Is Obama moving to escalate the war in Pakistan?

[laststeamtrain]

Is Obama moving to escalate the war in Pakistan?

by Paul Woodward on May 12, 2010



The United States is at war in Pakistan. It will be up to historians to decide when this war began.

“Drone Strikes Pound West Pakistan” says the headline above a brief report in the New York Times. After the CIA fired 18 missiles resulting in at least 14 deaths on Tuesday, the operation was described merely as “a continuation of the air campaign to degrade the capabilities of Al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan Taliban fighters now working together in North Waziristan” (my emphasis).

“Continuation” is another name for escalation when developments that should prompt alarm have already been inoculated with the name “necessity.”

A course of action that if it initiated by George Bush might have been seen as an expression of his intemperate nature, when pursued by no-drama Obama is instead billed as a judicious expansion in the use of force.

But the danger of escalation — now as always — is that the seemingly carefully calibrated expansion of a war has unintended and far-reaching consequences. Only after it’s too late do we learn that the calibration rested on nothing more than wishful thinking.

The logic behind the apparent necessity of expanding the war into Pakistan has been evident ever since the war in Afghanistan began. For Bush, the dangers implicit in crossing the Durand Line(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line) seemed to provoke fear, but his successor seems intent on showing he lacks such trepidation. North Waziristan is where Obama gets to prove that he has the steel that Bush lacked — or so the script says.

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http://warincontext.org/2010/05/12/is-obama-moving-to-escalate-the-war-in-pakistan/

[truebrit71]

1. Whether it was Lt Awol or No-Drama Obama we simply cannot allow..

..the Taliban to get their hands on Pakistan's nukes...and India won't let that happen either..which is complicated when they are aided by some members of the Pakistani govt and it's intelligence service..

[laststeamtrain]

2. "we simply cannot allow" - Who's this "we"? Who died & made this "we" boss?

I'm a citizen of the United States. I'm for a robust national defense. Foreign entanglements don't serve that purpose.

If I was ranking dangerous, rogue nuclear states, Israel would outrank Pakistan.

[truebrit71]

3. The "we" that do not want to see a nuclear holocaust..

..you know, MANKIND... :eyes:

[Jim Sagle]

4. laststeamtrain doesn't seem to have a problem with holocausts, nuclear or otherwise.

[laststeamtrain]

6. That's real fine, Jim. But the thing is people are starting to wonder from whence the next

holocaust will originate. G_d loves irony.

[Jim Sagle]

7. But not when it's pulled out of someone's ass.

[laststeamtrain]

8. Good one. "out of someone's ass". Good one. Exceptional. n/t.

[Jim Sagle]

10. What I'm trying to say, lst, is that proof by assertion doesn't fly.

Most of the exceptionalism associated with Israel is externally imposed, imo. I see nothing in current or recent history to suggest that Israel is a nuclear danger to the world. Quite the contrary, as suggested by their non-use of the nukes they may have. Feel free to contrast that with what might happen if an Arab/Persian nation had nukes and Israel did not.

In this context, a claim that Israel is a nuclear threat comes across as calculated defamation.

[laststeamtrain]

5. That's exactly why the most dangerous, rogue nuclear state is, as I said...

Israel.

I fear that they will join the US in using nuclear weapons against civilian populations. A similar exceptionalism prevails.

The exceptionalism is so prevalent it's invisible.

It's a dangerous time. The 'clash of civilizations' nonsense makes it so.

Have you looked at western civilization lately?

We shouldn't be telling anyone what to do. Sarah Palin may get elected president. Iron Man II is the most popular movie. People eat fast food fat burgers for dinner. Idiocracy deluxe.

BTW, you might want to substitute HUMANKIND for MANKIND. Unless you enjoy being politically incorrect. Some people do.

It's time to get off the empire kick & start fixing things at home.

[Andronex]

9. but but but...

They attacked us because they hate our freedoms, and they plan to use Weapons of Mass Destruction against this peace loving Country...

It's amazing the garbage some people will believe and promote to justify these endless wars for profit and power, never mind that the lies are eventually always exposed, there is always another country to invade and more people need to die because we are such a moral and righteous bunch.

[pundaint]

11. Well then let mankind fund the fucking war, and take responsibility for the dead

civillians.