Despite claims from the US State Department that such an apology wasn’t going to happen, US Undersecretary of Defense Michele Flournoy offered an official apology to Pakistan’s Defense Ministry for the “mistreatment” of the military delegation that was invited to visit Central Command (Centcom) last week.
In the incident eight members of a Pakistani military delegation were detained at Dulles Airport as “terrorists” when one of them made an offhand comment that he “hoped this is the final plane to the destination” and sparked a panic. Though the delegation was offered a separate plane to Tampa, they instead left in protest after complaining of their ill-treatment.
State Department official P.J. Crowley had insisted that the US would never apologize for the detentions, declaring “these things are happening and they’re just a fact of life.” He also insisted that the talks would be rescheduled but held in Pakistan instead.
The detentions really struck a nerve in Pakistan, where they reinforced the view that the US is willing to summarily detain Pakistanis on the flimsiest of pretexts. That they were high ranking military officials was not enough to prevent their capture, though it did probably speed up their release.
What is wrong with this picture! Let's see. Pakistan,we claim, is our ally and fighting on our side; We are paying them billions of dollars to avoid bankrupting their country ,once they deployed their army against the taliban(who are pakistanis;. Now, we invite their top command to our country for military discussions,most likely about how to do things better; One of our homophobic citizens hears a casual remark,and her PATRIATIC hairs stand at attention to save the country; The highly educated and sane employees of the airline order the arrest of 8-9 of the highest ranking officers of Pakistan(our ally); Then our very intelligent and highly educated US STATE DEPARTMENT( A DIPLOMAT) OFFICIAL asserts that we will nver apologize for this very natural occurrence; Will some one please explain such inane thinking?
Arrogance..Arrogance..Arrogance & paranoia.
The Americans are 50% smart. They failed to realize that English is not Pakistanies' language. The Pakistani officer should have said FLIGHT instead of plane. The American who has noticed it also should have understood that sometimes foreigners can not speak perfect English like some Americans. As far as apology is concern, apologizing doesn't make anyone low. It needs moral courage to do that which very few Americans have. Arrogance is the other name of America. Decent behaviour doesn't cost money war does.
What clowns! Even public administration they cannot control. No wonder security spread over mulitple unknown parties are a complete mess too. Only the costs are high! And of course measured in costs everything is a thundering success! Those most blinded by modern societys spin seems precisely to be the ones executing it! And of course that is another proof of success!
Making friends in the middle east and central asia with our non-paranoid, non-racist, highly competent security policies.
Hmm? Why yes – it is Opposite Day – why do you ask?