Richard Armitage (allegedly) threatened to bomb Pakistan back into the stone age, according to President Musharaf.
Is he making this up? Or just exaggerating? Or telling it as it happened?
Would it be out of character of Armitage/US if it was true?
Would it be out of character if Musharaf was lying?
Thoughts?
The two leaders managed to deflect that question in a press conference just now. Bush said he had no recollection or knowledge of such an event, and Musharraf (who was in the more difficult position of having originally made those claims but did not want to have to contradict himself) said he couldn’t comment because he had a book coming out soon, and since he would discuss this in the book and had an agreement with the publisher not to comment on the contents, he couldn’t discuss it at this time, or something like that. Obviously it was an absurd excuse but it worked to completely deflect any further questions and avoid a very awkward situation.
Has no one noticed that much of Pakistan is in fact still hardly distinguishable as being more advanced than the stone age? Not much to brag about there…
Have you ever been there? Doesn’t sound like it, though maybe you had your eyes closed.
Maybe the deserts are little more advanced than the stone age, but the same goes for large areas of American wilderness too - or any other desert/wilderness by definition.
I’ll try not to make any assumptions about where you’re from or what you’re like. Maybe it was just a careless comment, but it sounds fucking ignorant and is not a good first impression.
Too bad the threat wasn’t carried out. At least in the Northwest part of the country. If said threat was ever uttered. And if it was uttered it certainly wasn’t believed.
History is filled with orgres & spectres created by temporary & very often shifting alliances. Pakistan is one of them. A place with a powerful & politically pro-active military, massive ethnic & religious schisms, and a teeming horde of madrassas. A very important hinge in this as yet unnamed struggle between the Heathen & the Zealots.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3227709.stm
{on the role of the Pakistani Army}
Right. Point taken.
But killing American civilians is morally no different from killing Pakistani civilians - and it’s a bit difficult to bomb a country back into the stone age without hitting the innocent! Pakistani civilians are no more responsible for the crimes or misdemeanors of their leaders or others who share their nationality than American civilians are responsible for the crimes or misdemeanors of their leaders or compatriates.
Some would argue that, living in a supposedly free democracy, Americans are somewhat more responsible for their government - though I don’t personally blame individual Americans for those actions of their government that I don’t like, or personally give them credit as individuals for those actions of their government that I do like.
So lets not go writing countries off as stone age (if it were true, there would be no country, only tribes). It only sounds ignorant. And lets not advocate deliberately targeting civilians to influence military or government policy (as in Dresden, Coventry or on 9/11). That’s called terrorism whether it be from a state or non state actor.