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Pentagon planning ‘boots
on ground’ in Waziristan
Pakistan
Daily Times
Monday, June 2, 2008
WASHINGTON: “So alarmed is the Pentagon, that Defence Secretary
Robert Gates’ plans to send US ground forces into the FATA
are being rapidly advanced,” writes journalist Eric Margolis
in his syndicated column read worldwide.
“Apparently, Washington’s criticism of Islamabad’s
recent peace deals in the tribal territories has sharply intensified.
American conservatives are claiming Pakistan has ‘sold out’
to Al Qaeda and Taliban, and is sheltering Osama Bin Laden and
his cohorts.”
US fears: Margolis writes about Washington’s desperate
efforts to keep President Pervez Musharraf afloat because it fears
that a fully civilianised government in Islamabad would be more
responsive to anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and wash its
hands of the war on terror at a time when more, not less, Pakistani
support is needed to help US troops in Afghanistan confront the
Taliban summer offensive.
(Article continues below)
“Musharraf’s slow-motion fall from power has also
wrong-footed Washington because it was counting on using US bases
there in the event of an attack on Iran,” reveals Margolis.
“The US capitol is again buzzing with rumours of an impending
air campaign against at least 3,000 targets in Iran that will
be launched sometime before November elections to boost the fortunes
of the embattled Republicans. Israel’s American supporters
are waging an all-out campaign for war against Iran. This week,
they began running TV commercials claiming Iran was attacking
the United States.”
Margolis argues that as Pakistan’s economy takes a battering
over soaring oil prices and political instability, and faces a
punishing recession, if not an outright financial crisis, it will
become increasingly dependent on US aid. “That is Washington’s
last hope. Pakistan will have the Hobson’s choice of either
continuing to support the US-led war in Afghanistan, and incur
growing armed resistance in Pashtun tribal areas, or be left in
the cold and without US financial aid when its failing economy
finally hits the wall.”
He explains that the Pentagon is angry and frustrated over the
failing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and dismayed with Pakistan
for being ‘non-responsive’ to US demands. “Washington
is so used to getting its way that it cannot abide the natives
being insubordinate. The mood in Washington is increasingly warlike
and grim as the beleaguered Bush administration enters its final
days.”
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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