[Peace-discuss] End Obama's war vs. Pakistan (vi)

Fri Oct 1 20:26:13 CDT 2010

Invading Pakistan
Posted By _Justin Raimondo_
On September 30, 2010_
<http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/09/30/invading-pakistan/print/#comments_controls>_

"We will have to see whether we are allies or enemies," said 
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11441279> Pakistani Interior 
Minister Rehman Malik after a US/NATO manned air strike took out three Pakistani 
soldiers and wounded three others. If it isn't clear to the Pakistani minister, 
it is crystal clear to the people of Pakistan, who live in fear 
<http://siyasipakistan.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/north-waziristan-residents-live-in-constant-fear-21-us-drone-attacks-launched-this-month/> 
of constant US drone attacks -- and, now, open violations of their country's 
sovereignty. Anti-American sentiment is at an all-time high, and the 
increasingly fragile 
<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a5N.x3Ni3wRs> government 
-- which hangs by a very thin 
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/8035000/Gen-Musharraf-warns-of-Pakistan-coup-after-crisis-meeting-in-London.html> 
thread -- is being rapidly undermined by US actions.

The attack was launched "in self-defense," 
<http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C10%5C01%5Cstory_1-10-2010_pg1_1> 
according to the US military, but the Pakistanis weren't appeased: they promptly 
cut off 
<http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/30/1851036/pakistan-closes-critical-border.html> 
a vital supply route into Afghanistan. Slowly, but surely, the Obama 
administration is keeping one of the President's more ominous 
<http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0132206420070801> campaign promises -- that 
he would invade Pakistan, if necessary, to "win" the war in Afghanistan. Even 
John McCain 
<http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2008/02/20/4438617-mccain-paints-obama-as-too-hawkish> 
found this a scary prospect, and denounced it as "dangerous" -- and yet we hear 
nary a peep from the Democratic-controlled Congress, nor are any Republicans, 
including McCain, raising objections.

Yet this move toward an open confrontation with our Pakistani "allies" may be 
the most momentous development to date in our seemingly endless "war on 
terrorism," one that will plunge the entire region into a conflagration we can 
barely imagine. Today it is drone strikes 
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/09/new-poll-pakistanis-hate-the-drones-back-suicide-attacks-on-u-s-troops/>, 
and occasional NATO manned incursions: tomorrow our armies will be marching on 
Islamabad 
<http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:LSq4B9dSUksJ:sec.wltx.com/quote/038F7Ck9tHc7l+%22top+mission%22+%22secure+Pakistan%E2%80%99s+nukes%22&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us>, 
trying to unseat Islamic "radicals" on the verge of taking over the country.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is the prize Osama bin Laden and his cohorts have to win 
in order to strike a major blow at the US -- and we are doing our best to 
deliver it to him, gift-wrapped. The raids that resulted in the deaths of 
Pakistani soldiers are said to be somehow connected to vague 
<http://news.antiwar.com/2010/09/29/officials-issue-urgent-but-vague-terror-alert/> 
intelligence reports of a "Mumbai-style 
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/british-brothers-behind-plot-to-terrorise-europe-2094515.html>" 
attack planned for somewhere in Europe: the Eiffel Tower was evacuated 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/29/world/europe/29briefs-BOMB.html> briefly the 
other day, and police presence at British landmarks and other sites in Germany 
was beefed up. But one wonders: if these plans are already in the execution 
stage, then how would an attack in Pakistan stop or deter them?

The answer is: it wouldn't. But then again the entire rationale 
<http://edition.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/09/times.square.suspect/index.html?eref=edition> 
for occupying Afghanistan and destabilizing Pakistan -- to eliminate the 
possibility of attacks on the West -- has never been all that convincing. The 
9/11 terrorist attacks were launched from Hamburg 
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2349195.stm>, Germany, and Hollywood 
<http://www.sptimes.com/2002/09/01/911/Florida__terror_s_lau.shtml>, Florida, 
not Afghanistan or Pakistan. But then again, no one believes anything coming out 
of the mouths of US officials, including the officials themselves.

The Americans are constantly harping on the alleged unwillingness of Pakistani 
authorities to take on the terrorists, but in reality it is Pakistan that has 
caught 
<http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:MHa2aefD1ZMJ:chaltatv.com/view_video.php%3Fflag%3DF%26viewkey%3D477451530c4455b2a9e8+%22terrorists+arrested+in+pakistan%22&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us> 
and neutralized more terrorists than the US and its allies combined. However, 
the Obama administration facing political pressure on the home front to "do 
something," and stuck in a quagmire of its own making, needs a scapegoat -- 
preferably a foreign (and Islamic) one. Pakistan fits the bill.

It's all about politics -- shocking, isn't it?

Driven by this dynamic, the US is on a course that has to end in a much-extended 
war, one that will have us openly fighting in Pakistan before too long. In which 
case the civilian government is likely to fall 
<http://news.oneindia.in/2010/09/12/sastroops-plan-to-rescue-britons-amid-pak-military-coupfea.html> 
and the Pakistani military -- trained and armed by the US -- will fill the 
vacuum. This is just what the Pakistani branch of the Taliban wants: it gives 
them a clear narrative to recite to potential recruits, who are bound to flow 
into their ranks. In the wake of the worst floods in Pakistan's long history, 
which have left four million homeless 
<http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/44274/20100819/pakistan-flood-homeless-toll-put-at-over-4-million.htm>, 
and hopeless, a full-blown insurgency is likely to spread from the tribal 
regions to the rest of the country, threatening the cities -- and creating an 
opportunity for India to move in.

The Indian factor is the one big unknown is all this turmoil, one that could 
play a decisive role in making a bad situation worse. Pakistan and India have 
been in a state of undeclared war 
<http://www.ericmargolis.com/political_commentaries/burning-kashmir.aspx> since 
1947 
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/south_asia/2002/india_pakistan/timeline/default.stm>, 
and the rise of Hindu ultra-nationalism has exacerbated tensions with Muslims, 
who have been the targets of violence by Hindu extremists. Tensions are high 
right now due to the expected court decision over who owns the land on which the 
Ayodhya <http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=288189> mosque 
once sat: Muslims want to rebuild the 16th century structure, while extremist 
Hindus are opposed. The issue could spark yet another round of ethno-religious 
rioting in India, provoke more terrorist attacks in the region, and ultimately 
lead to a violent clash with Pakistan over one of many flashpoints on the long 
Indo-Pakistani border.

The very dangerous course the Obama is currently pursuing could easily end in 
the world's first nuclear exchange <http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/southasia.asp>: 
Indian nukes are aimed straight at Islamabad, just as Pakistan's nuclear-tipped 
missiles are pointed at New Delhi.

This grisly prospect doesn't seem to be deterring the Obama administration one 
bit: indeed, our provocations aimed at Pakistan have only increased in recent 
days. Reckless is too mild a word to employ in this regard: crazy is more like it.

http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/09/30/invading-pakistan/

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