The US breaks its promises so quick with Pakistan it’s scarcely worth mentioning them in the first place. Just hours after a promise not to launch any more drone strikes against Pakistan for the duration of their peace talks with the Taliban, a US drone pounded a religious school in Hangu.
The attack killed eight people, including three teachers and five students. A number of others were wounded in the attack, and drones continued to loom overhead after the attack.
It’s noteworthy for a lot of reasons, and not just that it broke yet another promise. Hangu is not in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), where US drone strikes have almost exclusively hit, but is in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwah (KP) Province. Hitting a proper province is much more controversial within Pakistan, and a major backlash is expected on a national level.
But that may pale in comparison to the backlash on a provincial level, as the KP Province is ruled by Pakistani Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI), an anti-drone party ruled by Imran Khan which had threatened to blockade the NATO supply route through its province into occupied Afghanistan if the drone strikes didn’t end. They gave an initial deadline of November 20… the day of the latest attack, so it will likely be interpreted locally as timed explicitly to spite them.
The deadline had been moved back to November 23 but the attack is almost certain to spark an enormous response, and will oblige the PTI to at least attempt such a blockade to retain its credibility. It will also add to pressure on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been facing growing criticism for his inability to stop the strikes, a key promise of his campaign.
Last one appeared timed to wreck peace talks, this one day of a deadline. Calling that a pattern. Hadn't seemed as clear to me since the Wedding-Parties/Good-Samaritans: the drone program is murderous psywar; terrorism.
The broken promise bit is interesting: people tend to like having an 'honest' reputation. What's the payoff for being conclusively understood as a liar?
There's an analogy at Waco: Hoover-boy negotiator promises lights won't go out as a reward for the productive conversation that day. Lights did go out. That got the interest of at least one congressman later, and Hoover-boy negotiating team expressed disappointment "with that decision" –leaving it open that it was not theirs, and that someone not paying for the damage done to the negotiators' good-name didn't mind making liars out of them.
How many parties are there to wade through when determining who's responsible for this callous-disregard of America's reputation? Just the prez?
Last one appeared timed to wreck peace talks, this one day of a deadline. Calling that a pattern. Hadn't seemed as clear to me since the Wedding-Parties/Good-Samaritans: the drone program is murderous psywar; terrorism.
The broken promise bit is interesting: people tend to like having an 'honest' reputation. What's the payoff for being conclusively understood as a liar?
There's an analogy at Waco: Hoover-boy negotiator promises lights won't go out as a reward for the productive conversation that day. Lights did go out. That got the interest of at least one congressman later, and Hoover-boy negotiating team expressed disappointment "with that decision" –leaving it open that it was not theirs, and that someone not paying for the damage done to the negotiators' good-name didn't mind making liars out of them.
How many parties are there to wade through when determining who's responsible for this callous-disregard of America's reputation? Just the prez?
Only terrorists bomb religious centers or schools.
Wonder if it was one of those Saudi financed religious schools we used to hear so much about?
I don’t think they were targeting terrorists here, they just kill a bunch of civilians to show who is boss. Hope some day the people responsible will be brought to justice.
http://dawn.com/news/1057599
"White man speak with fork tongue." What part of that statement don´t people understand? How many years of listening to it does it take until people see the reality therein? The American establishment lies about absolutely everything and they always have. Why else would the American establishment hold the title of; “Indian giver”? But you don´t have to listen the American Indian to find this basic truth.
Even our founding fathers didn´t trust the establishment they belonged to and created the separation of powers and constitutional protections for the people against the lying, cheating establishment.
Our leaders can never, never be trusted with absolutely anything. Isn´t that obvious by now?
It's becoming clearer and clearer that the US is actively seeking an all-out war with Pakistan. Why is beyond this old observer. I find it hard to believe that the Administration is intentionally pissing on their own shoes. So that leaves the option that there are rogue elements (CIA? Pentagon?) working against the political government. If the administration is not responsible for these transgressions then they had better figure out who is ordering these strikes and why. Personally, I've lost rack of when the CIA became a war-maker instead of an intelligence maker. Seems they have expanded their portfolio beyond their stated Charter.
The US needs a war so that it can boost the economy as well as provide cover for laws to be passed. Laws that will do as much harm as dropping a nuke on Chicago (random city choice). Obombya wanted to get involved in Syria but was denied by Putin, now he is looking for another target. Remember that he is just a puppet for those who control him and the world economy.
And we continue to wonder why they hate us….
Like the TV gangster who says, "I won't kill you if you sell me where x is." and then shoots the guy in the head.