Wonder how the war front is going.
Looks like it has begun: Thousands battle Pakistani police
Anyhow,
"US will review aid to Pakistan; Hundreds more are arrested" by Farah Stockman/Boston Globe November 5, 2007
Sigh! Not what I heard about the aid.
WASHINGTON -The United States has provided more than $10 billion in funding. About $6.2 billion has gone to reimburse Pakistan's military for the costs associated with stationing 100,000 Pakistani troops on the Afghan border to curb Al Qaeda and the Taliban, according to Craig Cohen, deputy chief of staff at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based national security think tank.
You didn't need that money for anything, American.
Cohen, who produced a study on US funding to Pakistan, said he doubts that US officials will be able to curb this funding, no matter what Musharraf does:
"There is probably going to be tough talk about continuing the aid, but I think when push comes to shove... military assistance has to continue."
But other funding to Pakistan could be in jeopardy. Musharraf's government is one of only a small handful in the world to obtain direct budget support, including Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. Since Sept. 11, 2001, Pakistan has received $1.6 billion in direct cash transfers, with little oversight and few limitations on how the money can be spent.
The few, the proud, the priviliged.
Pakistan also received $1.6 billion in US foreign military aid to purchase American weapons, such as F-16s and ship-to-ship missiles, and $1.1 billion in humanitarian assistance. Analysts say that billions more in covert US assistance to Pakistan's intelligence agencies flow into the country.
Yeah, creating and maintaining "Al-CIA-Duh!"
Many Pakistanis accuse Musharraf of turning Pakistan's military against its own citizens [like].... Musharraf's decision to declare a state of emergency Saturday night.
Yesterday, the US Embassy in Islamabad issued a statement urging the release of arrested lawyers, human rights activists, and politicians and allowing the resumption of independent television broadcasting, which has been blacked out in recent days.
But Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told reporters at a press conference yesterday that elections could be delayed by "up to a year" because of the state of emergency.
Up to a year, huh?
He justified the measures by saying:
"[They are to] ensure the right of the government to maintain law and order and security, to contain extremism, and to bring harmony amongst the various pillars of the state - pillars being the executive, the judiciary, and the legislature."
Although Musharraf used "extremism" to justify the crackdown, more than 400 moderate, secular opposition leaders have been detained or targeted for house arrest.... Lawyers announced that they would launch a national strike today.
Hassan Abbas, a former aide to Musharraf who is now a scholar at Harvard University, said Pakistanis were rallying around the justices of the supreme court, seven of whom were fired Saturday:
"For the first time in the history of Pakistan, there is some institution that has gained so much popularity and credibility that they are a threat to the military."
Yesterday, former prime minister BenazirBhutto spoke out against the wave of arrests, which she said encouraged extremists, but she refused to rule out a power-sharing arrangement with Musharraf."
Yeah, she was tipped off about the thing, which is why she was out of the country.
Deal's on?
And where are the beards and turbans?
"U.S. Is Likely to Continue Aid to Pakistan" by DAVID E. SANGER and DAVID ROHDE
Yeah, that's what I heard.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 — The Bush administration signaled Sunday that it would likely continue to keep billions of dollars flowing to Pakistan’s military, despite the detention of human rights activists and leaders of the political opposition by Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the country’s president.
'Cause Mushy's our guy!
In Islamabad, aides to General Musharraf... said they had anticipated that there would be few real consequences. They called the American reaction “muted, ” saying General Musharraf had not received phone calls of protest from Mr. Bush or other senior American officials. In unusually candid terms, they said American officials support stability over democracy.
Gave him approval, that's why their is no squawking.
Tariq Azim Khan, the minister of state for information:
“They would rather have a stable Pakistan — albeit with some restrictive norms — than have more democracy prone to fall in the hands of extremists.”
Who said that was gonna happen?
Every time someone says that, the knee-jerk is "those guys are extreme, they don't have support."
So which is it, and if so, why afraid of an election?
It was a sign of their confidence that Pakistani officials announced that parliamentary elections set for January might be delayed for as long as a year.
Might be a year, huh? Up to a year, might be a year, o.k.
President Bush, who has made spreading democracy a major foreign policy theme, has said nothing in public about General Musharraf’s action. His silence contrasts sharply to his reaction to the crackdown on dissidents in Myanmar last month.
Who? What? Where?
Pakistan is now on the front-pages and viewing screens of the Zionist-controlled shit MSM.
In Islamabad, American officials said Mr. Bush’s limited choices could worsen if protests erupt on Pakistan’s streets, and they complained that in the past few months, General Musharraf has focused more on weakening the moderates among his rivals rather than fighting Islamic extremists.
Mushy's dictator mode!
Even Sunday, a close aide to General Musharraf seemed more concerned about the actions of Benazir Bhutto, the leader of the country’s largest opposition party, than about the Islamic militant forces who have tried repeatedly to kill General Musharraf. Ms. Bhutto’s party, he said, “can stir up a lot of trouble.”
Then Mushy is breaking the deal? Deal off!
And he shouldn't worry about the ISI agents that are branded extremists; what he needs to ewatch out for are "Al-CIA-Duh" operatives.
Through it all the United States has continued pumping money to the country....
While Washington does not assemble in one place all of its various forms of aid to Pakistan, a study published in August by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated the total to be “at least $10 billion in Pakistan since 9/11, excluding covert funds.” Sixty percent of that has gone to “Coalition Support Funds,” essentially direct payments to the Pakistani military, and 15 percent to purchase major weapons systems. Another 15 percent has been for general budget support for the Pakistani government; only 10 percent for development or humanitarian assistance.
General Musharraf’s supporters argued Sunday that his government — now unencumbered by legal constraints and political concerns by the emergency decree — will be in a better position to eradicate extremists and that if the United States wants that security, it has no other choice than to back him.
I don't like the eradication of anybody.
And there is Mushy bending us over a Bushy.
The close aide to General Musharraf:
“If your agenda is to save attacks in the U.S. and eliminate Al Qaeda, only the Pakistani Army can do that. For that, you will have to forget about elections in Pakistan for maybe two to three years.”
Oh, now it is forget about elections for TWO, THREE YEARS!!!
I'd heard maybe one!
There is little question that General Musharraf has failed to develop broad public support in Pakistan for battling terrorists. His political party is divided, has not carried out promised reforms and would likely lose a national election.
Gonna lose election, so they just won't have one.
Is the controlled media presenting this to see how Amurkns might respond to such a scenario?
"Pakistan Rounds Up Musharraf’s Political Foes" by JANE PERLEZ and DAVID ROHDE
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 4 — The government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, making no concessions a day after seizing emergency powers, rounded up leading opposition figures and said Sunday that parliamentary elections could be delayed for as long as a year.
There they go again!
Security forces were reported to have detained about 500 opposition party figures, lawyers and human rights advocates on Sunday, and about a dozen privately owned television news stations remained off the air. International broadcasters, including the BBC and CNN, were also cut off.
Now that explains the headline press coverage!!! MSM's hurt feelings!!!!
The crackdown, announced late Saturday night after General Musharraf suspended the Constitution, was clearly aimed at preventing public demonstrations that political parties and lawyers were organizing for Monday.
Getting Amurka ready?
Athar Minallah, a lawyer and a former minister in the Musharraf government:
“They are showing zero tolerance for protest.”
In Islamabad, police forces continued to block the Parliament and Supreme Court buildings. But the day was mostly quiet, there was no formal curfew, and most people went about their business as usual. Several small protests were broken up, including one involving two dozen people who scuffled with the police.
Turn-in:
Police officers armed with tear gas broke up a meeting at the headquarters of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission in Lahore and took dozens of people away in police vans, including elderly women, schoolteachers and about 20 lawyers, according to people at the meeting. In all, about 80 lawyers were detained, and many others who faced arrest warrants remained in hiding, according to members of a nationwide lawyer’s lobby that has grown increasingly influential as an anti-Musharraf voice.
Hidden inside!
And WTF?
ELDERLY WOMEN?
SCHOOLTEACHERS?
LAWYERS?
Despite repeated warnings by the United States and other Western nations over the past several days, the Musharraf government also appeared set to put off parliamentary elections that had been scheduled for January.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, at a news conference on Sunday, said that the government was holding internal discussions on the future of the elections: “We are still deliberating."
Tariq Azim Khan, a government spokesman, when asked Sunday why 500 people had been arrested: "[The arrests were] preventive measures [because the people presented] a threat to future law and order.”
That sure is explosive, huh?
The PEOPLE REPRESENT a THREAT!
ELDERLY WOMEN?
SCHOOLTEACHERS?
LAWYERS?
Ms. Bhutto returned to Karachi from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates hours after emergency rule was imposed.... Ms. Bhutto, who came back to Pakistan with the backing of the United States and the specific mandate of bringing a democratic face to Pakistan, said her options for influencing the situation were limited.
Ms. Bhutto’s potential to rally large numbers of demonstrators, her most potent weapon, was now in severe trouble, said Najem Sethi, the editor in chief of The Daily Times. Organizing large protests under emergency rule, and after the bomb attack on her arrival procession Oct. 18 that killed 140 people, would be very difficult for her, he said.
And CUI BONO, Mushy? Deal off!
Mr. Sethi: “She will be very critical, but she is not going to participate in protests. She’s going to make a token representation. Behind the scenes she will work with the government for election as soon as possible.”
Deal on?
At the government news conference in Islamabad, Prime Minister Aziz spoke further about controls on the news media that were reported Saturday night. Broadcasters had said that the government had issued orders that journalists who brought “ridicule or disrepute” to General Musharraf and other officials could face up to three years in prison. On Sunday, Mr. Aziz said that the government would meet with television broadcasters to work out a “code of conduct.”
How's that for the "free press."
'Course, no problem here.
The MSM already knows the rules, and dutifully obeys.
