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2010-05-09 India-Pakistan

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Posted by Fred 2010-05-09 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1 Giggle. Sorry, General, but this one doesn't pass the smell test.

Pakistan is
a) not on our side
b) less reliable than its rival India
c) a tottering, made-up BS nation better left hanging in the wind than embraced as a partner
d) all of the above

Posted by lex 2010-05-09 01:36|| 2010-05-09 01:36|| Front Page Top

#2 Retration in 5..4..3

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2010-05-09 04:00|| 2010-05-09 04:00|| Front Page Top

#3 'Lone Wolf'....but still a member of the Pak.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-05-09 08:13|| 2010-05-09 08:13|| Front Page Top

#4 General, your attempt to be supportive to the political message is weak and make you look like a puppet.

Posted by 49 Pan 2010-05-09 11:08|| 2010-05-09 11:08|| Front Page Top

#5 Have to hand it to him: Petraeus has the best political BS/suckup skills we've seen from a general since, well, I can't think of another military man more astute at this game. Even Powell wasn't as smooth as this man.

Makes me think he does have political ambitions after all.

Posted by lex 2010-05-09 13:04|| 2010-05-09 13:04|| Front Page Top

#6 I don't know why Petraeus said this. He is looking a lot like a guy dangling in the wind without much intel--kind of a reflection of the current administration. His troops must be thinking WTF? One might expect this kind of statement from Janet Napolitano, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Baghdad Bob Gibbs, etc. These are the folks you can count on to miss the boat. But Petraeus...just doesn't seem right.

Posted by JohnQC 2010-05-09 14:02|| 2010-05-09 14:02|| Front Page Top

#7 Where'd this guy get the money?

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-05-09 14:11|| 2010-05-09 14:11|| Front Page Top

#8 One possibility:

About 2 years ago the major Islamic warfare theorist for al Qaeda, Sheik Abu-Bakar al Naji, published a book entitled Governance of the Wilderness. It specifically lays out steps by which Muslims can and should undermine the non-Muslim societies within which they live, starting with things like enforcing the niqab on women, progressing to lawfare and establishing parallel societies/courts/etc, challenging and stressing the state's security systems and then beginning countless physical attacks on infrastructure etc.

A key point is that al Naji specifically calls for Muslims to do this individually as well as through organized networks. It got a lot of intel attention when it was translated. This is a good overview.

Re: money, our bomber buddy brought in a bunch when he came here, possibly from his well to do and connected father. Before he defaulted on his mortgage and left his job, he took out a home equity loan for $65k, which would have financed his trip to Pakistan, the trip back, buying the car for a couple hundred dollars and buying the bomb materials. So while he may have been connected to and financed by a network, he could well have managed this attempt without help.

And remember, his father was a senior military leader trained, as all Pakistani military are trained, using Pakistani Brigadier S. K. Malik's Quranic Concept of War. That book is online at several sites and is well worth a read to see the mindset of the Pakistani leadership and upper class.

Posted by lotp 2010-05-09 15:17|| 2010-05-09 15:17|| Front Page Top

#9 About 2 years ago the major Islamic warfare theorist for al Qaeda, Sheik Abu-Bakar al Naji, published a book entitled Governance of the Wilderness.

lotp: It seems like AQ's playbook is being followed. How is our government and military addressing the AQ strategies laid out in the above book?

Posted by JohnQC 2010-05-09 15:28|| 2010-05-09 15:28|| Front Page Top

#10 Steve Coughlin lost his job with the Joint Staff for insisting the military pay attention to the way this is playing out.

Posted by lotp 2010-05-09 17:23|| 2010-05-09 17:23|| Front Page Top

#11 "How is our government and military addressing the AQ strategies laid out in the above book?"

They're obviously not, John.

Doesn't that make you feel ~~politically correct~~ better?

Posted by Barbara Skolaut 2010-05-09 17:40|| 2010-05-09 17:40|| Front Page Top

#12 BS, no this does not give me much comfort. The major challenge for any free society is how to deal with these insidious threats while at the same time maintaining our free society. It would help if our politicians were guided by the fundamental principles such as our Constitution. We are often mired in trivia and we have politicians -- many of whom are not guided by principle. They are only guided by doing whatever it takes to preserve his or her political career. We must fix what is wrong here while at the same time being under this Islamic threat. If such threats are not addressed we will lose our country and our society. Our political class has to quit warring with each other and agree that there are certain directions that will be maintained regardless of which party is in power. Our political class has to quit warring with the American people--we are not the enemy. We, the American people, are the ONLY friends that our government has or should answer to.

Posted by JohnQC 2010-05-09 20:13|| 2010-05-09 20:13|| Front Page Top

#13 Coughlin's basic argument can be found online here. He has since argued strenuously against the cleansing of references to Islam, terrorism and jihad from official records such as the original report on Hassan's attacks on fellow soldiers. Some are quietly listening but it's a hugely uphill climb with those in office.

Posted by lotp 2010-05-09 21:34|| 2010-05-09 21:34|| Front Page Top

#14 "Our political class has to quit warring with the American people--we are not the enemy."

In their eyes, we are, John.

And right this minute, the reverse is also true.

They don't want citizens - they want serfs. >:-(

Posted by Barbara Skolaut 2010-05-09 21:58|| 2010-05-09 21:58|| Front Page Top

#15 A key point is that al Naji specifically calls for Muslims to do this individually as well as through organized networks. It got a lot of intel attention when it was translated. This is a good overview.

Thanks for writing that, lotp.

I'm beginning to think that one of the main problems we're facing is that we're on the receiving end of a lot of organized and unorganized distributed economic warfare and don't seem interested in recognizing that fact. Dealing with each new shoe bomber or whatnot is proving to be a lot more expensive than the plastic explosives they're equipped with.

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-05-09 22:01|| 2010-05-09 22:01|| Front Page Top

#16 If we do not fully understand our enemy, look at him through un-jaded eyes, and call what we see and understand to be facts, despite our social PC blinders, we will certainly lose to our enemy.

Posted by 49 Pan 2010-05-10 00:01|| 2010-05-10 00:01|| Front Page Top

00:01 49 Pan
23:51 49 Pan
23:13 ed
23:09 ed
22:48 ed
22:44 abu do you love
22:39 ed
22:27 Thing From Snowy Mountain
22:26 lotp
22:25 Pappy
22:20 lex
22:16 ed
22:13 SteveS
22:08 Thing From Snowy Mountain
22:07 trailing wife
22:03 Thing From Snowy Mountain
22:02 lex
22:01 Thing From Snowy Mountain
21:58 KBK
21:58 Barbara Skolaut
21:57 Thing From Snowy Mountain
21:51 Zhang Fei
21:39 lotp
21:34 lotp