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Ear to the Ground

Pakistan Getting Speedy Military Aid Delivery From Pentagon

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Posted on Oct 16, 2009
Pakistani soldiers
AP / K.M.Chaudary

Pakistan army arrives Thursday in Lahore at a police training school that had been stormed by terrorists.

After recent militant attacks in Pakistan that killed about 150, the Pentagon is pushing forward with plans to send about $200 million in military aid—in the form of equipment and “services,” according to Reuters.  —KA

Reuters via Google News:

The U.S. military aid is meant to help Pakistan mount a long-awaited ground offensive against Taliban fighters in their South Waziristan stronghold along the border with Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO forces are fighting a growing insurgency.

Hit by string of brazen militant attacks in the past 11 days that have killed about 150 people, Islamabad says a ground offensive by its troops is imminent.

“Each one of these attacks is troublesome,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. “But the Pakistan government remains committed to addressing the threat there.”

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By Folktruther, October 17 at 8:38 pm #

And the worst of it is, @ct, that the whole thing is not only pointless from the perspective of the American people, it is pointless from perspective of the American power structure.

The only point of arming Pakistan is because Obama inherited a war from Bush, and if one doesn’t win it, one loses it.  there is nothing to win there, even in the farfetched instance that the US ‘wins’ militarily.  but Obama will lose the next election if he doesn’t escalate, and so that is what he is doing after a sufficent amount of political theater.

Even the Chinese are wary that things might get out of hand.  They enjoy having the US and the West bogged down in Afghanistan while they obtain an insurmountable economic lead, but Pakistan is unstable, and they have an oil port at Gwardar, reached by a highway over the mountains.  It is the closest port to their western region.  so they are nervvous that their access to it might be hindered if the US destablizes Pakistan.  Increasing the power of India.

The US gave India atomic weaponery, spreading nuclear weapons against their treaty obligations to egg India on aganst China.  But India took the weapons and sidestepped agression agaisnt China, focusing on Pakistan and Afghanistan.

If the incompetence of US foreign policy were not a proven commodity, one mught suspect some devious strategm.  But no, what you see is what you get.  Idiocy and insanity in policy for political reasons.

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By @CT, October 17 at 3:55 pm #

It’s always such an inspiration to see Oblabla appear with the Bushes. The government can’t “do it all” in the US—Single Payer, or deliver an SSI COLA to the poor, or stop foreclosures—but CAN “do it all” for the financial institutions, the insurance corporations, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc.?

How deep does His rotten baloney get, before the citizenry becomes “pikes-and-cudgels-ready”?

Obama, urging service, says government can’t do it all
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/091016/us/politics_us_obama_bush

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By @CT, October 17 at 3:42 pm #

Folktruther writes:
“An increase in US war in Pakistan, hated by the Pakistani people, AFTER Obama got the Nobel Peace prize.”

“We can’t fall back on the stale debates and old divides,” as Der Won opined in April. Forward! to the humongous land war to impose “democracy” on “AfPak” ...

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By ardee, October 17 at 8:57 am #

Continuing to arm Pakistan only means that those weapons will be pointed at India and not the Taliban or AlQaeda. There is much sympathy for the Taliban among Pakistani military , intelligence and in the govt as well.

I would suspect, that as our continued effort to slaughter wedding parties, school children and other such dangerous elements of Afghani and Pakistani society increases, which it surely will as our military presence increases
( Yaah Nobel Prize, way to go),
more and more will think the Taliban less of a threat than are we.

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By Folktruther, October 16 at 10:35 pm #

A prelude to disasster.  An increase in US war in Pakistan, hated by the Pakistani people, AFTER Obama got the Nobel Peace prize.

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By Dar, October 16 at 9:58 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

The Pakistani regime is vile in its willingness to kill Pasthuns in what is stolen Afghan land.

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By LostHills, October 16 at 9:15 pm #

What will it take to get some speedy aid delivered to American workers who are losing their jobs, their homes and their vehicles?

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By Leefeller, October 16 at 6:23 pm #

$200 what one dollar bills, the military is becoming frugal now? Maybe they can send Pakistan one of those $200 toilet seats.

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