With US-Pakistani relations already at a near-term low in the wake of yesterday’s cross border attack by US helicopters on a Pakistani military border post, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates addressed a news conference where he made matters even worse.
Gates reiterated the accusation that elements within the Pakistani government knew about the location of Osama bin Laden and were keeping that information from the United States. Bin Laden was killed in a US raid earlier this month.
At the same time, Gates echoed comments by other officials, conceding that the US has absolutely no evidence to that effect and that it is “pure supposition on our part.” The repeated accusations, despite being based on “pure supposition” have done major damage to US-Pakistan ties, and have spawned calls from Congress to suspend all aid to Pakistan to punish them.
Gates, who attended the conference with Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen, also said that the US raid that killed bin Laden had “humiliated” the Pakistani government, and that they had “paid a price” for bin Laden’s presence. Mullen added that the US ability to attack Pakistan with impunity was “a humbling experience” for the Pakistani military.
US has the ability to attack every country of the world with impunity with the possible exception of Russia and China. These attacks are made to look dignified by our press corp by exaggerating the power of the enemy to make it look like a Goliath. Bin Laden who commanded no more than a few hundred men was transformed into this existential threat by shear power of propaganda of our press. This transformation then justified two wars and trillion of dollars. And, now they are using his capture as a way to justify yet another war, this time with Pakistan.
Pakistan has made a deal with the devil and they're repeating the rewards of that pact. Too bad it's innocent Pakistanis who are paying the price.
Dr. Steven Pieczenik knew and treated bin Laden personally. He served under 5 Presidents in the U.S. Treasury, and currently consults the Dept of Defense. The Egyptian newspaper Wafd covered bin Laden's funeral on Dec 26, 2001, and Pieczenik said bin Laden died nearly 10 years ago. Let us PLEASE stop pretending that he died last May 1, and stop piling on lie after lie after lie in support of that. Lies do not change truth no matter how many times you tell them.