Thoughts??...



How the United States makes Pakistan more radical
By Arshin Adib-Moghaddam
Commentary by
Friday, August 10, 2007



There is little doubt that those allies of the Bush administration who have signed up to the "war on terror" were quite relieved when they heard that General Pervez Musharraf had managed to suppress the Red Mosque revolt in Islamabad recently, even if that meant that dozens of students had to be killed in what seemed an unbalanced shootout.

For most politicians and mainstream commentators in Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States, the event was yet another footnote in the global war on terror, a successful campaign against Al-Qaeda "jihadists" by a steadfast ally. Ironically, however, it is the perception of Musharraf as a subservient enforcer of American interests in the region that is eroding his legitimacy, not only among Pakistan's neo-fundamentalist right, but also among leading civil society figures.

In Pakistan - as in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and elsewhere in the Muslim world - religiously legitimated political activism is not primarily about "global jihad" but about domestic politics. The rich imagery and potent symbols of Islam are repackaged (sometimes beyond recognition) and employed by a range of political associations, religious sects, liberal grassroots organizations and fundamentalist terrorist movements in order to protest the abominations of the state on the one side and real and perceived dependency on the politics of the White House on the other.

The ongoing crisis in Pakistan has a lot to do with the misguided policies of the Musharraf government: the suspension of the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who was only recently reinstated after vehement protests by the country's intelligentsia; the mishandling of the transnational tribal unrest in Baluchistan and North Waziristan; and the corruption of Pakistan's intelligence services.

One of the reasons why Musharraf was not able to defuse the Red Mosque crisis even after employing a policy of appeasement for several months, is that he does not have an "organic" domestic constituency that could coat his policies with an ideology that appeals to the masses. The secular Left despises him because of the dictatorial powers he has arrogated to himself and his cronies, while the neo-fundamentalist right battles the secular tenets of his policy of "enlightened moderation." Moreover, both are highly critical of his pro-American stance and the impact of the "war on terror" on the country's domestic and international politics.

I would go a step further. Even before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but more exponentially after them, any state in the Muslim world that associated itself too closely with the foreign policy of the United States threatened to open itself up to domestic dissent; Pakistan is no exception to this dialectic, which places pro-US states against oppositional societies.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

Here it does not help Musharraf that the US has embarked on the construction of its third military base in Afghanistan, in close vicinity to the Afghani-Pakistani border and well-situated to conduct and supervise military operations within Pakistani territory. After all, the new US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) has set out that Al-Qaeda has successfully regrouped in that increasingly anarchic border area, and that the transnational network constructed by the organization is functional enough to conduct terrorist operations in the US itself. The record of the Bush administration shows that it has needed much less incentive to transgress international norms and violate the sovereignty of independent nation-states. Indeed, Musharraf himself deemed it necessary repeatedly to stress that the Pakistani national army is able to pacify the borders with Afghanistan and that a mixture of deal-making and military pressures could be conducive to that end. Yet, the Bush administration has still not ruled out military operations inside Pakistani territory.

But to his opponents the very fact that Musharraf has to react to US policies in the region is an indicator of his weakness. The nation-state of Pakistan emerged out of massive upheaval that caused immense human suffering. Its foundational ideology was inspired by the political expediency of Muhammad-Ali Jinna, the poetic exigencies of Muhammad Iqbal and the Islamist activism of Abul Ala Mawdudi. It was in many ways the original "Islamic Republic," at the heart of which its founders placed the struggle for independence. That the neo-fundamentalist activism propounded by Taliban-type sects confronting the Musharraf government from the right is now at the forefront of the struggle against the state, is largely due to the systematic suppression of the legitimate, oppositional activities of Pakistan's civil society.

It is one of the many ironies of contemporary US foreign policy in the Muslim world that the Bush administration has implicitly contributed to this radicalization of Pakistani society.


Arshin Adib-Moghaddam

__________________
"Barrel High, Powder Dry!"

"Illic est haud effrego ex Veneratio"

I'm sure the militant clerics would blame America for the weather given half a chance. Truth is if Pakistan wasn't so wrought with internal divisions and a sizable percentage of extremists, they wouldn't be in the situation they are in. America has interfered directly and indirectly but at what point does one take responsibility for ones own actions?

One takes responsibility for ones actions, when their inaction results in the deaths of others whos only crime is being in the wrong place at the wrong time, like the Afgan locals who are too afraid to speak out, and too weak to fight off these Jihaddis from nutjob training camps... The Pakistani absolute belief in sticking their head in the sand and it will be ok is sickening!!..

__________________
"Barrel High, Powder Dry!"

"Illic est haud effrego ex Veneratio"

This is Pakistan

It is made of fail and suck

__________________
We view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are nerved for the contest, and must conquer or perish. It is vain to look for present aid. We must now act or abandon all hope! Rally to the standard, and be no longer the scoff of mercenary tongues! Be men, be free men, that your children may bless their father's name. - Sam Houston

Duty is the most sublime word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less. - Robert E. Lee

You'd be great in diplomacy

[QUOTE=Texas;47678]I'm sure the militant clerics would blame America for the weather given half a chance. Truth is if Pakistan wasn't so wrought with internal divisions and a sizable percentage of extremists, they wouldn't be in the situation they are in. America has interfered directly and indirectly but at what point does one take responsibility for ones own actions?[/QUOTE]
Hear, hear!

__________________
"Display some *****ing adaptability!"
-CPL Bobby Shaftoe, USMC

Dude, you really gotta slow down on the Xbox, ease of the blow (if your smoking it, but I honesty think you dont need it.. the madness is already there.. hahaha...) and start making sense.. a country is not made of "fail and suck".. what kinda statement is that??...

__________________
"Barrel High, Powder Dry!"

"Illic est haud effrego ex Veneratio"

Pakistan's not a country...

I know mang.

__________________
We view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are nerved for the contest, and must conquer or perish. It is vain to look for present aid. We must now act or abandon all hope! Rally to the standard, and be no longer the scoff of mercenary tongues! Be men, be free men, that your children may bless their father's name. - Sam Houston

Duty is the most sublime word in our language. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more. You should never wish to do less. - Robert E. Lee

Yea it is??....

__________________
"Barrel High, Powder Dry!"

"Illic est haud effrego ex Veneratio"

I make Pakistan more radical just by showing up.

__________________
"Display some *****ing adaptability!"
-CPL Bobby Shaftoe, USMC