attention of much of 
Pakistan late last week, when she managed to get Jang’s “The News International” 
newspaper to pull the weekly column of top analyst Dr. Shireen Mazari over the 
article’s reference to Blackwater contractors operating in Pakistan on the 
behalf of the US government. The article was made available on the paper’s 
website, but was not published.

The pulling of the article caused a major stir in Pakistan’s blogosphere, with 
many seeing the US embassy’s ability to block coverage of a story as an ominous 
sign of America’s growing influence in the impoverished, war-ridden nation. 
Ambassador Patterson made it clear, however, that her problems with Jang did not 
begin and end with the article, and said she objected to the content of two 
popular talk shows on the group’s Geo TV station, which she accused to spreading 
“conspiracy theories.”

Last month, a poll conducted by Gallup showed that a majority of Pakistanis had 
identified the United States as the biggest threat to the nation, and there is a 
growing sense among Pakistanis that the nation’s recent military offensives are 
more for America’s benefit than for their own.

And while Ambassador Patterson has denied that any Blackwater employees are in 
Pakistan, former CIA officials had conceded only a few weeks ago that Blackwater 
was responsible for all the security on Pakistan’s Shamsi Air Base, from which 
US drones are launched.

As the US continues to expand its embassy in Islamabad and its war in 
Afghanistan, the conspicuous US presence is only going to fuel more unrest. 
Whether this will mean a growing clash with Pakistan’s private media over 
reporting on its activities, however, remains to be seen.