Friend and Ally Update -- another report on this incident: "Pakistan: US helicopter raid blocked in border area," from AKI, September 15 (thanks to Report On Arrakis):
Wana, 15 Sept. (AKI) - The Pakistani army and local tribes on Monday were reported to have blocked an attempt by US troops to stage a fresh attack against militants in the region bordering Afghanistan.Sources cited by Pakistan's Geo News, said US troops aboard two helicopters were trying to enter Pakistan near Angoor on the border when local tribes and Pakistani troops resisted the move and opened fire, forcing the helicopters to return....
Thirty billion dollars later, and now dealing with a "pro-American" general, Khayani who has taken over the role ("the Pakistani general the Americans can trust") made famous by General Musharraf, though before Musharraf there was a similar, equally comic series of them, the American military, frustrated beyond measure by the mendacious of the Pakistanis, has now decided to do what it must, coute que coute. The American government should long ago have ceased to provide Pakistan with any military aid at all -- no planes, no tanks, no nothing -- save possibly, here and there, a few rifles. It ought never to have supplied economic aid, the aid that allowed the Pakistanis the discretionary income not only to finance A. Q. Khan's grand thefts, but also the nuclear bomb project which, by the way, continues unabated, with still more bombs being added to the "Islamic Bomb" arsenal, a nightmare for the Americans to worry about.
Pakistan's rulers -- whether the corrupt Zardari, less Islamic, or the corrupt Sharif, even more Islmaic, or those ramrod-straight smylers with the knyf under the cloke, those generals who look you straight in the eye and lie, lie, lie. But they lie so sweetly, so plausibly, hoping the Americans will just try to understand, and suggesting that they, those Pakistani rulers, are doing the very best that, "under the circumstances" -- without explaining to the Americans that those "circumstances" boil down to one Big Circumstance: Islam, and no Muslim government or country can ever be a true ally of Infidels against other Muslims. It makes no sense. It goes against everything central to Islam, which divides the world between Believers and Infidels, Muslims and non-Muslims.
The thirty billion so far given to Pakistan -- in military aid, in economic aid, in debt forgiveness (see Selig Harrison's calculations)-- could have gone a long way, for example, in subsidizing solar and wind energy projects. Or it could have paid for three nuclear power plants. Isn't that far more important than making Pakistan even more of a threat to us, and to our efforts in Afghanistan, and to Kashmir, and to India itself, than it is today?
I have not given up on Khayani. He HAS to put up a "front" that he is at least making efforts to stop Coalition (US) efforts to attack Terrorists in their previous safe-havens along the border. If Khayani did not, they would have more Pakistani militants disturbance within Pakistan than they currently have.
On such a "sensitive" raid the US intelligence would have been aware of the Pakistani troop presence.
Since most americans don't understand an enemy that is not a country or government, I view this as a positive development.
Now we can point to the government of Pakistan as being an impedament to our safety. This will just be another step on the road to understanding this new enemy.
The Pakistani army and local tribes on Monday were reported to have blocked an attempt by US troops to stage a fresh attack against militants in the region bordering Afghanistan.
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Well, this is hardly a surprise, is it? And the Pakistani army, so frequently unable to spot terrorist activity in this region, the movements of Al Qaeda or Taliban, had no trouble spotting these American troop movements.
And their allies! Why, the very same tribes who offer such succor to those Taliban and Al Qaeda forces--who let their villages serve as bases for them, and hide their caches of weapons, and supply young recruits from among their populations.
Friend and ally indeed. Well, now the mask--thin and ragged and unconvincing as it was--has been truly stripped away. But you have to wonder if we will allow ourselves to notice, even now...
How credible is this story? The reason I ask is if they "open fire" and drove the Americans back, the Americans had every right to return fire and in a hostile environment I find it a little hard to believe they'd just Go Away.
I'm sure there's more to the story.
as an aside, these people always know when the US Troops move, they know where they stay and consstantly watch. Another part of the problem is that some stupid officers think that by using routine patrol patterns (which they take no physical part in) that "they" are demonstrating to the enemy they are not afraid...... yes, they really do that.
How credible is this story? The reason I ask is if they "open fire" and drove the Americans back, the Americans had every right to return fire and in a hostile environment I find it a little hard to believe they'd just Go Away.
I'm sure there's more to the story.
as an aside, these people always know when the US Troops move, they know where they stay and consstantly watch. Another part of the problem is that some stupid officers think that by using routine patrol patterns (which they take no physical part in) that "they" are demonstrating to the enemy they are not afraid...... yes, they really do that.
Fine. So let's block anyone and everyone who tries to cross the border from Pakistan's tribal areas into Afghanistan. What goes around comes around. Pashtuns may not recognize an international border but we do.
AllahSnackbar wrote:
How credible is this story? The reason I ask is if they "open fire" and drove the Americans back, the Americans had every right to return fire and in a hostile environment I find it a little hard to believe they'd just Go Away.
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I believe it. Not because we'd have any trouble handling this raggedy bunch, but because we are leery of starting a war. They have no such inhibitions.
Diplomacy is such a wonderful game. Remember everybody must be able to walk away from reality with a "win". There have been many "incursions" into Pakistan with results recently. Plausible deniability and outrage meets results...
Remember the stakes of the game in that area are just a bit higher what with India and Pakistan both being nuclear powers AND enemies... It would be very interesting to be a fly on the wall to see how it all worked.
Lan astaslem,
GoingThere
I doubt they "blocked" any raids. We probably just stopped - for now.
This is why we need Palin in Washington. She will put an end to this stupidity - 30 billion dollars for nothing - even worse, 30 billion dollars to our enemy that can use part of that to kill our troops.
Rule No. 1 - Never fund the enemy you are fighting against.