Pakistan-The unruly stepchild

For all the millions we have sent to Pakistan, and specifically to Musharaf, we aren’t getting much of a return on our investment these days. With the new regime there being sworn in, the anti-american sentiment is running pretty high. Who can blame them for hating us? Being in the middle between Bush’s War on Terror and the tribal leaders who support the Al-Qaeda types can’t be a good place to be. From the TNR writeup:

To make matters worse, Pakistanis increasingly believe that they are paying the price for our war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Pakistanis are interpreting the increasing terror attacks in the country as a direct response to the recent uptick in our bombing of Al Qaeda targets in the border areas. All of this means that a negative reaction to the arrival of senior U.S. envoys should not have been unexpected. Pakistanis believe that they are carrying out a democratic coup, sweeping away the illegitimate underpinnings of the Musharraf presidency, and are not about to take kindly to American efforts to shore up Musharraf or preserve his policies.

They want change–not just with Musharraf himself, but also with his policies for dealing with terror. The question for the U.S. is whether we can live with the change, and at the same time, manage it so that Al Qaeda and the Taliban not only don’t benefit, but also lose their sanctuary in Pakistan.

Change..its a good thing sometimes, but we really don’t know how Pakistan, a nuclear-laden country, will deal with America and the Terrorists yet. But the message is getting clearer as this part of the writeup notes:

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“Protect American Interests” is code for Protect the Oil

During last nights debate, I was taken aback at how many times Obama talked about ‘protecting American Interests” in Iraq. At 3:18 in the video below, Obama starts talking about protecting “American Interests in Iraq”. What interests do we have there other than OIL?? This man is speaking in code..and if you don’t get it..your deluding yourself. If it’s not Oil, then what other American interests are there in Iraq? You tell me ok?

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BushCo to announce $20B in arms sales to Saudi Arabia

Tomorrow, according to AP, Bush will announce a huge arms sale to Saudi Arabia.

You remember that country right? It’s where most of the terrorists that flew the planes into the twin towers hailed from.

Bush wanted the announcement to coincide with his visit to Riyadh tomorrow. How nice..from the AP writeup:

The Bush administration will notify Congress on Monday of its intent to sell $20 billion in weapons, including precision-guided bombs, to Saudi Arabia, moving up the announcement to coincide with the president’s arrival in Riyadh, The Associated Press has learned.

Despite concern about the deal from some lawmakers, the State Department, which last month said it would delay the notification until after Congress comes back into session, will announce the proposed sale on Jan. 14, a day before the House returns to work and more than a week before senators return to Washington, said a senior official.

Nothing like arming your enemies to keep the war on terrah going strong is there?

Artwork courtesy of The Worried Shrimp

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Misadventures in Money Management & Foreign Policy

Ill: The Worried Shrimp

The Bush Plan: Wreck-A-Country, Then Reconstruct It (Badly)

~ So we’ll have to be there forever ~

It continues to boggle your Demon’s mind that Bush gets away with all he does in the prosecution of a misguided & illegitimate war. (Leaving aside, for the moment, that Cheney is in the background agitating for a duplicate scenario in Iran).

I am, in fact, suffering from inane-war-news-& propaganda fatigue, but since I became interested in where the “reconstruction” effort has led us & with what results, every time I turn around I read more articles like this, in the Washington Post.

With an upcoming report to the nation regarding the success of his “surge” in Iraq & the appointment of General Petraeus to oversee it, Bushco has not lost a bit of faith that American voters can be persuaded by means of photo ops & heavily-managed staged shows. Seems Petraeus has designated a market in Dora as a veritable tourist trap where visiting officials & Congresspersons can have a faux (meaning safe) experience in Iraq, undoubtedly aimed at convincing us Doubting Thomases at home that the surge is working.

The WaPo calls it a “Potemkin Village,” made possible by walls & fortifications & government bribes ~ er, *incentives* to induce merchants to open shops again, complete with target numbers, creative accounting (some are “selling dust,” an observer says, but they’re still counted as “open shops”), & other slight-of hand trix to which we’ve become accustomed under Bushco. The WaPo also notes that when Iraqi Shiite police forces appear in the market, merchants close shop & customers melt into invisibility.

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War on terrorism could last decades, army chief says

And our military minds are preparing our troops for the long haul apparently:

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: The U.S. Army’s chief of staff said Sunday that he believes the ideological struggle against Muslim extremism being waged by the United States and its allies will last for decades.

Gen. George Casey made the remarks at the 129th National Guard Association of the United States conference at San Juan’s convention center, after a military chaplain asked Casey what victory would look like.

“Frankly, it’s not going to be won until Muslim moderates achieve success over Muslim extremists,” Casey told hundreds of National Guard representatives from all over the United States. “It’s going to be an ideological struggle that I think is going to play out over the next several decades, much like the Cold War.”

General George is so full of shit, his eyes better be brown. A Cold War isn’t a real war where people get maimed, die and suffer from the effects of PTSD for the rest of their natural lives. Oh, and he also pushes King George’s bullshit spin too:

The Army’s job in Iraq and Afghanistan is to help keep extremists groups from prevailing in the Middle East and from attacking America, he said.

You know the line, say it with me now..kill them over there so they don’t follow us home and attack us over here. Christ, wotta load of bullshit.

* Artwork by The Worried Shrimp

Tags: George Casey,

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