Remember Saddam Hussein? Yep, this dead evildoer was once an ally (courted by Ronny Reagan, Daddy Bush). Or General Zia? You probably don't remember that piece of shit; he's Musharraf's mentor i
n Pakistan. He staged a coup supported by, who else, Reagan's boys and Daddy Bush. He hung the democratically-elected Zulifikar Ali Bhutto (Benazir's 
father). Now what did this stalwart ally of good and righteousness do upon taking over? He "Islamisized" Pakistan and empowered Muslim extremists. He singlehandly armed what would become the Taliban...whilst turning a blind eye to the THOUSANDS of acres of HEROIN poppies cultivated on land under his control. Indeed, one of his proteges fighting the Russians in Afghanistan was also recipient of much, much CIA cash and American largesse: Osama Bin Laden. Oh Lordy Lordy, whenever you point this stuff out to right wing clowns who see the world as a Biblical crusade or Saturday morning cartoon version of right and wrong, they suddenly get all Henry Kissinger on you and huff, "Oh, you don't understand the complexity of strategic thought." Or better yet, they wax as our president or various vacuous GOP candidates (sadly I'll stamp Barack and Hillary with the "vacuous" moniker, too):"You aren't a patriot, and you're endangering our freedom." So as we pay $3 and choke our bodies and brains commuting and pay big Oil and big Pharma and Big Developer and Big Collection Agency/Bank/Insurance/Wal Mart their pints of blood and cheer for Sean Hannity, I guess all we can do is just blindly trust in our leader's judgment again. Okay, so they assured us that these men were our pals, but Jesus is on our side and he'll make it right!I recall the words of Jack Crabbe ("Little Big Man") musing about the treaties broken with the Sioux and Cheyenne in 1875-76. This land is yours, says Uncle Sam, so long as the grass is green, the sky is blue and the wind blows. "Well sometimes the grass ain't green, the sky ain't blue, and the wind don't blow..."
14 comments:
Amen!
I wonder what the "Christian" extemists, right wing American Taliban like the "gentleman" who runs Blackwater and many such people in the Bush Administration, say when you point this out? Answer: Probably nothing, for their brains cannot wrap around the concept.
What upsets me the most is that even when one cancels out the religious fanatics in our own government, the polity is left with the industry whores like the directors of our SEC, IRS, FDA or Consumer Product Safety Commission!
That's some mustache on Zia! Saddam look(ed) like you will in twenty years. Sorry for the silliness, but I'm too work-weary to leave an insightful and/or pithy comment this afternoon.
Peace
Saddam looks nothing like Chris, anonymous. If you knew Chris, you would know that he is way to careful about being that overgrown, woolly and stink. He smells good.
That would explain why the bombing stopped at Pakistan's border, when bin Laden's capture was in American's minds.
Bruth I forgot about the heroin! I guess Pakistan was Nicky Barnes' hook up while Frank Lucas got it from Thailand, Burma and Vietnam.
Perhaps you should include Saudi Arabia there, and the oil companies? It sounds very "conspiracy theory"-ish, but I'm sure most Americans would include them as "friends who are enemies."
You are more sarcastic than usual. You must really be pissed off. I don'tthink you're alone in that, but I think also that too many Americans are straight up numb or ignorant to what you've just ranted about.
Isn't Benazir Bhutto in exile again as of today? I fear this dictators will turn the whole Middle East over to the lap of extremists while Bush drools...
Great post!
Wow, when lawyers take to the streets to protest and get tear gassed you know stuff is serious. I agree, you lie down with dogs...
...and the extremists will be the only ones who win after Musharaf torches the whole place.
Mukasey would be a great attorney general over there!
P.S. Benazir Bhutto's nickname when she was at Harvard sipping Cosmos and dancing in 5 inch CFMPs at clubs in Boston and NYC was "Bunky." But I'd say she's grown up and as brave a lady as I'd ever seen. Corrupt as hell, but brave...
I saw on the news last night the Taliban is moving away from the borders. Meanwhile Musharraf is shutting down the private media and arresting those very dangerous lawyers and judges.
Gasoline will be $4 a gallon soon. I wonder if we will start to conserve then or not care.
IF they had taken care of Afghanistan when they had the chance, instead of doing a half-assed job there, on the cheap, as they lied their asses into Iraq, then we wouldn't have to care about Musharraf.
We wouldn't have been giving him 11 BILLION in Aid.
Without that Aid, come on, make no mistake, he is NO Saddam Hussein - he NEVER had the control over Pakistan that Saddam had over Iraq. And also, Pakistan is not Iraq in these ways:
No internal factions that have hated one another for 1,000 years. Their independence took care of the faction that they hated - a country called India.
Also, Pakistan has a fairly large and outspoken tradition of a protesting population. A great deal of Pakistanis want to use the ballot, and not the Koran or the Suicide Bomber to determine politics.
Without US propping Musharraf all these years, he would have fallen, and I believe a moderate (fot that part of the world) Muslim would be leading Pakistan, and their own people would be fighting against the extremists. But, the longer the USA props him up, the more likely that the two most prominent moderates will be discarded as options in favor of an extremist.
And, when that happens, the USA will have nobody to blame but itself.
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