or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
May 19, 2011
The Road to Armageddon
Scattered through all the articles celebrating how we shot bin Laden in the face, I've seen sentences here and there that make me feel I'm going to read them again in about ten years...in a book looking back at how in 2017 one of Pakistan's nuclear weapons was smuggled into Chicago and detonated.
Anger simmers in Pakistani army over bin Laden raidAs Pakistan’s powerful military leaders seek to overcome extraordinary public criticism following the killing of Osama bin Laden this month in a Pakistani garrison city, they are also facing seething anger in barracks across the country...most of it is directed toward the United States...
Pakistani army chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani made town-hall-style appearances last week at five garrisons across the country, where he faced barbed questions from officers about the raid, according to some who attended. After a 45-minute address to the 5th Corps in the southern port city of Karachi, Kayani took queries for three hours. Attendees said questioners focused on the perceived affront in Abbottabad — and why Pakistan, in the words of one officer, did not “retaliate.”
In a meeting Sunday with visiting Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), Kayani relayed the “intense feelings” of the rank and file, according to a two-sentence military statement...
"It’s never good for a military of that size to have a feeling of resentment," retired Lt. Gen. Talat Masood, a security analyst, said...
Pakistan should “immediately suspend cooperation with the U.S.,” said one officer in Pakistan’s north, who, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak publicly. “In the lower ranks, anti-Americanism is at its highest.”...shame and fury within the military is evolving into deeper antagonism toward the United States, an ally already suspect among all ranks, Muhammad said.
This is the same feeling I get reading about the would-be Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad. He seems like the Ramzi Yousef to a Mohammed Atta of the future. But no one even cared about this at the time:
Of course, what will bring about Armageddon won't be nuclear terrorism in a U.S. city; after all, two Japanese cities got obliterated and Japan's still there. The Armageddon part will be our response.
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at May 19, 2011 11:22 PMExcellent point Jon, and a great reason why the US should immediately realize Pakistan's biggest fear, and launch a raid to seize their entire nuclear arsenal.
Then they could cry and stamp their feet some more about how they have been humiliated (Again!) on the world stage. That seems to be the Pakistani national pastime, in between staging parades exhibiting their glorious missiles.
This idea that Michael Moore has that we need to tread really quietly so as not to offend the sensibilities of the spoiled brat children of the 3rd World elite is just crazy. The people mentioned in your post had every imaginable advantage, far more than most Americans, and certainly more than their co-nationals. They mistook their personal mental problems and resentments for righteous indignation at the perceived global insult of Islam, with thankfully tragicomic results in the instances of the Underpants and Times Square bomber. But why do we have to pander to their sense of thwarted entitlement?
Posted by: seth at May 20, 2011 12:21 AMSupposing there was something resembling justice and humanity could be found in the raid had it been carried out a bit differently:
Why did we have to do it in secret, without letting the Pakistani government know we were going to kill him?
>Because they are corrupt and would have protected him.
Fair enough. But why did we shoot him instead of camping outside his house and then arresting him?
>If we didn't shoot him, then Pakistanis would be upset and protest.
Isn't that democracy? And if that's somehow a bad thing, it was hardly prevented. In this conception, there's really only a choice between whether you give them a martyr or a convict.
> Hmm.
Hmm.
Who needs nuclear bombs when you have nuclear reactors producing electricity? For that matter who needs WMD when you have Obama for prez? You may well be right about a nuclear bomb being smuggled into Chicago even if it sounds a lot like a Hollywood movie, nuclear bomb, very sexy. Shades of Goldfinger! 007 James Bond in his Aston Martin to the rescue.
Still, this is a double edged sword (to be corny) as I'm sure the Pakistan government would be aware that blowing up Chicago would be a prelude to the loving caresses of American good will. That in itself might keep them from blowing up Chicago. I suppose you really couldn't count on that though.
Posted by: rob payne at May 20, 2011 01:58 AMThen they could cry and stamp their feet some more about how they have been humiliated (Again!) on the world stage.
Given that morons with money and guns have written some form of this 21 billion times before in world history, I guess there's no harm in it being written again here.
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at May 20, 2011 05:35 AMExcellent point Seth, and a great reason why rest of the world should immediately realize the United States' biggest fear, and launch a raid to seize their entire nuclear arsenal.
Then the United States could cry and stamp their feet some more about how they have been humiliated (Again!) on the world stage. That seems to be the American national pastime now with their economy going under and their government being wholly unable to solve their infrastructural, financial and educational problems. In between staging parades exhibiting their glorious Tea Party heritage, of course.
This idea that we need to tread really quietly so as not to offend the sensibilities of the spoiled brat children of the 3rd World-of-the-1st World elite of the USA is just crazy. Those people had every imaginable advantage technologically, far more than most Pakistanis. They mistook their personal mental problems and resentments for righteous indignation at the perceived global insult of America, with ugly and devastating results in the instances of Iraq and Afghanistan. But why do we have to pander to their sense of thwarted entitlement?
Posted by: En Ming Hee at May 20, 2011 05:49 AMSpeaking of Pakistan, Chomsky elaborates on his initial response here:
http://www.zcommunications.org/there-is-much-more-to-say-by-noam-chomsky
Good link.
Posted by: Cloud at May 20, 2011 11:42 AMObama PROMISED a war with Pakistan, and, by golly, I think he'll deliver on that campaign promise. He GOT Bin Laden, which is a hell of a lot more than Deadeye and his pet goat, Codpiece ever did.
En Ming Hee: Closer to the bullseye than seth, gotta admit.
WE VOTED him in, folks. It was either Pakistan or Iran, BUT WE'RE GONNA BOMB SOMEBODY, 'cause that's what WE do.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at May 20, 2011 02:20 PMEven now it always surprises me how little attention is paid in virtually all circles, including by Chomsky, to the obvious fact that killing people without autopsy or even identification and locking people up without trial or right of access to others have a very significant common feature: It lets the government/military put out whatever the hell stories they want to invent about the evildoers without fear of facts getting in the way. The pundits/journalists/stenographers run with it and keep broadcasting whatever drivel is spoon fed to them by reputable sources--i.e., professional prevaricators.
Once the peak of Jesus is passed, only heavenly and catastrophic events transpire.
Posted by: Dredd at May 23, 2011 06:32 PM
