Also from The Asia Times:
In God, and terror, we trust.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
That is the essence of the Republican platform
for "four more years" of the president of
permanent war. Oh, but don't ask how the "war on
terra" is actually going, with the 1,000th US
soldier about to die in Iraq, which along with
Afghanistan is in chaos; because God, and Karl
Rove's dirty tricks, are on George Bush's side.
Don't look closely, just swallow.
As
with the complementary macaroni and cheese
dinner included in the press kit, what matters
at the Republican National Convention is not the
unpalatable ingredients but the package itself.
The Republicans do indeed have a program for
their next term in office, but they are hoping
moderate American swing voters won't read the
fine print.
From the quoted article:
"How come the ISI was not aware of this all these years and became aware of
it only just before the Democratic Party's convention? "
"Why was the US public not
informed of it at that time and why were no security precautions taken? Was it because no Republican Party presidential convention was due last year? Don't ask stupid questions.
Watch the show. "
Sure you want to push this here, chief?
You stand dangerously close to exposing your true agenda.
Again.
Sure you want to push this here, chief? You stand dangerously close to exposing your true agenda. Again.
And what agenda would that be "chief?"
If I have an agenda, it is too see my country protected from Islamofascist terrorism. Now, has Asia Times published material from uber-Leftists and anti-American agitprop artists? Sure. But does that mean that one must reflexively discard every piece that gets published there? Most definitely not.
On a personal level, I'm a loyal Republican and have been ever since I can remember. There's nothing I'd like to see happen more than 4 more years of Dubya. But does that mean that I'm going to swallow every piece of news coming out on the war on terror without questioning? You can bet your ass I won't.
Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I'll respond to this article in detail below.
The Pakis were distributing nukes around the globe to all the "Axis of Evil" countries. When British intelligence uncovered it, the Pakis put all the blame on one domestic scientist, and then put him under house arrest. What a joke.
The Pakistanis created the Taliban. No one in Pakistan cares if Americans get hacked to pieces by Islamic fundamentalists. The Pakis could turn over Mullah Omar and OBL anytime they want, but there's no reason for them to do so.
You can bitch at me all you want, but the fact remains that the failure to apprehend top Al Qaeda leaders is a major failure of Bush's WOT, and something he will have to answer for in the debates.
But I see clear evidence of massive and shameless manipulation by Musharraf's regime in Pakistan by using well timed arrests, military operations and intelligence leaks to make it appear as though Pakistan is making big progress in the war on terror.
Musharraf has made a calculation that given that this is an election year and the fact that the war on terror is the main pillar of Bush's re-election platform, no American official would dare publicly question Pakistan's assertions regarding arrests of "top" terrorists or thwarting of "major attacks." I suggest you compare notes with the media reports now and in early 2002 during the Daniel Pearl murder saga. In the Pearl case, if the Paks gave out a bogus sounding report, it was immediately repudiated by American officials. Now, anything and everything the Paks are saying is taken as gospel.
Consider the case of Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan the Al Qaeda "computer genius." First the Pakistan information minister said that this guy was arrested a few days ago. The Pakistan Interior minister denied that they ever had this guy or even the existence, when it was even acknowledged by Condi Rice. Then we find out that his name was leaked not by Americans but by the Paks. I'm told reliably that the Military Spokesman Shaukat Sultan was the "leaker." Sure this guy had loads of data in posession, but how is it that he operated for years under Pakistani noses?
Consider what Raman says about KSM. How in the heck was this guy able to hide in Pakistan, that too in Rawalpindi where every other house is that of an Army officer. If KSM killed Daniel Pearl, then what were his ties to Omar Sheikh, the man in jail for Pearl's killing. Everyone knows Omar Sheikh was an ISI "asset," so what does that make KSM? What are his ties to the ISI? If KSM was the main planner of 9/11, then what role did the ISI have in that plan?
These are serious questions that need to be answered. Do I believe that Raman went over the board in insinuating that the Bush administration is in league with Musharraf? Yes. But are there questions about Musharraf, ISI, 9/11 and ties to Al Qaeda that need to be ansewered? Yes to that as well.
Listen, we know that the bad guys are planning attacks on American soil and they most likely have some plans in operation for a while. But relying on this IV drip style of periodic and episodic release of AQ terrorists from the ISI kitty is foolhardy. AQ leaders are not in the mythical tribal ares but in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Gujrat. To that end we need to remove the velvet gloves and squeeze the Paks harder - much harder. If not, we may pay a big price.