Friday, December 28, 2007

Chicken Little Was An Optimist

Whoops. I was wrong. I thought that the catalytic event that shifted an idling WWIII into full gear would be the assassination of Pakistani dictator 'Pervy' Musharef- I hadn't anticipated the return and subsequent murder of former Prime Swindler Benazir Bhutto.
Bhutto- who was a politician, not a saint- was Pakistan's best hope for 'moderate' rule- a chance to build a corrupt democracy instead of a corrupt military dictatorship.



A good example of a corrupt democracy would be America.
A corrupt military dictatorship might resemble North Korea. Or Pakistan.

In politics, corruption is inevitable- the price of doing business as they say- we will always be given the choice of lesser evils; the choice of lesser evil must be made with the greater good in mind- money will get stolen, lies will be told, favors will be granted- of greater concern are issues such as: do the people have food?
And: Are we still fighting?

General Musharef has been playing 'double agent' for years...taking billions of US dollars to 'fight terra' while simultaneously allowing the Taliban and al-Queda to become resurgent in the remote Pakistan/Afghan border regions- and Osama bin Laden* is, of course, still a free man.

Pundits and politicos have started asking questions regarding what exactly we are getting in return for our generous material support of Pervy's regime. Ostensibly, he's fighting terrorism, but his nation's most popular leader was just killed on a crowded street in a military neighborhood- overlooked in the uproar was the sniper who killed at least four people at another political rally earlier the same day. The news of the suicide bomber who killed nine on 23, Dec. didn't seem to reach the American media , but it did happen.
Such incidents are increasingly common in Pakistan.

In short, it doesn't look like Pervy is very good at fighting terrorism. He may, according to recently released emails from Bhutto, be committing terrorism... I imagine we will learn the truth about Bhutto's murder at the same time we find out who killed JFK.

Anyway, why are we giving Pakistan so much money? Hmmm...

Pakistan, you probably know, has a nuclear arsenal. Bombs with upper-case B's.

I haven't heard anyone ask the obvious question regarding our 10 billion dollar aid package to Musharef: What if the payments are nothing more than a shakedown? Protection. I mean:
Give us tanks, guns and money and we will make sure
Osama doesn't 'accidentally' get his hands on one of our shiny nuclear weapons, you see what I'm saying?

There was a time not long ago when overwhelming American military superiority could deter tinpots like Pervy and North Korea's Lil' Kim from ever becoming serious threats- but that time is past. Unfortunately, at the moment our military is busy elsewhere and would be hard-pressed to fight an actual 'war of necessity', should one occur. I hope it does not.
Iraq, Afghanistan (and potentially Iran) are not wars of necessity- no matter how many times you say "9-11" and point to Afghanistan, it doesn't change the fact that the large majority of the 9-11 murderers were Saudi Arabian- as is Osama. It also doesn't change the likelihood that Osama is comfortably holed up in Pakistan. Nor does it change the fact that the Taliban have regrouped and are more influential than they have been since 2002.

In any case, it's long been a simple matter of time before a suicide bomber gets strapped to a nuke- this inevitability has been hastened by recent events...when? Where?

Another possibility is the establishment of an openly anti-American theocracy in Pakistan. (See notes on nukes, above). Our troops in Afghanistan would suddenly face an overwhelming number of hostile fighters on their border. Historically, this sort of scenario tends to end poorly.

There's a possible upside: These events may lead to our military being pulled out of Iraq.

The downside: They will be pulled out and re-deployed to combat duty in an all-out war on the Afghan/Paki border.

--------------------------------------
An Unrelated Note of Appreciation

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who has sent kind wishes for my grandmother; at the moment there is nothing new to report. These ER trips are serious, but not uncommon for her- some are more severe than others. She is stable and resting at the moment, tomorrow I will drive back home and learn more. Assuming that we haven't been nuked, that is.

------------------------------------
*who?

8 comments:

yellowdoggranny said...

good post...and so true, so true..
pakistan is the lesser of 2 evils..we give them money in hopes they won't fuck us over...which they do daily...sigh*
lighting candles for you're grandma..

AngelConradie said...

sheesh allan... i reckon you should be advising the government or something- don't they see this stuff happening?

CS said...

I need to not read your blog first thing in the morning... kills my bluebird of happiness mindset.

I don't have any real hope that we will stop pouring ourselves into war in Iraq/Iran or wherever else we feel will contribute to our wealth and political power.

Anonymous said...

Great post Allan! Disturbingly accurate, IMHO. Also, I would wager that given the opportunity, they would happily poof Isreal right off the map.

Enemy of the Republic said...

You've hit on one of my deepest fears--that we will send troops to Pakistan. That will be horrible.

Good post.

Allan said...

JS- We have been feeding the hydra too long...it bites.

Angel- Of course they see it. They have mirrors.

CS- You read my blog first thing in the morning? Cool.

Hat- Thanks! I hope that one day we can look at today's fears the same way we look at the 1950's 'Duck&Cover' filmstrips ...paranoia become kitsch.

EotR- We should have stayed on bin Laden's ass no matter where he went and put his head on a pike outside of Riyadh and gone home.

whimsical brainpan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
whimsical brainpan said...

Excellent post Allan!

I hope your Grandmother is feeling better.