al-Qaeda Not The Enemy In Pakistan?

Awe, but come on Curt, Benazir Bhutto was just such a lovely lady and the Left all supports her (despite the fact she was Pro-Life, corrupt and supported the Taliban), so she must be good, right?

Sheesh, talk about ignorance of reality on Left side of the political aisle.

One cannot place blame or even more blame on Benazir given what has been going on in Pakistan for decades. The support of terrorism doesn’t even start in the 1970’s, but the early 1960’s and the first Moslem riots started in the 1950’s which were extremist in nature. The support of such things had been going on for some time and if one wants to point fingers at getting the US involved, that goes quite some time back, at least to Richard Nixon if not further. Benazir is one of a long line of individuals to have gotten eaten by this self-created monster that she could do little about given the power structure inside Pakistan and the influence of the ISI by the time she got to office. This does not excuse her inability to deal with it, but in coming back to *try* and deal with it, she at least recognized that it was now *a problem*. Which is a lot more than Sharif has done and Musharraf has severe problems having an al Qaeda supporter as the head of the ISI. If there is any responsiblity due her, she came back to pay the price of it.

And did.

The connections between her killers and the ultimate individuals her ordered it point to the involvement of the ISI no matter which way you turn. She did finger Ejaz Shah due to his connections to the Taliban and al Qaeda and his familial connections to the opposition party. But even if he did not *order it* the number of groups supported by the ISI and looking to enforce their own view of the world on Pakistan demonstrate the backing of the ISI for them. It is not easy to come in and ‘clean house’: the power of personal military organizations spread throughout Pakistan put one’s life at peril for trying to do that. Musharraf has crippled his ability to deal with these things by taking in high-level individuals who want to see *no* change for the better, and he can barely keep a lid on events. I doubt that Sharif will look to change *anything* as he benefits from this activity as the head of the Muslim Party. Which leaves the PPP and the late Benazir Bhutto…

If we are unwilling to deal with the complexities of Pakistan *now* and not try to cast political aspersions just so we can understand them, then we may be able to ensure that we don’t wake up with a city or two missing in the next decade. But that requires that we actually do approach this as a Nation and as adults trying to figure out a way to bring this mess under control and help the people and tribes of Pakistan to end this idea of Caliphate once and for all in their lands. Otherwise the US is left with the ‘glassy field’ solution, because we cannot set aside politics *now* to address this so as to save lives *later*.

Re: “”For all of Musharraf’s faults he did support the United States.”
That’s the problem for many leftist Americans. They are only happy with governments that do not support the US.”

As opposed to the close Bush Family friends, the Saudi Royal Family, who pay “bounty’s” to all suicide bombers in Israel, who still support the Fundamentalist Islamic schools that form the recruiting center for al Qaeda? Who refuse to shake hands with Israeli ambasadors at international meetings?

I have yet to see Conservatives comment of the Bush Family about that one.

Conservatives have their own set of problems in this arena as well. Of course, since they are Conservatives, this site give them the automatic Conservative ‘free pass”.

Regarding support for the return of Ms Bhutto, it was the Bush Administration, through Secretary of State Rice, who encouraged her return to run for office. But again, she works for George W. Bush, so she gets another “Free Pass” on her part in this mess, as always.

Steve,

Ever see who pays the Clintons bills? Maybe seen the donor list for Bill’s Liebrary?

Probably not as your “handlers” will not let you.

The sarcasm in the last sentence will ellude you, but not stop your cut and paste delusions and projections.