Behind the Chairman’s Door

On the 15th of September, Dubya said that in response to a question about whether he would send troops into Pakistan to hunt down Osama bin Laden said: “Pakistan — if he is in Pakistan, which this person thought he might be who was asking me the question — Pakistan’s a sovereign nation. In order for us to send thousands of troops into a sovereign nation, we’ve got to be invited by the government of Pakistan.” and here.

Now, just days after making the statement during a news conference, Dubya has changed his position and categorically told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that “he would order U.S. forces to go after Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan if he received good intelligence on the fugitive al Qaeda leader’s location.” And Dubya accuses Ahmadinejad of not staying true to his word….

President Musharraf has already told reporters at the United Nations on Wednesday that his government would oppose any US action in its territory.

This report comes on the eve of a massive report by The Times that the US and British have devised a secret plan for a 10-year “War on Terrorism” involving a completely new military and diplomatic strategy to eliminate terrorist networks and cells around the world.

Now, wait a minute… Dubya is in the final 2 years of his “presidency” and Poodle Blair has already promised the British people that he relinquish the Prime Ministership within a year, even though 40% of Britons want him gone yesterday. So how do you fight a 10 year war without knowing who the next leaders are going to be?

Unless of course, you plan to fix the elections like 2000 to assure that the Republicans control the White House and another puppet Prime Minister assumes leadership of Great Britain. Not completely unimaginable given the recent history.

Didn’t Dubya invade Afghanistan because he had credible intelligence that Osama bin Laden was in Tora Bora? Credible Intelligence… isn’t that an oxymoron when talking about the current US administration?

Didn’t the US military have Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda cornered in Tora Bora, only to let him get away?

Wasn’t it soon after that Dubya announced to the world that Iraq had ties to Al Qaeda and launched a massive invasion that has brought Iraq to the brink of civil war?

Am I wrong in asking if Dubya has embarassed every member of the US military with his lack of leadership during “war time?”

Let’s not forget that most serving generals have categorically stated that they are not confident in Donnie Rumsfeld’s leadership as Secretary of Defense, because he has been unable to assure that the US military personnel fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan have the proper attire or equipment to protect and defend themselves and here. Not to mention the Democrats repeated calls for his resignation for the treatment of prisoners at Abu Gharib and the mishandling of Afghanistan and Iraq.

Let’s also not forget the fact that Pakistan’s President Musharraf has worked hand and hand with the United States and Great Britain to support the “War on Terrorism” since 9/11, including allowing the use of Pakistani bases by the US military to attack Afghanistan. This in spite of pressure in Pakistan on Musharraf to not allow the US to attack Afghanistan from Pakistani soil. President Musharraf has also worked hand and hand with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in supporting his government with development projects and military support to bring stability to Afghanistan in the face of continued attacks by the Taliban.

Airstrikes in January of 2006 on suspected Al Qaeda figures on the Pakistan border provoked protests by tens of thousands of Pakistanis and complaints from Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who said the US launched the attack without consulting Pakistan. But then, Dubya said in his 2004 State of the Union address that “America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country,” which was echoed 2 months later by Vice President “Dick” Cheney “The United States will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country.” Notice, exact same words…. And permission slips… wasn’t that something from grade school for class trips?

Let’s not forget that in the same interview on the 15th of September, Dubya said: “And I’ll look forward to talking to President Musharraf. Look, he doesn’t like Al Qaeda. They tried to kill him. And we’ve had a good record of bringing people to justice inside of Pakistan, because the Paks are in the lead. They know the stakes about dealing with a, you know, a violent form of ideological extremists.”

So when you know that Pakistan is commited to supporting the cause, why would you invade Pakistan?

Let me explain…

First, the United States knows that the only military threat to its true allies, India and Israel, is Pakistan. All the posturing about Iran and its “potential nuclear capabilities” is nothing more than rhetoric. If Iran was the target, the cowboy president would have already attacked, but because Pakistan has achieved nuclear capabilities, the US has become increasingly concerned about an “Islamic bomb” which could be sold to terrorists and extremists for use on other nations, namely the US and Israel.

In addition, in the very recent past, an former member of the Israeli Barak administration, while speaking with defence analysts in India pointed the finger at Pakistan as the “largest exporter of terrorism.” This coming on the heels of a historic meeting between Israel and Pakistan to discuss the possibilities of creating diplomatic and economic ties in Turkey. By the way, President Musharraf was firebranded in Pakistan by the Islamic fundamentalists for even considering recognizing Israel diplomatically and economically.

Soon after the first nuclear tests in 1998, between India and Pakistan, an errant missile dropped very close to the Pakistani nuclear facilities. The Pakistan government, which at the time was lead by Nawaz Sharif, launched a formal complaint with the Clinton government over the overt attempt to attack Pakistan’s nuclear facility. The Clinton White House quickly explained that it was a mis-calculation and it was not the US’s intent to hit any targets inside Pakistan. What would the US have said had they hit the nuclear facility? Ooops?

Second, Pakistan has stabilized is economy and is moving toward developed nation status much faster than under “democratically-elected” leaders. Pakistan has become one of the most favored nations for foreign investment, as reported by World Bank, and has become a preferred location to India in terms of outsourcing. As a matter of fact, in the recent Doing Business report released by the World Bank, Pakistan is ranked more favorably than India overall.

Third, and most importantly, it would allow Dubya to face the US Congress and say that he took another step for “democracy” by finally dealing Musharraf a hard hand on terrorism. For many months, the US Congress, media and people have believed that Pakistan and President Musharraf were not doing enough to stop the terrorism and extremist elements in Pakistan. This was brought to a head recently when ABC News reported that a senior officer in the Pakistani government had said that “Osama would not be arrested if he behaved as a good citizen.” My previous comments on this incident can be viewed here.

So, if Dubya goes forward with this plan.. and that is assuming that the US Congress is stupid enough to commit more US troops to a losing battle.. that would mean that the US military would be in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Iran.

Just one more thing… if you remember the Russians invaded Afghanistan during military rule in Pakistan… after 12 years and a severe beating, the Soviets went home and watched their country fall apart from within…. Ominous omens of the future….

Related posts:

1. Bush Had No Plan to Catch Osama bin Laden
2. Afghanistan. Pakistan. Forgotten. - Joe Biden
3. And the other shoe drops….