Van full of Pakistans…
U.S. military incursions into Pakistan that have stoked anti-Americanism top the agenda for President Bush’s talks with the newly elected president of the Muslim nation, which is reeling from a deadly truck bomb that devastated a Marriott hotel in Islamabad.
Publicly, Bush and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who were to meet Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, will exhibit a show of solidarity against extremists. Privately, the two leaders will be trying to craft a delicate strategy to make progress in fighting militants while keeping U.S.-Pakistan relations on an even keel until Bush leaves office in four months.
To my knowledge it’s twice in as many weeks that American helicopters have been turned back at the border by Pakistani troops. It’s really gone beyond an ‘October Surprise’ at this point and has morphed into full on ‘casus belli’. Are they sending US soldiers out there to die at this point, hoping to tap off a larger conflict?
A suicide bomber has killed a US diplomat and two other people in a suicide attack near the US consulate in Karachi, Pakistani police say.
Many more were hurt in the blast, which tore through a car park near the consulate in a high-security zone.
The blast comes two days before US President George Bush visits Pakistan. He says his trip will go ahead.
US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said there was some evidence the diplomat was deliberately targeted.
At this time, neither the Taliban nor Al-qaeda have claimed responsibility for the blast. Were they even behind it? If you follow the news, Pakistani regulars have actually been throwing in with the people of the Tribal Areas, actively turning back US incursions into their territory. If they are co-operating, what good does it do either group to bomb in downtown Karachi? Each passing week has marked greater and greater ties between the ISI, Pakistan’s Intelligence Service, Tribal Militias and Army Regulars on the border of Afghanistan… not going to say that the Taliban is a rational actor… but this is just so far counter to the progress they’ve made bringing Pakistan’s Armed Forces on board against the American incursion that it literally makes no sense.
Is this Latin America all over again? Is this the work of the CIA? It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve killed American citizens or soldiers for that matter to manufacture reasons for a war.
Fiddlin' while the Republic burns, Ungrateful Dead World Tour
