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US Stirs a Hornet's Nest in Pakistan
PARIS - Pakistan finally bowed to Washington's angry demands last week by unleashing its military against rebellious Pashtun tribesmen of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) -- collectively mislabelled "Taliban" in the West.
The Obama administration had threatened to stop $2 billion US annual cash payments to bankrupt Pakistan's political and military leadership and block $6.5 billion future aid, unless Islamabad sent its soldiers into Pakistan's turbulent NWFP along the Afghan frontier.
The result was a bloodbath: Some 1,000 "terrorists" killed (read: mostly civilians) and 1.2 million people -- most of Swat's population -- made refugees.
Pakistan's U.S.-rented armed forces have scored a brilliant victory against their own people. Too bad they don't do as well in wars against India. Blasting civilians, however, is much safer and more profitable.
Unable to pacify Afghanistan's Pashtun tribes (a.k.a. Taliban), a deeply frustrated Washington has begun tearing Pakistan apart in an effort to end Pashtun resistance in both nations. CIA drone aircraft have so far killed over 700 Pakistani Pashtun. Only 6% were militants, according to Pakistan's media, the rest civilians.
Pashtun, also improperly called Pathan, are the world's largest tribal people. Fifteen million live in Afghanistan, forming half its population. Twenty-six million live right across the border in Pakistan. Britain's imperialists divided Pashtun by an artificial border, the Durand Line (today's Afghan-Pakistan border). Pashtun reject it.
Many Pashtun tribes agreed to join Pakistan in 1947, provided much of their homeland be autonomous and free of government troops. Pashtun Swat only joined Pakistan in 1969.
As Pakistan's Pashtun increasingly aided Pashtun resistance in Afghanistan, U.S. drones began attacking them. Washington forced Islamabad to violate its own constitution by sending troops into Pashtun lands. The result was the current explosion of Pashtun anger.
I have been to war with the Pashtun and have seen their legendary courage, strong sense of honour and determination. They are also hugely quarrelsome, feuding and prickly.
One quickly learns never to threaten a Pashtun or give him ultimatums. These are the mountain warriors who defied the U.S. by refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden because he was a hero of the anti-Soviet war and their guest. The ancient code of "Pashtunwali" still guides them: Do not attack Pashtun, do not cheat them, do not cause them dishonour. To Pashtun, revenge is sacred.
HAM-HANDED
Now, Washington's ham-handed policies and last week's Swat atrocity threaten to ignite Pakistan's second worst nightmare after invasion by India: That its 26 million Pashtun will secede and join Afghanistan's Pashtun to form an independent Pashtun state, Pashtunistan.
This would rend Pakistan asunder, probably provoke its restive Baluchi tribes to secede and tempt mighty India to intervene militarily, risking nuclear war with beleaguered Pakistan.
The Pashtun of NWFP have no intention or capability of moving into Pakistan's other provinces, Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan. They just want to be left alone. Alarms of a "Taliban takeover of Pakistan" are pure propaganda.
Lowland Pakistanis repeatedly have rejected militant Islamic parties. Many have little love for Pashtun, whom they regard as mountain wild men best avoided.
Nor are Pakistan's well-guarded nukes a danger -- at least not yet. Alarms about Pakistan's nukes come from the same fabricators with hidden agendas who brought us Saddam Hussein's bogus weapons.
THE REAL DANGER
The real danger is in the U.S. acting like an enraged mastodon, trampling Pakistan under foot, and forcing Islamabad's military to make war on its own people. Pakistan could end up like U.S.-occupied Iraq, split into three parts and helpless.
If this continues, at some point patriotic Pakistani soldiers may rebel and shoot the corrupt generals and politicians on Washington's payroll.
Equally ominous, a poor people's uprising spreading across Pakistan -- also mislabelled "Taliban" -- threatens a radical national rebellion reminiscent of India's Naxalite rebels.
As in Iraq, profound ignorance and gung ho military arrogance drive U.S. Afghan policy. Obama's people have no understanding what they are getting into in "AfPak." I can tell them: An unholy mess we will long regret.
34 Comments so far
Show AllWelcome, America, to the "graveyard of empires" ...
As a board member of Raytheon and General Atomic Aeronautical Systems, I must say this is excellent news. Imperial wars and aggression are good for stockholder value and insures that we executives get paid millions in bonuses. And even you peons get jobs at our manufacturing plants, because we are some of the few industries that make our products in the USA. We should be proud.(just kidding of course)
I think the "to bad they do'nt do as well in war against India" line is regrettable.
But the basic premise that we may now being seeing the disintergration of Pakistan by a USA pressured war, this I can see as a very possible outcome.
It seems the USA quest to capture a few Saudis and an Egyptian has lead the USA to destroy three countrys and counting.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia(contrary to Propaganda Somalia had formed a stable low violence government albeit Islamic before the USA unleashed the Ethiopian Proxies on them again destabilizing the nation just as the USA destabilized Afghanistan with it's attack on the Talibs), and very possibly Pakistan.
Next on the descent into Hell list is Iran or the Central Asian "Stans"
Funny how we never attack North Korea which has been brandishing Nuclear Weapons at the USA for years,China?
Sioux Rose
Finding "success" in Iraq, the idiots in chief and their uniformed enforcers went on to new lands to do likewise. Civil war is a byproduct of the U.S. inflaming old latent hatreds and making life so difficult and unbearable as to test the tolerance of a saint. Add to these infernos the insertion of God knows how many weapons and the recipe for Disaster (Capitalism's preferred channel, thank you Ms. Klein) is rendered complete. Plus if certain memos are accurate, population decimation is also a plan of these masters of the universe types who care not an iota for human life, or that of the planet. When Mars rules those who can show the greatest callous disregard for human beings make it to the top of the junk heap, and currently, with access to BILLIONS and BILLIONS of dollars of weapons, hey, they could not be better positioned to do enormous harm. And that is, after all, what they do best. And they can pay for PR to unleash their programs until the truth (too often after the fact) gets out, and then their team of appeasers and apologizers enter to do the psychic clean-up job; but the blood stains, alas, they leave a karmic record these sociopaths cannot wash away.
Oregoncharles
All true. But how many ways can we say the same thing? We need to figure out what can we do? Marching around in the streets only gives them practice in crowd control.
Arundhati Roy said something that to me is what we need to talk about: Why play their game, where they make all the rules and have all the power. Why can't we design our own game and force them to play by our rules?
How many "sick days" does it take to get a voice at the table? How many burned health insurance policies does it take to finally get single payer health-care. Can you be tasered for staying home from work for three days. Is it illegal to go on a national strike?
"Why can't we design our own game and force them to play by our rules"?
We can, OregonCharles, but that takes a lot of organization.
Anyone up for that?
I learned back in 1984 [Hi, Orwell] that it is quite futile to try to work through a government that is corrupted and unresponsive and has a power/money agenda that has little to do with the ordinary person. Yet, there are some very good people doing the public-servant thing, with many ideas we can agree with, and who we frequently support. But they are outnumbered, and when push comes to shove, they are banned from presidential debates or if they are in them, they get to answer maybe one question and they are placed at the very end of the line and the cameras purposely don't go there. Because there ideas are honest, frequently very good, and definitely for the people, they obviously don't get good press.
This U.S. has devolved into an OLIGARCHY, a CORPORATOCRACY. We are in Mussolini's territory. And we have a very definite SHOCK DOCTRINE CAPTIALISM going on right now that is destroying the country. Plus we have a new President who seems to have had a blood exchange with vampires. His decisions, if we can call them that, make no sense other than it's still about controlling a whole region rich in oil and gas. Problem is the largest country in the world to the North and spreading out to the Northeast is Russia with huge deposits of oil and gas, with former satellite countries to the south who also have oil and gas or the territory through which pipelines can be built.
To the southeast tucked up with Russia is another huge country, CHINA, who is a burgeoning "western" Wal-mart/automobile/MacMansion culture, hungry for gas and oil.
Eisenhower's nightmare always was that someday Russia and China would become like The Bobbsey Twins [if anyone remembers the Bobbsey Twins, circa 1930's/'40's?] or maybe I should say Siamese Twins joined at the hip.
So it seems what we are doing in league with Israel is flailing like mad to keep particular countries in line, even though they are obstreperous allies, and win, what seems clear, are unwinnable wars, and oddly and insanely to cement additional alliances, which seems impossible, if one has any sense. These alliance hopefuls include the battered, multi-tribally-cultured Afghanistan, a multi-religioned, tribal Pakistan [with all their nukes now, courtesy of that great visionary George W. Bush, who didn't realize as he was busy wrestling with pretzels that he was looking up the part of his own anatomy where the sun don't shine], Iraq, which we've pretty much decimated and flattened and the oil corporations have their generous contracts. And our darling Israel wants to take on Iran to "secure the realm" with countries such as Lebanon and Syria harnessed and badgered into the fold. It's all quite crazy.
Russia and China together are in a terrific position, and then there are those upstarts down in South America, such as Hugo Chavez who is selling oil to China too.
So we're caught in the old-fashioned way of EMPIRE ... maneuvering, going to war, attacking, conquering, etcetera, to establish or re-establish the BALANCE OF POWER.
I got news it's a different century, and our weapons are not swords and scimitars. We are playing with poisonous, lethal horrors with the kind of explosive power that will affect every man, woman, child, and unborn children living in the Mid-eastern area and with the prevailing wind currents, eventually the rest of the world. How dare we destroy, and destroy, and destroy, the lives of so many for the stinking, ill-gotten gains of a handful of people at the top of the wealthy, elitist pyramid?
We best come up with some truly visionary ideas and changes in behavior because it is not going to work anymore the way "it used to was," ... if it ever did.
So who's up for some new ideas with the willingness and the courage to commit, organize and act on them? Big order, but anything is possible.
Right, OregonCharles?
Anyone? Anyone?
peace, cm
Saw your post a few days back and you said you were born in 1936 and I said here is a guy who is a 36er;was born same year,Feb angryoldman,you've seen his posts,and I traded e-mails so that we could start something,anything but the idea was to get 1 million folks to dc next summer.My lady friend and angryoldman make 3 if you want to be 4,welcome!Tony
sandnton@comcast.net
The ignorance and sheer fabrication about the war in Afghanistan-Pakistan is so amazing that only a high calibre jouranalist like Eric Margolis, as usual, has been able to inject some objective analysis and reality into the mother of all US follies. Eric has the insight to predict the serious long-term damage this totally insane escalation in the region will wreak on the US and its interests in the new Asia centric multi-polar world.
Let's try to get a dose of REALITY about this Taliban business. The truth is that the same Pashtun tribesmen and civilians that are now being killed by the US and the Punjabi Pakistan military were once the darlings of the alCIAda, the Washington politicians (Charlie Wilson's War)and the regional powers who wanted the USSR defeated. The Taliban are the direct result of Saudi Wahabbi fundementalism, Pakistani ISI regional spoiler role, and US ignorance and incompetence to read the local conditions.
Pakistan is a very corrupt and fragile artificial state created by the British imperialists at the end of their Indian Raj. The Brits wanted India fragmented and destabilized on communal basis and this new unviable unsustainable "homeland for Indian Muslims" was created on the most volatile ethnic fault-lines in the world.
The Pashtuns and Baloch (largely Iranic people) never really wanted any part of Pakistan dominated by Indian Punjabi converted Muslims more akin to their Sikh and Hindu brothers in India's East Punjab. The other disaster in 1947 was the forced inclusion of East Bengal's Muslim population into the fragile Pakistani confederation which soon gave way to an independent Bangladesh in 1971 following mass Punjabi genocide and rape of the Bengalis.
The same corrupt brutal Pakistani Punjabi military is now America's "best ally" in the region. The insanity of such an ignorant and self-defeating policy can not be emphasised enough. The weak and shattering Pakistani failed state comprises four distinct ethnic regions (Punjab,Pashtunistan-NWFP, Sind and Balochistan) mixed-in with Indian refugees (Mohajirs in Karachi) and a sprinkling of Kashmiris in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). All these dispirite groups, and there has always been in-fighting, have largely been kept together by force and manipulation by a US and UK supported Punjabi dominated army.
However, the resentment amongst the ethnic groups and separatist tendencies have been escalating rapidly since the Afghan-USSR war in the 80's and the militarization of the corrupt Pakistani state. The Baloch and Pashtun have largely bore the economic and social brunt of Punjabi chauvanism. All military dictators in Pakistan from Ayub to Musharraf have played on these regional differences to perpetuate their rule. The "civilian" politicians are mostly corrupt, weak and tools of the military establishment. However, the ominous creation and expansion of radical Wahabbi fundementalist groups was direct result of ISI, US and Saudi influence. Now this cancerous genie is out of the bottle with very destabilizing long term consequences for the region, US and the survival of the imploding Pakistani state.
The current military campaign in the Pashtun areas will turn into an all-out ethnic conflict between the Pashtuns (60 million in Af-Pak)and the Punjabis, destabilizing the region for decades. The US will be sucked in deeper in a quagmire that will literally make Iraq look like a barn dance. Impoverished and war-torn Pakistan and Afghanistan have a combined population of over 200 million. GO FIGURE.
Sioux Rose
CONDOR: Thank you for the history lesson. I know it's cruel and unusual punishment once again masquerading as official US foreign policy, ever and always dressed up with 100 well-meaning slogans and feel-good PR phrases, but the reality are the dead and wounded crying to high heaven for justice. I am so upset that this nation continues on a path of destruction like an army of red/warrior ants, and thus far nothing has been able to stop it. The world is watching, and smart strategic leaders may wisely sit back and watch as the US economy splits apart releasing the maggots that worked its mechanics for far too long. Resurrection of this entity (presuming it returns to the form of a single nation from sea to shining sea) is NOT going to be pretty.
"Eric has the insight to predict the serious long-term damage this totally insane escalation in the region will wreak on the US and its interests in the new Asia centric multi-polar world."
True enough ... but margolis is only interested in U.S. (read western) interests in the region and doesnt particularly give a rats ass about what happens to the denizens of South Asia at large. Cherry-picking South Asian 'tribes' and supporting them is exactly what the British did for 300 brutal years and margolis seems comfortable with doing the same. The rest of your analysis is spot on ...
I would agree with your viewpoint on the duplicity of the "Western Media" which is largely controlled by vested political and corporate interests. As the informed readers of Commondreams have repeatedly mentioned, the "western journalists" have a racist and ethnocentric take on "third world' issues and tend to de-value human life in the "brown" or "black" world. Even the non-"white" reporters and politicians tend to have this racist Stockholm Syndrome when ignoring or marginalizing the daily murder of civilians by US drones around the world. This type of racist condoning of human rights abuses, torture and suffering has led the US to its current moral, military and economic cul de sac.
Until we humans tend to move beyond simplistic greed based racist tribalism, the sub-human "culture" of war and violence will continue making the world unsafe for all. I would have thought that the economic meltdown, social malaise and political bankruptcy would have given the FOX/CNN fed public some food for thougth, reflection and pause. Perhaps, I was too optimistic. The correct slogan for the 2008 US election campaign should have been "NO WE WILL NOT CHANGE" or "NO WE CAN'T".
"NO WE CAN'T"
That was in fact the meaning of the slogan "yes we can" in doublespeak. You do see how it works now?
Sioux Rose
CONDOR: The right-wing media, expert in developing targets TO hate, has figured out how to collect all the massive angst and divert it towards the wrong target(s). Calling Obama a socialist deflects focus on the latest giveaway to the insurance companies, as if they give a damn about public health! Sometimes I wonder if these guys get together like a pack of football coaches to plan strategies that seem to throw a "ball" into left field, only to have the entire game plan sketched out to let the public fall for the notion that there really are two teams fighting, and only one has the public's best interests in mind. Neither does, but both define themselves through different stylizations (word?) and buzzwords, and like so many team sports (practically America's main staple of programming) convince the people that something vital must be going on. I mean look at the evidence! All that competition! Amazing when one climbs above the stadium to realize from whom both teams collect their paychecks.
I have CNN on. I watch it, as I read newspapers, to understand the baseline I am dealing with when talking with people. CNN's air-headed, breathless and fact-poor coverage of Pakistan has inspired me to take time out and write this. The "ignorance and sheer fabrication", as you say, is infuriating. It is the height of irresponsibility to once again beat the techno drums that send young people and civilians to their deaths. I suppose FOX is worse.
In contrast, on PBS Bill Moyers interviewed Juan Cole and Shahan Mufti about Pakistan yesterday. They both live in Pakistan and describe a far less alarming situation there as compared with the mainstream news media.
A few points according to Cole and Mufti:
1. Life in cities like Islamabad and Lahore appears normal on a day to day basis. The economy grew 6 or 7 % last year.
2. Most of the population, from many different sectors, has cheered the recent restoration of the secular constitutional law.
3. Much of the population is urban and well-educated, including a large number of professional women who do not welcome a drift toward theocracy.
4. The nuclear weapons components are hidden in secret locations in an unassembled state. Getting them would require bypassing the large army and finding highly skilled technicians to make the weapons workable. It is unlikely that tribalists could accomplish this.
5. The refugees come from a small tribal area about the size of New Hampshire. They did not flee the Taliban, but were expelled by the government to disrupt the matrix that supports guerilla operations. They remain homeless and jobless.
Joe
We could not find WMD in Iraq but we can find WMB (White Man's Burden) in Pakistan.
Yeah, I can just imagine Lord Cromer, Balfour, Kitchener or some such historical British imperial administrator, arrogantly and smugly quipping (of course with the most pompous aristocratic accent)how they have to teach the brown-skinned savages how to conduct themselves properly; if we kill some in the process, it is for their own good after all; they will thank us for it later.
What a difference a century makes eh?
Gee, I'm so glad the United States got elected to the UN's Human Rights Council. What a sterling example of honoring Human Rights we are, although I kind of wish as part of the welcome to the new delegates to the Council that someone do a little hazing and put some hornet's nests on their seats and distract them until they sit down.
Stray fantasies on a Sunday afternoon reading about escalating, barbaric INSANITY!
/cm
"Pakistan could end up like US occupied Iraq, split into three parts, and helpless". Yeah, that's the endgame. Divide, rule, and send in brand names and corporate hustlers.
We have met the enemy and they are us.
"Too bad they don't do as well in wars against India."
Margolis you are a pig and have always been one. So advocating the death of millions of brown-skinned Indians doesnt bother you in the least bit ... and yet you want us to believe you actually feel empathy for the Pathan tribesman. You are a racist and have always been one from Reagan times. Attempting to play devils advocate is profitable for you but people can read right through your bull when you let slip your real feelings like you just did !!
That's not what Eric meant! He simply makes the point that it is cowardly and easy to attack ones own civilians, rather that fight an equal adversary, like India. He was not advocating such an attack, or promoting that fight ... so don't get so worked up, please.
I disagree. This statement :
"Too bad they don't do as well in wars against India."
... can be dissected in many different ways but fundamentally means exactly what i think it does !
Riddimboy, "dissecting" the statement is not the correct way to approach it; reading it in context is the way to go. Here is the relevent paragraph which follows a description of massive numbers of civilians slaughtered by the Pakistan military:
"Pakistan's U.S.-rented armed forces have scored a brilliant victory against their own people. Too bad they don't do as well in wars against India. Blasting civilians, however, is much safer and more profitable."
Riddimboy, when you support the destruction of Pakistan why not just say it staight out instead of engaging in devious misrepresentation of a very insightful analysis.
Jan ... are you a Pakisyani nationalist ? What makes you think i support the destruction of Pakistan ? This is a complete misrepresentation of what i believe in but you are welcome to play games and dick around.
I do however strongly believe the Pakistani Military and the ISI (intelligence wing) are fully responsible, along with the CIA, in bringing South Asia to the brink of collapse. Im sure you disagree since you seem to be a rabid supporter of these very same institutions. The ONLY situation that can bring peace to South Asia is for a stable, democratic Pakistan. If you have bothered to study the regions history you will come to the same conclusion.
The reality though is different and Pakistan is on the verge of collapse and the Pakistani Military's (and ISI's) frankensteins are knocking at the door. I dont have too many answers but allowing the Talibs to continue devouring Pakistan is a surefire way to bring Pakistan to its knees. Unless you are a Jihadist you cannot support this as my numerous Pakistani friends have assured me.
According to the following article, the U.S. and its new Pakistani proxy government, aren't attacking Taliban, but fighters from tribes in northern Pakistan.
"In imperialist 'surge,' Washington pushes Pakistan into war
U.S. client state in Islamabad launches offensive targeting so-called 'Taliban'",
by Mazda Majidi, PSLWeb.org, May 16, 2009
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m54315
QUOTE/EXCERPT:
On May 8, Pakistan’s government declared a "full-scale offensive" against Islamic fighters in the northwest of the country. Army spokesperson Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said that 15,000 soldiers and other security forces were fighting an estimated 4,000 "anti-state elements."
Pakistani troops are using military jets, attack helicopters, tanks and ground forces. The fresh troops sent to the region have orders to "eliminate extremists," an order confirmed by President Asif Ali Zardari.
The military assault is mainly targeting the area called the Swat Valley, the neighboring districts of Buner and Dir, as well as South Waziristan. These areas are part of the Federally Administered Tribal Area that has long been a semi-autonomous region. The FATA covers a mountainous area in northwestern Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan.
The militants have fought back, delivering heavy blows to the military by ambushing military convoys, firing mortars, planting improvised explosive devices and waging street fights.
The intense fighting has caused a mass exodus of civilians from the area under attack. ... On May 8, U.N. officials in Geneva expressed deep concerns about the welfare of up to a million people displaced by the fighting.
The official explanation as to why Pakistan’s government decided to launch a full-scale offensive is that "Taliban" forces broke the agreements and tried to expand the territory under their control. These Islamist forces—that include the tribal leadership of the area—do not identify themselves as the Taliban. They are based in the relatively sparsely populated northwest of Pakistan, and have no popular base in other parts of Pakistan, a country of 160 million people.
Offensive indicates expansion of imperialist aggression
Contrary to the sensationalized stories in the U.S. business media, any breach of agreements was not an indication of their designs to take over all of Pakistan. The notion that the tribal leaders of Swat and South Waziristan, with no conventional military and only light weapons, were intent on occupying all of Pakistan and take over its nuclear arsenal is a fabrication. This fabrication serves the purpose whipping up a frenzy to convince U.S. public opinion of the need to expand its war in the region.
The U.S. government, under Bush and Obama, had relentlessly pushed Pakistan — a U.S. client state — to end negotiations with the tribal forces and attack them. Pakistanis in the tribal area bordering Afghanistan have shown sympathy and support for their Afghan neighbors under occupation.
In the eighth year of a war it is not winning, Washington is hoping to cut off any aid given to the Afghan resistance forces coming from neighboring Pakistan. The term "Af-Pak" war, recently in vogue in the Pentagon’s terminology, is reflective of Washington’s plan to freely expand their "war on terror" to the Pakistani side of the border.
Prior to the recent assault, Pakistan’s government had shown no inclination to take on the Islamic militants in any kind of sustained fighting. While there had been occasional clashes, the government had engaged in negotiations with the same forces it today calls "miscreants." Agreements were reached both under the current civilian government of Zardari and the previous military government of Musharraf.
The reason Pakistan’s government had opted for negotiations, and not open confrontation was the difficulty of winning a sustained battle in the tribal area. ... Additionally, while the fighters in the tribal region are highly motivated, the motivation of Pakistan’s military forces is suspect.
There are also elements in Pakistan’s military and intelligence that have various levels of sympathy to the Taliban-aligned forces. After all, it was Pakistan’s intelligence service, the ISI, that formed the Taliban and catapulted them to power. At the time, Washington also supported the Taliban. The United States had fully funded and supported the Taliban’s predeccesors, the Mujahadeen.
President Zardari’s political instability, with his total lack of popular support, may have played a key role in his decision to attack. It was only two months ago that Pakistani masses staged large and coordinated protests across the country. After several failed attempts to crush the protests, Zardari was forced to concede to the key demand of the protesters, the reinstatement of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Chaudhry was the independent judge twice removed by U.S.-supported military dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
Pakistani government capitulates to U.S. demands
Forced to fight for his regime’s survival, and knowing that he could not rely on popular support, Zardari decided to capitulate to U.S. demands of opening up a front against the Islamic forces in the tribal area. Washington had made it clear to Zardari that without taking this step it would not support him. The overtures made by U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke towards Zardari’s chief political rival, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, underlined this point.
On May 6, Zardari met with President Barack Obama on a U.S. visit. Obama talked about the need to provide extensive aid to Pakistan. The U.S. Senate will soon discuss a bill, sponsored by Senators Lugar and Kerry, to give $1.5 billion worth of aid annually to Pakistan. Of course Zardari can only earn this aid by proving to be a good ally in the "war on terror."
...
At the same time that Pakistan’s military is attacking the tribal region, the United States is continuing its aerial bombings of the same people using drones, pilot-less aerial vehicles. ...
...
END QUOTE/EXCERPTS. (whatever)
Don't worry folks the U.S. has the whole "situation under control" and is working on ensuring this status is truly achieved and maintained with more people "contributing" to the "cause" of the western imperialists, etcetera.
The U.S. has included another "soft war" approach, employing rather totally unethical or rogue anthropologists, sociologists, ..., whose purpose is for "softening up" the invaded, occupied, ... populations in order to try to make them appeased; according to the imperialists', colonialists', ... notion(s) of appeasing peoples they invade, conquer and dominate, that is.
This is being done through the Pentagon's HTS, Human Terrain System, which employs these rogue anthropologists, ... as soldiers; literally. Dahr Jamail explains this and adds that these sadly sick people, i.e., sociopaths (or worse), can and do provide cultural, ... information to military commanders for strategic use, namely killing, ..., warring on others.
(Note that as the article explains, though not explicitly, these rogues aren't necessarily sociopathic, for the Pentagon evidently entices innocent professionals in terms that remind me of what's written enough about how the CIA enticed volunteers to work in the Peace Corps; by deceiving them! I, above, used the term sociopaths because this is all sociopathic, but this is not necessarily true of individual anthropologists, ... who accept to work with and for HTS.)
PROPAGANDA is the or another purpose of HTS, "of course"; as usual.
News media are making this ever worse. The evidently excellent analyst and anthropology expert David Price, from whom Dahr Jamail quotes enough, has tried to well explain the wholly unethical and dangerous aspects of using HTS to many U.S. msm "news" media and like he says, they either don't report on this topic, or when they do they don't include his important critical warnings, instead treating HTS as if it's a truly humanitarian operation. The U.S. government has no such thing as a truly humanitarian orientation, but the "news" media like to boost the false image of the U.S. government and, therefore, its ruling elites being about really [caring] for human rights and life; a wholly false image.
So as David Price says, the shmuck "news" media report on HTS, when they do, that is, clearly for imperialist and colonialist propaganda of deceit; again, as usual. It's just that their reports are corrupted in order to try to fool Americans into believing that their (our) government is doing charitable or real humanitarian work with its use of HTS.
(Damn traitors, really; the rotten people in the news media, that is.)
Excellent article this is and Dahr Jamail provides a link to an earlier piece by him in April for more information on this hellbent scheme or operation, HTS; as well as providing a link to an April piece by David Price and from which the quotes in this article, below, are from. This threesome should make for a good resource to keep bookmarked and to let others know about.
"Anthropological Intelligence supports Military Occupation: Engineering "Trust of the Indigenous Population"
How Some Anthropologists Have Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Loving the Army",
by Dahr Jamail, truthout.org, May 16, 2009
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13643
--"Now, Washington's ham-handed policies and last week's Swat atrocity threaten to ignite Pakistan's second worst nightmare after invasion by India: That its 26 million Pashtun will secede and join Afghanistan's Pashtun to form an independent Pashtun state, Pashtunistan."
--"threatens a radical national rebellion reminiscent of India's Naxalite rebels."
--"This would rend Pakistan asunder, probably provoke its restive Baluchi tribes to secede and tempt mighty India to intervene militarily, risking nuclear war with beleaguered Pakistan."
Margolis as always tries to raise the spectre of Indian invasion (his hatred of India is well documented) in regard to Pakistan. In case Margolis hasnt noticed (like the rest of the Western media), the worlds largest affirmation of common will just concluded - the Great Indian Election, where 713 million people voted, and sensibly at that, for a continuation of a stable government for the next 5 years.
In other words most Indians just want to continue on their path to economic independence and betterment of their own society, while all their neighbors are falling apart - Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Afghanistan. India invading Pakistan is Margolis' wet dream. He thrives on stuff like this because he will be called upon as an expert !! This is just one more reason to ignore this twit.
Hush. It is taboo to question someone's economic ambitions. But if he wants to redistribute the wealth, please notify fox.
Totally correct analysis. But it is not "improper" to call Pashtuns, Pathans! We call the Francaise, French; the Deutsche, Germans; the Italiani, Italians. It is what we call them. The Pathans do not use Latin script anyway, and Pashtun is only an approximation of what they call themselves. Pathan is better as Pashtun breaks unnecessarily with history (although it has become de rigure recently). Pity none of this stops the murderous onslaught by us on a noble people. Tribal peoples are too free to be tolerated, no doubt. We must all live in controlled zones, or be bombed. The end.
socialist May 17th, 2009 6:09 pm,
If you didn't see the link to Dahr Jamail's article in my second post in this CD page, then check it. What you wrote immediately reminds of what his article says about the Pentagon's HTS, Human Terrain System, which employs anthropologists, sociologists, ... for imperialist, colonialist, ... purposes; while pretending that it supposed is truly for humanitarian purposes.
I actually heard him reporting this on KPFA news segment yesterday; how professional academics could do such things in the 21st century is beyond me. I guess they choose to ignore any professional code of ethics, any personal sense of morality, and ignore the historical irony. After all we in the west know more about them than they do, seems to be the overall attitude
Just replace the accents with American ones a century later and we have another group of arrogant, ethnocentric, elitist, racist, callous imperialists. I wish I were a comedian, what a parody of itself.
I remember reading "Orientalism..." by E. Said some years back. He has great quotes from the British imperialists. Although the book was written over 30 years ago, it is like it is brand new all over again.
keepitsimple
My favorite quote concerning the transcending military exploitation:
"Fighting a War on Terrorism is like fighting a War on Dandruff!" Gore Vidal
Too bad it's not Hansen's Disease; then, strategic appendages could just fall off.
Military violence will kill a lot of people and engender hatred towards the aggressor. It will not bring peace or a positive solution in Pakistan or anywhere else.
The U.S. agenda is driven by a master plan for controlling the world's energy resources and U.S. planners such a James Jones, National Security Advisor, are playing a new version of the "Great Game" that includes pipelines that bring oil out of the Caspian Basin without transiting Russia or China.
Steel framed skyscrapers are impervious to fire because oil fires don't get hot enough to cause steel to lose it rigidity. Two big skyscrapers hit by asymmetrical airplane impacts falling symmetrically into their footprints at free fall speed is a scientific impossibility. So what really happened on September 11, 2001 in New York City?
Eris Margolis has always been an apologist for the Pakistanis - he actually rejoiced when they got the 'Islamic' bomb.
The best thing for everybody (except Pakistan) would be for the US to walk away from the region and let the Afghans and Pakistanis fend for themselves.
In no time at all, Pakistan will fall apart into three regions - NWF Province, Baluchistan and Punjab/Sind (if they can stay together). The Taliban will then rule over southern Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.
Maybe then Mr Margolis will be happy.