In Pakistan: Who Is The Terrorist?

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

In Pakistan: Who Is The Terrorist?
http://saneramblings.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=213&sid=1d3382f636f2d3746ee4b9bf0ea9e6c4
by Dick Kazan (posted with permission)

One of President Bush's closest allies in his "war on terror" is Pakistan's dictator, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Gen. Musharraf just declared martial law and jailed thousands of political activists and opponents, as he seized Pakistan's media and he replaced several Supreme Court Justices with those loyal to him.

As thousands of Pakistanis peacefully protested, Gen. Musharraf's soldiers fired tear gas at them and clubbed many of them, leaving some in pools of blood. The message to the Pakistani people is don't oppose us or you'll get hurt or jailed.

Despite Mr. Bush's self-proclaimed "freedom agenda," he terms Gen. Musharraf "a strong fighter" against terrorism as the General plays a big role in Mr. Bush's pursuit of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

As a result, Gen. Musharraf is highly likely to continue to receive billions of dollars in U.S. military weapons and U.S. taxpayer money. Weapons and money he is now using against his own people.

"to protect America and protect American citizens by continuing to fight against terrorists," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters.

But of which terrorists is Ms. Rice speaking?

Al Qaeda didn't seize control of Pakistan's government in 1999 nor did it declare martial law there now. Neither did the Taliban.

What must the 170-million Pakistani people think of America when they see Gen. Musharraf receive U.S. support that brutalizes them? Might they too become a large scale producer of jihadists bitterly determined to strike back at America?

Yet the greater problem may be a deep resentment from the vast number of moderate Pakistanis who see America helping to keep Gen. Musharraf in power.

For according to Pakistan's Ministry of Finance, the U.S. is by far Pakistan's largest investor, with nearly 1/3 of their direct foreign investment.

This means the U.S. has tremendous leverage to influence Gen. Musharraf's decisions. With the stroke of a pen, Mr. Bush could end that investment and bring this dictatorship to its knees.

Instead, Mr. Bush told reporters, "All we can do is continue to work with the president to make it abundantly clear the position of the United States." That position appears to be ongoing, heavy duty support.

Also of interest regarding Pakistan, Mr. Bush has threatened a nuclear holocaust against Iran because they may some day develop a nuclear weapon. Yet Pakistan has nuclear weapons now which Gen. Musharraf could use at any time against anyone. And unlike Pakistan, Iran is not a military dictatorship.

And to make matters worse, until recently one of Pakistan's top scientists was making big money selling nuclear weapon technology to those who want to build their own weapons so Iran aside, the knowledge has been spreading far and wide.

You may be asking yourself, what set-off martial law in Pakistan? Gen. Musharraf claimed "a grave threat" made his actions necessary. We Americans can relate to this for we find our President using 9/11 in a similar way except that he is gradually rather than abruptly taking away our freedoms.

But dear reader, the U.S. is a great country and if you raise your voice, it can stop supporting brutal military regimes and with your encouragement, it could even conduct peace negotiations and settle its differences with all those it now declares war against.

It could also join Afghanistan's President Karzai as he reaches out to the Taliban to include them in the democratic process so they too could have a peaceful voice in Afghanstan's political system. This would allow the Afghan people a wider selection to democratically choose their own leadership.

Thus far, the U.S. opposes this democratic approach, instead trying to kill as many of the Taliban as it can. And the U.S. is committing its support for and its honor to Pakistan's military dictatorship in pursuit of this goal.

And here is something else of interest to you. If you continue to raise your voice our Constitutional freedoms could be restored as well, for no terrorist can take from us what we willingly surrender in the name of security to those in positions of trust. For extremists come in all nationalities including among them, some of those such as Mr. Bush who currently hold high political office in our nation.

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