I try to remember that politicians are the heads of the nations of the world. They are good at political calculus, a topic foreign to many. That’s what drives their decisions in their stance on issues.
IMHO, every nation’s political leadership is trying to come to terms with the inherent evil of islam insofar as it’s followers and leaders either outright declare or tacitly concur that Israel, America and the Western nations are the enemies of islam. That’s quite a quandry: we have an enemy who has declared war on us, but since the enemy claims to be a religion and our principles include freedom of religion, we feel logically unable to declare war back on the enemy.
Communism and Nazism never purported to be a religion, so there was never such a quandry.
In middle eastern nations like pakistan, a majority of the population agrees with the declaration of war on the West, America and Israel.
So what is a politician in pakistan - who wishes to stay in office - to do ? To the politician, there is one course of action, play both sides against each other, balancing on a tightrope that keeps the assassin and overthrower at bay by appeasing them, while simultaneously portraying an image that American politicians can take home to Americans and use to keep their constituents happy. Wow, what a compromise.
And so what to do with binladen ? Perhaps not want to know ? Seems doubtful that this would be kept secret from the highest levels; he’s not a common criminal, he’s a political turd for the government who was hidden under the rug. Tell bin laddem he can stay but he must keep his mouth shut seems to be what has transpired.
I wonder who built the binladen hideout house, and who designed it. Definitely this detail work was not done by those who lived in it. Numerous pakistanis, both inside and outside the pakistani government had to know binladden was there and kept silent for 5 years, in order for the building to have location selection, purchase, be permitted, designed by some architect with security in mind, built by some company, let alone sneaking the occupants in and leaving them completely alone for 5 years. The location itself speaks volumes, as it offers a position inside the last line of defense in the case of any disturbance: it is the home of the nation’s military elite. Were the binladen hideout to be off by itself, it would have been much more expendable by the military.
pakistan, in regards to it’s relationship with Western nations is a rotten apple with many worms, but that seems par for the ( abbottabad golf ?) course amongs middle eastern nations.
The mideast seem to be the bullies of the neighborhood who we have had to deal with for decades, and this shoot is the latest step in the deadly dance we have had with them since oil was discovered.
Their tenure as bully will last only as long as their energy supply; as this marches to it’s end, so does their significance in the world.
Can we ask every Congressman to take a stance on this humble request - I think the answer would fascinate most Americans.
Before we send one more penny to pakistan, before we trade anything with them, ever again, please riddle me this:
I know we “got” binladin, that’s great. Now, what about a list of every other islamic warrior that is within pakistans cities and towns ? I’m not asking about “the hinterlands” that are so “impossible” to control, I’ve heard that tune before and frankly it bores me. I want to know how many other terrorist-islamists, alkada, taliban, international terrorists, money-laundering operators, cyber-criminals, etc. are in pakistan. That the pakistani government is “unaware” of.
I like that they buy weapons from U.S. companies, it’s great for our exports, even if it’s being bought largely with U.S. “aid” dollars, er, U.S. tax dollars, anyway. But I think perhaps many Americans would be willing to halt those weaponry sales for a few years until we get an inventory of all the bad guys that are comfortably residing inside pakistan.
The question is an 800-pound gorilla that I haven’t heard much about in the “press”. Was binladen the ONLY terrorist that found refuge in pakistan ?
It’s a difficult scorecard for me to follow: who are America’s friends and enemies in the mideast.