Posted on 12/04/2007 8:30:52 AM PST by bs9021
U.S. Billions Fueling Political Crisis in Pakistan
by: Emmanuel Opati, December 03, 2007
Analysts are criticizing United States for talking the talk and not walking the walk in the recent Pakistan crisis.
Dr. Marvin Weinbaum said the United States bears some responsibility in this quasi-martial law in Pakistan. “President Musharraf had every reason to believe that we would stand with him in the end and we have,” he said. He added that U.S. has been “giving lip service for support of democratic institutions and making excuses for Musharraf’s manhandling of the constitution and civil liberties.”
Dr. Weinbaum, a scholar at the Middle East Institute, also said, “We have shown no real faith in democracy that we spend so much time praising. We cling to the notion that it takes Musharraf to further our interests and even democratic interests.”
And now, he said, “anything we say is seen by Pakistanis as a smoke screen to disguise our real agenda.”
He indicated that United States described recent events in Pakistan as “encouraging” and “promising,” ignoring the evidence that Musharraf’s actions were despotic.
Scare tactics about the War on Terror
“We have repeatedly allowed ourselves to be influenced by Musharraf’s scare tactics; that only he could confront the terrorist extremism; that only he could hold back the tide of extremism,” he said.
It was pointed out that Musharraf does not share U.S. interests in Pakistan and that he perceives his involvement in the war against terrorism as a return for U.S. aid assistance to Pakistan.
(Excerpt) Read more at campusreportonline.net ...
More liberal BS.
When have analysts not criticized the United States?
Has anyone criticizing Musharraf looked into the history of “democracy” in Pakistan? It’s not very pretty.
Of course, the history of the alternating periods of military rule isn’t much better. Musharraf’s rule has actually been one of the less repressive periods in the country’s history.
Kind of sad that is the case.
They criticized the goal of democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan as a neo-Con fantasy. Now, they don’t like the realist approach to things either.
This Whinebomb worked at the State Dept. 1999 -2003.
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