Saturday, December 29, 2007
Reality is as Mad as a Hatter
While the war on terror was busy guarding Santa, no one was guarding opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan.
Well actually, she had an armoured convey that included anti-bomb detonation equipment (apparently they send out frequencies to jam cell phone detonations), a bullet and bomb-proof car, and a healthy enslaught of body guards.
The jury is still out as to whether she died of gunshot wounds, shrapnel, or if "after she tried to duck back into the vehicle and the shock waves from the blast knocked her head into a lever attached to the sunroof, fracturing her skull."
While the coroner gets to his conclusions, the global media has decided that Al Qaeda and the Taliban...BOTH OF THEM, caused the incident.
I want details.
So far the Interior Ministry Spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Javed Iqbal Cheema claimed that Pakistani intelligence intercepted a cellphone message from an "Al Qaeda leader" Baitullah Mehsud. Mehsud sent out a call of congratulations on a job well done.
Who did he call? The suicide bomber?
Seriously, the spin doctors have lost it on this one. To quickly label both supposed groups responsible on the evidence at hand is seriously flawed. For a while now I have said that uses of the labels "Taliban" and "Al Qaeda" are overblown, shrewed and barely understood. But the global media does a pretty slick job of jamming both groups into a single entity (I noticed this between the French and English press in Canada... While Canadian soldiers are usually fighting Taliban in English, in French they're after Kamikaze d'al qaida).
But back to it! Baitullah Meshsud is a known leader in the Waziri region, and is often labelled a Taliban leader (meaning one of many resistance movements in the northern league nations that stretch along Afghanistan's borders). The Waziri resistance movement dates back to the 19th century, and even today tribal conflict is a thorn in the side of the Musharraf dictatorship.
On February 8, 2005 the Musharraf dictatorship offered Meshud $20 million (USD) for a ceasefire from tribal aggression against Pakistan. Many tribal leaders (labelled Taliban) were offered similar bribes. "Some Taliban leaders had claimed they needed the money because they owed Al Qaeda (meaning a loosely defined network of arms dealers, and financiers that have links to Saudi Arabia) money, and couldn't disengage from hostilities unless the debt was repaid." But Meshud asked for the money to be given to compensate families who had suffered during military operations.
For Ministry Spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Cheema to pin responsibility for Bhutto's assassination on Al Qaeda and the Taliban because the government intercepted a cell phone message from Meshud is a sign that the spinning wheels of deceit are running out of ideas, because their stories do not consider two simple facts:
- The tribes in the Waziri region are not centrally organized as a single unit to be simply labelled the Taliban.
- Tribal resistance in these regions are greatly indebted to the repayment of funds to a supposed Al Qaeda group (again, meaning the financial network... not Bin Laden and his alleged military envoy that hang out in his secret underground cave with his dialysis machine). They are clients of, not decision makers with, such organizations.
Bhutto's assassination will be used by Pakistani, U.S. and other international figures to justify the scaling up of military activity in the region. My guess is that in 2008 Iran will somehow get thrown into the mix too. The goal, as always, is not to worry about details, or expose behind-the-scenes bribes and politics, but to take quick and fanatical action against alleged threats.
The fabrications that come out of the mouths of world leaders are getting out of hand. They make no sense, and yet they quickly justify brutal, widespread military responses. They also make instant Martyrs out of people like Bhutto.
There are serious cracks in the official stories that get spun. Unless we push up against those cracks, by asking some questions about the basic details, or at least by doing 10 minutes of research on Wikipedia, we're doomed to be blue in the face from being spun so hard.
Yamis adds: Wikipedia page for Al Qaeda
Wikipedia page for Taliban
Well actually, she had an armoured convey that included anti-bomb detonation equipment (apparently they send out frequencies to jam cell phone detonations), a bullet and bomb-proof car, and a healthy enslaught of body guards.
The jury is still out as to whether she died of gunshot wounds, shrapnel, or if "after she tried to duck back into the vehicle and the shock waves from the blast knocked her head into a lever attached to the sunroof, fracturing her skull."
While the coroner gets to his conclusions, the global media has decided that Al Qaeda and the Taliban...BOTH OF THEM, caused the incident.
I want details.
So far the Interior Ministry Spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Javed Iqbal Cheema claimed that Pakistani intelligence intercepted a cellphone message from an "Al Qaeda leader" Baitullah Mehsud. Mehsud sent out a call of congratulations on a job well done.
Who did he call? The suicide bomber?
Seriously, the spin doctors have lost it on this one. To quickly label both supposed groups responsible on the evidence at hand is seriously flawed. For a while now I have said that uses of the labels "Taliban" and "Al Qaeda" are overblown, shrewed and barely understood. But the global media does a pretty slick job of jamming both groups into a single entity (I noticed this between the French and English press in Canada... While Canadian soldiers are usually fighting Taliban in English, in French they're after Kamikaze d'al qaida).
But back to it! Baitullah Meshsud is a known leader in the Waziri region, and is often labelled a Taliban leader (meaning one of many resistance movements in the northern league nations that stretch along Afghanistan's borders). The Waziri resistance movement dates back to the 19th century, and even today tribal conflict is a thorn in the side of the Musharraf dictatorship.
On February 8, 2005 the Musharraf dictatorship offered Meshud $20 million (USD) for a ceasefire from tribal aggression against Pakistan. Many tribal leaders (labelled Taliban) were offered similar bribes. "Some Taliban leaders had claimed they needed the money because they owed Al Qaeda (meaning a loosely defined network of arms dealers, and financiers that have links to Saudi Arabia) money, and couldn't disengage from hostilities unless the debt was repaid." But Meshud asked for the money to be given to compensate families who had suffered during military operations.
For Ministry Spokesman, Brig.-Gen. Cheema to pin responsibility for Bhutto's assassination on Al Qaeda and the Taliban because the government intercepted a cell phone message from Meshud is a sign that the spinning wheels of deceit are running out of ideas, because their stories do not consider two simple facts:
- The tribes in the Waziri region are not centrally organized as a single unit to be simply labelled the Taliban.
- Tribal resistance in these regions are greatly indebted to the repayment of funds to a supposed Al Qaeda group (again, meaning the financial network... not Bin Laden and his alleged military envoy that hang out in his secret underground cave with his dialysis machine). They are clients of, not decision makers with, such organizations.
Bhutto's assassination will be used by Pakistani, U.S. and other international figures to justify the scaling up of military activity in the region. My guess is that in 2008 Iran will somehow get thrown into the mix too. The goal, as always, is not to worry about details, or expose behind-the-scenes bribes and politics, but to take quick and fanatical action against alleged threats.
The fabrications that come out of the mouths of world leaders are getting out of hand. They make no sense, and yet they quickly justify brutal, widespread military responses. They also make instant Martyrs out of people like Bhutto.
There are serious cracks in the official stories that get spun. Unless we push up against those cracks, by asking some questions about the basic details, or at least by doing 10 minutes of research on Wikipedia, we're doomed to be blue in the face from being spun so hard.
Yamis adds: Wikipedia page for Al Qaeda
Wikipedia page for Taliban
Labels: Al Qaeda, Bhutto, Taliban, War on Terror, Waziristan
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