Nuclear Terrorism and Pakistan

"...Emboldened, our adversaries are now wondering how the situation can be manipulated in their favor, how they can effectively play one side in America against the other while they wait patiently for America to adopt an "alternative foreign policy". We can now expect to see a "lack of motivation" in our negotiations with countries such as Iran and North Korea and a dangerous shift in momentum in countries such as Pakistan..."

It was back in 2007 that both our adversaries and our allies first learned of the alternative foreign policy the United States would be employing once Barack Hussein Obama was elected.  The comments above are from a post we made back in April of that year.

It was also back in 2007 when we first commented on Pakistan's Khushab reactor where we showed the rapid construction of the third reactor there.  New satellite images now show that the forth weapon's grade nuclear reactor at the Khushab site is now almost completed and Washington and the rest of the world is scratching their heads wondering where the money has come from and Pakistan is deviant in continuing this dangerous provocation. 

This whole thing should of course raise more than a few eyebrows in Washington, but it hasn't.  I can assure though that it has raised more than a few eyebrows in India and the rest of south and Southeast Asia where China's influence is growing at an alarming rate.

For it's cooperation in the war on terrorism, the United States has and continues to provide Pakistan with financial aid, over $20 billion so far, and despite the fact that Pakistan has repeatably betrayed us and continues to dangerously act contrary to American interests, we continue to pay.  Why?

There is a reason for this.  Pakistan is to South and Southeast Asia what the Palestinians are to the Middle East.   The only difference, and it is a big one is that Pakistan is a nuclear power.  Instead of throwing rocks, the Pakistanis threaten India and the region - constantly reminding the world of the consequences should we not heed to their demands.  Quite simply it is nothing more than nuclear extortion.   It is this game of nuclear blackmail that both North Korea and Pakistan have perfected and one that Iran is desperately eager to learn.

Pakistan's harboring of Osama Bin Laden should have been sufficient enough proof of Pakistan's double game and that my fellow Americans many of which are acutely aware of our nation's own financial constraints would finally come to their senses and demand that not one more American tax dollar is sent to that hell hole.  

Anyone who honestly thinks that Pakistan was not aware that Osama Bin Laden was living in a large compound adjacent to one of Pakistan's top military academies has a screw loose and that includes Defense Secretary Robert Gates who apparently gets his intelligence from his trusted Pakistani government sources while he reclines by the pool at the Hilton hotel.   If getting betrayed wasn't enough to wake Robert Gates from his pool-side slumber then perhaps discovering that he has been two-timed as well will.

Seemingly our nation's policy of appeasement dictates that we parade around on the world stage with a giant turd poised on our head as well.   Obama's foreign policy is not winning us friends nor is it garnering us any respect.  We are simply being laughed at.

Believe me when I say that giving Pakistan US67,500 for the restoration of the Mid‐18th‐Century Sunehri Masjid (Golden Mosque) in Lahor is not the way to promote America or American values.

Why is the continuation of financial aid for Pakistan even a subject of debate?  

We went to war with Afghanistan because they wouldn't hand him over and now we give our treasure to a nation that harbored him.

Related Posts:

Divided We Stand, United We Fall

The Road To Pakistan

Beneath The Planet of the Taliban

Yin and Yang

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Across Southeast Asia Bin Laden Still Lives

Throughout Southeast Asia, the alleged killing of Osama Bin Laden coupled with the delay by the United States government in releasing any photographic evidence to the fact is giving birth to a flood of conspiracy theories, with many refusing to believe that Al Qaeda's leader is actually dead.

The conspiracy theories are varied - some saying this is simply a ploy by Barack Hussein Obama to help his popularity and others saying that this is a lie meant to draw Osama Bin Laden out  -  there is however one common denominator that all these conspiracy theories have, and that is that all this is nothing more than a ginned-up story from the United States and that Osama Bid Laden still lives.

"Where is the proof?" is the common response here in Southeast Asia whenever Osama Bin Laden's demise is mentioned.  

At this point the damage is done, the photographic evidence  and/or proof of Osama Bin Laden's death should have been released immediately without this charade of conflicting stories and  an agonizing delay that has and continues to give birth to a plethora of conspiracy theories overseas - many of them that fuel anti-american sentiment overseas particularly the theory that the photos need to be altered or brushed up before they are released to the public.  This is something that could have been avoided.

For a president who should have learned a thing or two about transparency in the past few months this reflects poorly.  Obama's indecisiveness and over-concern of Muslim sensitivities displays a weakness in character that invites aggression and fuels radicalization rather than suppressing it.  What could have been a win is now becoming a loss.  It is not Osama Bin Laden's death that is going to fuel anti-american sentiment  overseas but rather the secretive circumstances surrounding it.

So what if a photo is gory, as long as the photo is recognizable of Osama Bin Laden,  the message it sends to any young jihadi wannabe is that "this is what happens to your face when you listen to Al Qaeda".   The message it sends it is a powerful message that serves as a deterrent in the same way that the gory before and after photos of meth addicts acts a deterrent to those thinking about trying methamphetamines.

The brutal death of Osama Bin Laden at the hands of American commandos could have been both a  propaganda win and a strategic win in the war on terrorism if it was played out correctly instead it will serve as perhaps one of the biggest mistakes made in the war on terrorism.

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God Have Mercy on Pakistan

Like many I won't ever forget the feeling I had on 9/11 when I watched with horror the events unfolding in New York.  I remember saying to myself, "God have mercy on the souls who did this, because America won't."

For almost ten years we have put up with Pakistan's double game, our leaders have relentlessly professed that Pakistan was our ally in the war on terrorism.  We have and continue to give Pakistan over a billion dollars a year in economic and military aid, much of it frittered away.  American taxpayer money, meant to be used to fight Al Qaeda has been diverted to help finance weapons systems meant to counter India while Pakistan has along along been providing not only a safe haven for Al Qaeda's mid-level leaders, but for Osama Bin Laden himself.

Today while they are burning the American flag and honoring the martyr Osama Bin Laden on the streets in Pakistan, much of our media in the west and in America seem to find themselves trapped in a perpetual state of denial asking childlike naive questions such as "Was Bin Laden a Guest of Pakistan" or "How could Pakistan not know Bin Laden was hiding there?"  The Telegraph asks who's side was Pakistan on in this shootout?   As if it wasn't so painfully obvious.

Our diplomats and military leaders have been aware of Pakistan's duplicity, but each time  in the past when we questioned Pakistan on the evidence,  we have received denials or in some cases actual threats as you will see in the link below.

Where is the resolve that our nation had back in 2001 when our president clearly stated  - "...From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."   Michael Crowley thinks that we should just suck it up and regard Pakistan not as a hostile regime but as  a "troublemaking dependent son" alluding that we should continue to provide financial and military aid to a nuclear-armed Pakistan fearful of what they might do next.

It is our lack of resolve that breeds terrorism and if we give a pass to Pakistan we will have to give a pass to every other nation that continues to harbor and support terrorism.  Worse we will have disgraced the memory not only of those who died on 9/11 but of all those since who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the war on terrorism.

To paraphrase Churchill,  a nation does what it must - in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.  The more things change, the more they remain the same.

God have mercy on Pakistan, because I won't.

The Road To Pakistan

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Pakistan Needs To Burn

Often in our self-perceived vocation as the torch-bearers of freedom and democracy, we tend to lose sight not only of the limited power of politically engineered change in an Islamic country such as Pakistan, but of that simple truism that no society can ever live outside the parameters of its basic ideology.

Now that Osama Bin Laden is dead and Pakistan betrayed us. 

I fully expect that all financial aid being given to Pakistan to cease immediately, and the country of Pakistan to be on fire by the time I wake up in the morning.

The Road to Pakistan

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The Jihadi Propagandist

"Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack."

Sun Tzu ~ The Art of War

The war we are engaged in today is a war like no other war that our nation has ever experienced and the challenges are like none that we have ever faced before. We are engaged in a war where the lines between politics, religion, soldier and civilian have been blurred. Whether we like it or not, we are all on the front lines of this war.

Our troops in Afghanistan are demoralized, it does not help the situation when their commander Gen. David Petraeus is more interested in appeasing our enemies rather than destroying them. That Petraeus would have the audacity to condemn the desecration of what he describes as the "Holy Qu'ran" by Rev. Terry Jones and not have the courage to condemn the blood-lusting jihadists who murdered in the name of Islam just proves that he has become nothing more than an Islamophile who has lost his ability to command.

To achieve victory in what is now America's longest war according to General David Petraeus it is incumbent on us all to appease the enemy by curtailing that very thing that we are supposedly fighting for - freedom.



The front line has shifted once more and our nation's leadership and military now feel compelled to require us to sacrifice our ardent beliefs and convictions on the altar of political correctness instead of standing up for what we believe in.

In the recent Koran desecration incident, no one seems to be asking the questions as to why are they only rioting in Afghanistan or why did it take two weeks for the rioting to commence from the time that Rev. Terry Jones had set the Koran alight. No one seems to find it ironic that President Hamid Karzai who instigated these illiterate reprobates to go on a rampage is now calling on the the United States Congress not only to condemn the Koran burning but asking that the Rev. Terry Jones be arrested. Is Hamid Karzai really on our side?

Am I the only one aware of the enemy propaganda and noticing a pattern of coercive persuasion here? These riots and killings are not spontaneous, they are organized and organized with a purpose. Signs are printed in English and calls go out to the mosques urging the masses to take the streets. It is nothing more than a form of enemy propaganda designed to exploit and divide us in the hopes that we will alter or change our beliefs. They seem to be working because each time the jihadis do this, we react, and there are calls for us to restrict our freedoms.

How many of in our nation and the West including Graham, Petraeus and Reid have already fallen victim to the enemy psyops?



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Word Don't Kill People, People Kill People

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The Truth About Guantanamo

On the 22nd of December, President Barack Obama had the audacity to claim that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility was "probably the No. 1 recruitment tool" for Al Qaeda and its affiliates.

There is nothing further from the truth.

If anything, Guantanamo Bay is seen not only as beacon of justice but one of American exceptionalism.

Justice insomuch that as Americans we are bound by the rule of law, whereas this maxim is eschewed by almost all Asian and Islamic cultures who traditionally view good governance as the rule by leaders who are benevolent and virtuous, and therefore the rule of law is a principle that many hesitate to embrace. This of course brings light to that simple aphorism that without the rule of law, there can be no justice.

According to Tocqueville, America's exceptionalism lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults. We are and have always been a nation that recognizes our faults and then strives to rectify them. Yes, the world saw the abuses at Abu Ghraib, but they also saw the way that we as a nation dealt with it and how those responsible were tried and prosecuted.

Thanks to the media today the world can see clearly how the inmates at Guantanamo are treated and while these belligerents are denied their freedom, they are in fact treated humanely which is something that many of these prisoners would not experience in their own countries. It's been said that the level of civility in a country can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners. But judged how? and by putting a quantum on civility, that is devoid in many other nations, are we not alluding to our own exceptionalism?

Much of America and the West don't have the slightest clue as what "inhumane treatment" actually is. The liberal media tries desperately to convince us that Julian Assange suffered "in the basement of a Victorian prison" or that Bradley Manning is being tortured because he has a cell to himself and his blankets aren't soft enough. My God, books and magazines, clean clothes, hot water and soap, television and healthy food to eat? I'd say Bradley Manning is getting five start treatment compared to what he would get overseas in another country.

So what actually is inhumane treatment. For me, quite simply, it is when you are treated less than human.

Imagine being overseas locked away, languishing in a crowded dark cell, never seeing the light of day and subsisting on a meager diet consisting of little more than boiled rice and water. A cell so overcrowded that there is not room for everyone to lay down at once and when you do get a chance to lay down you sleep on a a cold concrete floor with cockroaches crawling all over you. Denied any medical treatment and all of what the United Nations deems to be the basic necessities, no soap, no hot water, no television and no reading materials, absolutely nothing. Some more you are afforded absolutely no legal representation, nor are you allowed such. A simple request even to contact your nation's embassy denied. You are alone.

Stripped not only of your dignity but, above all, of your humanity, it isn't the brutal inhumane conditions that you lament so much, but the absence of justice. Quoting Rosenfeld, What I was to learn firsthand was that "no man suffers injustice without learning, vaguely but surely, what justice is."

It was in October of this year I had the misfortune of the spending three weeks locked up overseas in a crowded cell full of Indonesians and Pakistanis, It was during that time I befriended two Pakistanis, Asif and Hafiz. Asif's crime was that his employer had failed to apply for his new work visa. Hafiz's crime, was that his passport had been stolen.

During my detention, I would share my meager rations with Asif and Hafiz and we would communicate in broken English and Malay with each other. The three of us spoke of religion, politics, even of Guantanamo and the basic human rights that should be afforded to detainees such as ourselves. Together we wondered where was the world's outrage was, did anyone even know what was happening. Over and over we kept asking ourselves how could this be happening, how is it that men can be so cruel to one another.

For one three day stretch, there was no drinking water brought to the cell. Asif had turned to me and said "Even a dog does not have to beg for water." and he was right. Another night, delirious with a high fever and curled up in a fetal position it was Asif who would bang the bars of the cell begging for a blanket for me, only to be denied, he would eventually take off his own shirt and cover me so that I could keep warm. The special bond that developed between the three of us is something difficult to explain and to put it simply, we took care of each other in conditions where we were treated worse than animals.

In their mid-twenties, both Asif and Hafiz seemed to know instinctively that such violations of human rights did not exist in America or the West. I asked

Hafiz how he knew this. Hafiz simply replied, "This won't happen in your country because you have the law."

It was the word "Guantanamo" that attracted attention in the cell as a few Indonesians came over to hear what was being said. As they sat down, Hafiz said, "Do you know what is international law?" Hafiz went on to explain we all had human rights. It came as a mild surprise to me that not only did Asif and Hafiz know about the humane treatment of the prisoners in Guantanamo, but the Indonesians did as well. At this point one of the Indonesians said that not only did they hear that the prisoners in Guantanamo got healthy food to eat but he had also heard from a friend that the prisoners in Guantanamo could see a dentist as well. He looked over at me and asked in Indonesian, "Betul tak?" (Is it true?). I nodded my head.

For Asif, Hafiz and the Indonesians, America is an exceptional country because we have the law and with that, we have justice.

As someone who has studied history, traveled the world and spent a considerable amount of time living overseas, I can assure you that in our ever darkening world, America continues to be that shining city on the hill.

There is a part of me that is now gone forever and I only hope one day I might be able to recover it.

Your donations to this blog whether big or small will be deeply appreciated. I hope you find it in your heart to make one.

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The Curse of Cassandra

"I think all Americans were quite taken with the fact that we were able, after the long history we've been through, that initial birth defect of slavery, that we've elected an African-American ... And that's enormously heartening for people in the country, but also people worldwide who still have trouble with differences." ~ Dr. Condoleeza Rice

Dr. Condoleeza Rice was opining shortly after the election of Barack Hussein Obama that his election "encouraged" people in the United States and around the world. It was an interesting choice of words from Dr. Rice, but perhaps a more fitting word would have been "emboldened".

Back in August of 2008 I wrote...

"...Like Barack Obama, I've lived in Southeast Asia, albeit a long longer than Obama did. But unlike Barack Obama I've never been subscriber to cultural or moral equivalency nor have I felt compelled to deride my own country in a a pathetic effort to establish that equivalency. I know that deriding my own country overseas only emboldens those who deny freedom and liberty to others. As an advocate of American exceptionalism, I've always felt myself compelled to spread the message of what is good about America rather than what is bad and for me that normally starts with steaming bowl of chili con carne and a plate of tacos."

One of only a few refuseniks I found myself overwhelmed and dumbfouned as I watched so many of my fellow Americans feverishly licking the Kool Aid straight from the sachet. The reality is though that throughout our world's history the message of hope and change has always trumped the ominous warnings of gloom and doom that I seemed to be purveying. For this I would suffer the curse of Cassandra.

Throughout history in times of frustration and turmoil people have found themselves drawn to either men of destiny or to the false prophets of hope and change.

So here we are now, a year later and despite having elected a prophet of hope and change, the reality is that we are still at war. Worse we have become as Bernard Lewis warned "harmless as an enemy and treacherous as a friend". Our enemies around the world have been emboldened by America's bumbling "Apologist in Chief" and our allies who have stood by us have been left abandoned and confounded.

After Barack Hussein Obama's speech at the United Nations, allies of ours here in Southeast Asia see Obama not only as "idealistic" and "weak" but now as an unreliable partner in the war on terrorism.

Captain Nathan Brittles would have had some advise for Barack Hussein Obama- "Never apologize Mister, it's a sign of weakness."

Islam's Battle for the White House

The Crossing of the Rubicon

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Damn You All To Hell !!

In more ways than one, this is the end.

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Defeating Islamic Extremism 101 - Part 3

"They (the Taliban) might be implementing Islamic law, an Islamic state, but they completely waste their time because they do it in a totally un-Islamic way"

In a letter to his mother in late 2000, Australian David Hicks would offer a glimpse into the mindset of a Western Al Qaeda recruit who was slowly beginning to see the pharisaical hypocrisy in Al Qaeda's austere call to primitive purity. What Hick's had failed to see though was that Al Qaeda and the Taliban's revolution was more "nationalistic" than "Islamic" and it's violence inspired more so by jealousy rather than jihad.

I can understand exactly how David Hicks felt at the time. You see, I had been in the same situation as Hicks once before, the only difference I suppose is that I never made Al Qaeda's final cut. Unlike Western Al Qaeda recruits David Hicks and Adam Gadahn, I would have an epiphany, a sudden intuitive realization of the profound hypocrisy in the words and deeds of Islam's self-proclaimed über elite, a pharisaical hypocrisy that not only made their avowals of pious purity unconvincing, but one that made them vulnerable.

My first day at the madrassa was interesting to say the least, but I had made my decision. I was there to teach English and in return Hassan and his friends would teach me all about Islam. I'd mentioned to Hassan that I had never taught English before, but that didn't seem to matter. What mattered is that I spoke English and that the children didn't. I told Hassan that I guess I could help with the basic conversational English and so I went to a book store and picked up a some elementary school books for my first class the next day.

I arrived back at the madrassa later after the evening prayer. Just in time for dinner and I joined Hassan at one of the wooden picnic-type tables in the canteen. The students were all sitting on the vinyl-covered floor in a large room next to the canteen eating their dinner. In total there was around 30-40 students with four students to each large rounded tray consisting of a mound of rice, four hard-boiled eggs, some dried fried anchovies, boiled tapioca leaves and a sambal. The students were sitting on the floor many with their left hand positioned under their knee and then eating with their right hands. Hassan must have caught me watching this and then proceeded to explain to me that the left hand is dirty and meant for cleaning yourself. Making a mental note of this, I picked up the cup of coffee in front of me with my right hand and took a sip.

Hassan didn't realize that it wasn't the way the students were eating that had caught my eye, but rather what they were eating. This was something that I found a bit disturbing, the food served to the children hardly seemed to be sustaining. There was no meat and the amount of food that the children were given hardly seemed to be even enough to even fill their stomachs. As the students finished eating the passed by our table on their way into the dormitories.

By this time our food had arrived, a sumptuous spread of saffron-scented biryani rice, lamb and dhal curries, a large omelette of some type, fresh vegetables and several large pieces of naan. Being the new English teacher I sat at the table with Hassan and his guests from Pakistan. With the students all passing by obviously still hungry I felt embarrassed and ashamed and yet Hassan and his friend didn't seem to be phased in the least, they proceeded to help themselves. As I sat there, Hassan spoke up and asked me to join in. I looked at the table and at the people eating before me and then asked Hassan if I could kindly have a fork and spoon. Hassan frowned and then called for the cook to bring a fork and spoon over to the table. Hassan took the fork and spoon from the cook and handed it to me and as he did I seemed to find myself focusing on his other wrist, the one with the gold Rolex on it.

As I ate my meal, I found myself intrigued by the fact that Hassan and his students didn't seem to be very Malay to me, they seemed to have cultivated a predilection for everything either Arabic or Pakistani, as evidenced not only by their gross adulation of the dress and mannerisms of their "brothers" from Pakistan but by their adoption of a dualistic worldview where they see themselves as part of some cosmic, Manichaean struggle between good an evil. It wouldn't be long before I found myself being constantly critiqued on what was acceptable under Islamic jurisprudence and what was not.

to be continued...


Related Posts

Defeating Islamic Extremism 101 - Part 1

Defeating Islamic Extremism 101 - Part 2

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Defeating Islamic Extremism 101 - Part 2

Prior to 9/11, it wasn't totally uncommon to run across men from time to time in Southeast Asia fully decked out in their full Islamist regalia, what the locals over here would refer to as someone who is very "alim" (learned, religious). Back in the late 80's and 90's what would be uncommon to find though was a Caucasian who spoke the language, a sure sign that the individual had a lot of interaction with the Indonesian and Malay community or perhaps had a local girlfriend. Times were much different back then and the expatriate community was quite small. Looking back, I suppose it was pretty much a novelty for the locals to see a foreigner who converse with them in their own language.

Hassan smiled and proceeded to heap accolades on me. "It's so nice to see an American who takes the time to learn our culture and language." I smiled and in response to his questions I confirmed that I did in fact have a Malay girlfriend that I liked very much. Hassan asked me if I had converted to Islam and I responded that I hadn't but that my girlfriend's mother spoke about it to me often. Hassan smiled and told me that if I was serious about this girl that I would eventually have to convert to Islam if I wished to marry her. Politely I told Hassan that is was a bit too early for that. Attempting to change the subject, I asked Hassan where he was from and what he was doing in Singapore. Hassan told me that he was from Malaysia and was in Singapore purchasing computer equipment for a madrassa and computer school that he ran in Malaysia. As I got up to leave the restaurant, Hassan scribbled his phone number in Malaysia on a napkin and asked me to stop up and visit sometime whenever I was in Kuala Lumpur.

A few months later I happened to be in Kuala Lumpur and being curious to see what a madrassa was like I decided to pay Hassan a visit. He wasn't exactly in Kuala Lumpur and in fact it was a bit of a drive and so I packed a few things in an overnight bag just in case I got too tired to drive back later. When I arrived at Hassan's madrassa I was bit taken aback at what I saw. The madrassa looked quite a bit rundown and all the students dressed in flowing white robes and turbans were standing outside when I drove in through the driveway to park my car in the back of the building. I walked around the building and spotted Hassan sitting with a few other gentlemen in the madrassa's canteen. Hassan stood up smiling and then introduced to me his "brothers" and then speaking in English, he told them that he had met me in Singapore, how I spoke Indonesian and Malay, that I had a Malay girlfriend and that I was interested in converting to Islam. Hassan's "brothers" smiled broadly and invited me to sit down and join them for a cup of tea. I noticed that Hassan's "brothers" were dressed slightly differently and then over a cup of tea, I came to learn that the "brothers" were in fact from Pakistan and were visiting in Malaysia for a few days before moving on to Indonesia. For the next couple hours we spoke mostly about Afghanistan and Islam and how the Taliban were transforming the country after the Russians had been defeated.

Looking back, what is interesting to note is how there was very little open animosity at the time the men were quite cordial with outsiders albeit their mannerisms made them seem crazier than shit house rats at times. In my attempts to be polite though I sat through the sales pitch that was now coming on strong and listened to the three of them go on about the beauty of Islam, how much it was a "way of life", one that united people around the world, how it was the fastest growing religion in the world and even of the audacious plans for an Islamic Caliphate that would encompass all of South and Southeast Asia. Hassan then took over, smiled at me and went on to explain to me how people's lives changed for the better once they had embraced Islam.

It was about this time that I noticed the students started assembling nearby. It was time to pray again. As the students came around I noticed something that struck me as disturbing, the students looked exhausted and tired, their eyes seemed listless and as they gathered around there seemed to be almost no deliberation in their movement. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something just wasn't right, and yet in this surreal setting I found myself almost overwhelmed with empathy. I wanted to do something. I wanted to help. I looked over at Hassan and asked "Do any of these children speak English?" Hassan frowned and told me that they didn't have an English teacher and then asked me "How would you like to help teach English here?" Without even giving it much thought, I agreed to help teach the students English.

to be continued....

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Updates From Southeast Asia

Recently I've been quite busy with work and as such the frequent posts here have slowed down a bit. For those wondering, yes I'm okay and on top of things, I've just been extremely busy and at the moment Adsense and the small donations I receive from time to time just ain't enough to pay the bills. Remember that your support makes "An American Expat in Southeast Asia" better. Hopefully the day will come when I can afford to dedicate much more time to something that has become not only a labor of love, but one that I consider to be a duty.

I've got several drafts of items to be posted soon and hope to get them up in the near future including the continuation of how Islamic Extremism can be defeated once and for all and how we are, at the moment, heading in the absolute opposite direction in achieving that. A bit cocky sounding on my part you might think. How can someone actually claim to hold the answer on how to defeat Islamic Extremism, but what you will read in the days ahead is how that was actually achieved on a small scale right here. There really is no secret to it and sometimes the answer is right there just waiting to be discovered. Maybe you've noticed the recent absense of people like Adam Yahiye Gadahn. You might be wondering where he is and what happened to him, why his sudden silence, the clues have all been posted here at "An American Expat in Southeast Asia" my friends.

What inspired me to take a break from work and update was the subject of Benazhir Bhutto and Pakistan. The other night I received a call that Bhutto was assassinated. I can't really say that I was shocked or surprised, it was something that was expected, also expected was the blame being placed on Al Qaeda. Interestingly enough at the time I was mulling over how to word a post regarding the recent New York Times article on the billions of US dollars in aid that have been completely wasted in Pakistan. American tax dollars that has been diverted to extremist groups in Pakistan by our "friend" Pervez Musharraf and his pack of Islamist thugs who masquerade themselves as a legitimate government. You might have read the original story here entitled "All Musharraf All The Time" back in June. Unfortunately I don't have the circulation that the New York Times does.

Andrew McCarthy is on the right path when he said that - "Jihadists are not going to be wished away, rule-of-lawed into submission, or democratized out of existence. If you really want democracy and the rule of law in places like Pakistan, you need to kill the jihadists first. Or they’ll kill you, just like, today, they killed Benazir Bhutto."

What Andrew McCarthy left out is that often in our self-perceived vocation as the torch-bearers of freedom and democracy, we tend to lose sight not only of the limited power of politically engineered change in an Islamic country such as Pakistan, but of that simple truism that no society can ever live outside the parameters of its basic ideology. The foremost condition required for democracy to ever take root in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan or any Islamic country for that matter is the acceptance by all of the sovereignty of the people, a concept that runs contrary to the basic ideology of Islam and effectively denies the fundamental Islamic affirmation of the sovereignty of God.

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Pakistan: The Whip Comes Down

Pakistani police detained opposition activists on Monday to stop them protesting in front of the Supreme Court as it resumed hearing petitions against President Pervez Musharraf's plans for re-election.

Musharraf, who is also army chief, plans to seek another term in office from an electoral college including the national and provincial assemblies on October 6 despite opposition from an alliance of political parties demanding an end to military rule.

As we have stated here before, Pakistan doesn't need the United States to guarantee its security but Musharraf needs the United States to secure his dictatorship and our State Department seems to think that Pakistan's dictatorship can be a "path leading to democracy". Someone needs to explain to our State Department exactly how a dictatorship operates. There is nothing democratic about it. Even if Pakistan was democratic, the likelihood is that they would elect an Islamic government.

More updates this week and the situation unfolds.

Related Posts

Pakistan: Not Safe For Democracy

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Adam Gadahn: Al Qaeda's Weakest Link

Adam Yahiye Gadahn aka Azzam the American, is often described as a loner, a Californian who converted to Islam and has now become the first American to be charged with treason since 1952. According to reports, Gadahn moved from California to Pakistan in 1998 and became an associate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the 9/11 attacks. In 2004, the FBI named him as one of seven Al Qaeda operatives planning attacks in the US.



Adam Gadahn has in recent years appeared in a succession of jihadi videos, agitprop where he frequently berates western values and calls on Britain and the United States to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the other "English brothers" working for Al Qaeda, Gadahn is thought by Western intelligence to be the leader of Al Qaeda's "media committee" responsible for cultural interpretation, video production and translation services, and effectively he is. The intended audience however is not the West. The presumption by Western intelligence seems to be that Al-Qaeda's demands, threats and propaganda are directed at the United States but this may actually be a red herring.

Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri have found themselves perfectly capable of releasing videotaped statements directed at Britain and the United States and so the question is -- "Why the need for Adam Gadahn?"

The first reason is that Adam Gadahn as a Western convert to Islam rather than someone who was born as a Muslim, epitomizes a focal point of unity for Muslims thereby transcending the protean beliefs held by Islam's adherents around the globe. Converts like Gadahn who have consciously chosen to embrace Islam are held in high regard by all Muslims worldwide regardless of their denomination or sect. They and considered pure and free of any previous sin and, by the mere fact that they have had to study Islam rather than having inherited it by birth, they are therefore considered to be more knowledgeable of the faith. Posited against Al Qaeda's Arabic-speaking orators, Gadahn serves as a catalyst, designed specifically to help radicalize an increasingly globalized audience of contemporary non-arabic speaking Muslims whom Al Qaeda feels have been corrupted by their prolonged exposure to colonial modernity. Gadahn in this respect is not so much a propagandist as he is a tool.

Secondly, Adam Gadahn an overfed American Muslim convert decked out in his full jihadist regalia turgidly railing on about "Western imperialist aggression" and "cultural decadence" might strike a chord with the non Arabic speaking Muslim world and to the granola munching crowd, but to the majority of Americans he comes across as nothing more than a pathetic jihadi wannabe. If anything Gadahn undermines Al Qaeda's credibility in the United States rather than enforcing it. Gadahn's excitable and passionate "threats" are not only comical, but ludicrous, the only thing this putz could threaten would be a Hostess cupcake. And therein lies Gadahn's greatest weakness.

Armed with his laptop and a satellite internet connection Gadahn epitomizes the hypocrisy of the jihadi anachronism. And yet with one foot in the 6th century and another remaining in the 21st, Gadahn finds himself not only unable to sever his link with with modernity, but incapable of seeing the pharisaical hypocrisy of answering Al Qaeda's austere call to primitive purity with a Miswaak in one hand and a mouse in the other.


In the next segment: Tracking Down Azzam the American

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The Road To Pakistan

"...And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists ... From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime."

President George Bush - 21 September 2001

That Thursday evening back in 2001 when President Bush addressed a joint session of Congress we had the hope that this current wave of recrudescent Islamic fascism was about to come to a screeching halt. It didn't. Shortly thereafter, our nation's leadership would begin to lose it's resolve.

For reasons that many of us know in our hearts and yet are reluctant to ever admit, our nation's leadership would choose to give Pakistan and Saudi Arabia a pass for their involvement in the September 11th attacks. Years from now we will come to see that that it was at that time that our leaders chose to sacrifice our freedom for security. A line had been drawn in the sand and we chose not to cross it out of fear, fear of offending and angering the peaceful adherents of an ideology that calls for our slavery.

You and I are continuously told that a brutal military dictator and nuclear-armed extortionist in South Asia by the name of General Pervez Musharraf is our trusted friend and ally. Pervez Musharraf is not our friend and no amount of public relations campaigning by the media or the Whitehouse is ever going to change the fact that General Pervez Musharraf is and has always been nothing more than a brutal military dictator.

Despite the fact that since 2001, General Pervez Musharraf has had the audacity to dupe the United States out of over 12 billion dollars all the while professing his commitment to eradicating the current surge of Islamic extremism and the very "culture of jihad" that his nation created.

Pervez Musharraf's supposed commitment to eradicating the extremists has and continues to be wrought with nothing more than contradictions and half-measures. Listen below and hear how their intention is not to eradicate terrorism but rather to control it and use our money to win the hearts and minds of those who hate us. I for one resent the fact that our nation is paying money to the very people and nation who gave birth to the Taliban.

You and I are now told by Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri that we are not to make Pakistan angry or dare to question their commitment to the war on terror. Khurshid Kasuri does not elaborate on his veiled threat, but the message is quite clear. Offend them and we risk another 9/11.

We are not dealing with a viable friendly nation here, but rather with a power-crazed group of nuclear-armed extortionists and terrorist sympathizers wearing business suits and masquerading as a legitimate government. You and I are now told that we must resign ourselves to the fact that our nation's security and the our children's future is dependent on our continued payment of this "protection money".

So desirous of peace at any price, our government has actually fooled themselves into taking Musharraf and his military junta at their word that they are eventually committed to installing a genuine democracy in Pakistan. How stupid have we become not to learn from our own history?

History is replete with the misguided and often tragic appeasement of dictators, from Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Adolf Hitler to Jimmy Carter's appeasement of North Korea's Kim Jong-il. Accommodation and appeasement is not, nor will it ever be the path to victory.

The United States has a choice to make, we can place our nation's safety and security in the hands of Pakistan's military dictatorship and pray that our appeasement prevents another attack on our nation or we can do that what we must and ensure that those of us who gave their life for freedom did not die in vain.

The message to Pervez Musharraf should be loud and clear. Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.

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Pakistan: Not Safe For Democracy

On the 4th of July, just two days before being officially sworn in as the 23rd U.S. Ambassador To The Islamic Republic Of Pakistan, a diminutive Anne W. Patterson gave a speech at an independence day reception held inside the US embassy compound in Islamabad. In this Kafkaesque setting amidst the reports from gunfire and explosions nearby, Mrs. Patterson while heralding democracy as the path to peace and prosperity would speak glowingly and eloquently of President Bush's deep admiration and respect for Islam. As Mrs. Patterson spoke, thousands of Pakistani troops less than three kilometers away laid siege to the Lal Masjid.

ّNeedless to say, there would be no disapprobation from the members of General Musharraf's government in attendance on the brazen hypocrisy of of a people who spoke of democracy and yet have continued to lend their unwavering support for a dictatorial tyrant who's legitimacy is only mitigated by his alleged commitment to the American-led "War on Terror". The niceties of diplomacy would temper the instinctive reaction of the others in attendance from giggling under their breath. Incessantly going on with her speech, Mrs. Anne Patterson would conveniently ignore the one subject that was on everyone's mind, and that was, what was transpiring outside.

By turning a blind eye to the ideological battle that raged outside the embassy compound and oblivious to the fact that Musharraf's regime is content to express only a feigned interest in the principles of democracy merely as a tactic to bolster their own political power, it is hard to imagine that Mrs. Patterson's speech was anything other than self-serving.

Often in our self-perceived vocation as the torch-bearers of freedom and democracy, we tend to lose sight not only of the limited power of politically engineered change in an Islamic country such as Pakistan, but of that simple truism that no society can ever live outside the parameters of its basic ideology. One of the drawbacks of freedom is that free choices are regularly made for the worst and in ignorance and equality the people of Pakistan might well decide to cast their vote for submission rather than for freedom.

For the West, the focus remains almost exclusively on the aspect of ignorance. Citing Pakistan's low literacy rate, we've led ourselves to believe that a lack of education is the primary factor contributing to democracy's inability to take root in Pakistan often ignoring or dismissing out of hand the real reason. The foremost condition required for democracy to ever take root in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan or any Islamic country for that matter is the acceptance by all of the sovereignty of the people, a concept that runs contrary to the basic ideology of Islam and effectively denies the fundamental Islamic affirmation of the sovereignty of God. While education might one day contribute to the democracy's ability to flourish in Pakistan, it will never provide the foundation needed for it to take root.

Our policies both abroad and at home continue to reflect nothing more than a total lack of conviction on our part. By simultaneously punishing and placating the adherents of this regressive political and social ideology instead of embracing our manifest destiny and mustering the courage to take on the ideology itself both at home and around the world we've only fueled the fires of fascism.

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It's a Cruel Cruel Summer

The ongoing partisan political fratricide in the United States from Al Qaeda's perspective is comfortably internecine. Shielded by the deceptive diplomacy of a tutelary nation and the tough terrain of northwestern Pakistan, the leadership of Al Qaeda have been content to wait patiently and see their efforts come to fruition as the Sophoclean tragedy in America begins to slowly play itself out.

Calculative and ever observant of the technological chasm that divides them from the West, Al Qaeda has long known that their greatest weapon against America would always be their patience and perseverance coupled with a strategia della tensione designed to slowly erode the resolve and the will of their adversaries. So far everything has been going according to plans. In fact, better than it could have ever possibly been imagined.

Suffering from a collective "conflict of conscience" and what Pope Benedict XVI would describe as a "pathological self-hatred", America and much of the West have taken to their impending dhimmitude like a duck to water. Never before in the history of Islamic revival has a nation so willingly subjugated itself. The President and the Commander in Chief of America's armed forces removing his shoes and not only paying homage and reverence to the will of Allah, but actually promoting Islam as a religion of peace, female government officials donning the hijab for the sake of Allah. These are all extremely powerful phantasmagorical images that substantiate the prophecies of Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden and encourage more to join the call for jihad.

As America continues to rip itself apart, the last thing Al Qaeda wants to do at this time is anything that might possibly run the risk of uniting the American people. The next big Al Qaeda attack is coming and it is coming soon, just not this summer.

In the wake of Al Qaeda's orchestrated cataclysmic attacks of 9/11, Al Qaeda has found themselves inundated with an increasing uncontrollable array of ideological groupies and self-proclaimed mujahideen throughout the world inspired and mesmerized not only by Al Qaeda's message, but by their survivability. While many have willingly stepped forward to show their allegiance and embrace martyrdom, there is a growing contingent of followers and sympathizers who have become impatient and desperate for Al Qaeda to deliver the finishing blow to what they perceive to be an already weakened foe. But while the finishing blow is in fact already in the works, the timing is not quite right yet.

The assumption that a spectacular summer attack by Al Qaeda is in the offing based on "increased chatter" or Al Qaeda's "affinity for summertime" amounts to an ignoratio elenchi and a alarming misinterpretation within our nation's intelligence network brought on for the most part by an over-reliance on technology and signals intelligence in lieu of of our own human intelligence. It would appear that we still have not learned our lesson.

Of course we have recently been endowed with the divining abilities of Michael Chertoff's gut, but that is another issue all together. So brace yourself folks, it's going to be a cruel summer.

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Musharraf's Last Stand

President Pervez Musharraf's television appearance on Thursday evening wearing civilian clothes and threating to eradicate extremism across Pakistan did little to temper the flames of discontent now spreading like a wildfire across Pakistan. That same evening Pakistan's military would be put on high alert with fortifications being set up around government buildings and several facilities across the country to cope with the expected violence on Friday afternoon.

After Friday afternoon prayers, thousands of Pakistanis took to the streets across the country calling for jihad and chanting "Musharraf is a killer" and "Glory be to the Red Mosque martyrs". Abdul Aziz Ghazi, brother of Abdul Rashid Ghazi, the Red Mosque leader killed in the eight-day mosque siege, called for an "Islamic revolution" throughout the country.

The leadership of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal also called for the students in over 13,000 madrasahs across the country to protest the governments attack on the Lal Masjid or Red Mosque in Islamabad. The leadership is disputing the government's claims of only 73 casualties and is claiming that close to 1,000 civilians were actually killed in the eight day siege of the mosque. The fact that the government has ordered 400 burial shrouds from the Edhi Foundation and has prohibited access to a cold storage facility located outside Islamabad and a suspected mass burial site has only worked to further fuel the ongoing rumors against Musharraf.

Our sources in Quetta today informed us that Pervez Musharraf's control over the military has weakened and that several of Pakistan's military troops have now starting deserting, with their numbers now growing daily and that militants have taken control of a few villages in North Waziristan, South Waziristan and Balochistan. Requests from CNN for access to the area around the Lal Masjid the areas mentioned above has been denied by the government.

Further reports are that the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leadership has been consulting with former ISI Chief Hamid Gul as well as former General Mirza Aslam Beg, both men who still wield considerable influence with Pakistan's military. Hamid Gul has been outspoken the last few days opening denouncing Pervez Musharraf's leadership and has warned Musharraf against using the same heavy-handed tactics in the pro-taliban militants in Waziristan.

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The Fallout From Pakistan

Last Friday morning President General Pervez Musharraf would chair an urgent meeting called for at his presidential camp office in Rawalpindi. With no other options, and staving off a possible coup attempt, Musharraf would be forced to approve a plan presented to him by intelligence and security officals that would give amnesty to the estimated 100 pro-taliban militants still holed up inside the Lal Masjid in Islamabad, provided that they lay down their weapons and surrender. This would be Musharraf's last chance.

From the perspective of the opposition, Musharraf's regime had become a corrupt authoritarian tool of Western imperialism helplessly infected with the heretical concepts of modernism, westernism and secularism a view shared with Islamabad's political power brokers. More interested in appeasing Western demands that it was of governing the people. Something had to be done, but how? With no means of mounting a revolution on their own, the opposition could only come to power by either collaborating with the military and intelligence agencies and ousting Musharraf or by throwing their lot in the with the militants, another army coup might have suited them, but there was no one to carry it out. The only potentially revolutionary initiative seemed to lay with the clerics of the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.

The Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) is one of the oldest mosques in Islamabad, its name comes from the color of the paint used on its exterior walls. Since 9/11 the mosque in Pakistan's capital has became a fortress for firebrand clerics and their pupils, the burqa-clad young women among them being more prominent than young men, not only because of their robes and the long bamboo sticks in their hands but also because of their training for combat and their desire for jihad.

Despite the leadership of the Lal Masjid having a vehement disdain for modernization, The tech-savvy cleric Maulana Abdul-Rashid Ghazi and his brother soon set up a website (now offline) and eagerly grasped the techniques of mass communication and public relations frequently giving interviews to the local and foreign media with aplomb and relentlessly denouncing Musharraf's regime with impunity. As their influence grew, Pakistan's opposition party members from the MMA seeking some sort of religious legitimization and the sympathizers from within Musharraf's own core-constituency and government seeking atonement for their sins would begin to wait in line outside the cleric's offices to pay homage.

In Islamic usage, civil society and the congregation of the faithful are conterminous, and within a short period of time the mosque leadership, would initiate an anti-vice campaign. Despite the local and foreign media reports on their vigilantism, the reality is that many of the residents of Islamabad saw them as a positive factor, an Islamic Guardian Angels if you will, determined to "rid the streets of crime and vice, make citizen's arrests and offer "education programs" to businesses and individuals" - get caught selling those immoral sexy Bollywood VCDs and instead of getting a karate kick from Curtis Sliwa, you would get severely whacked upside the head with a bamboo stick wielding Raisinet. The smashed Bollywood VCDs and music tapes were quickly replaced with Islamic books and VCDs which espoused an anti-Western, pro-jihadi fundamentalist school of thought. Soon these would begin to sell in the capital's night markets like hotcakes. In turn, the madrassahs would begin to fill up and Pervez Musharraf would stand by impotently as 14 new anti-western, pro-taliban madrassahs opened in the capital of Islamabad (more than any other administration) and who's membership would swell to over 16,000 students, doubling in the last year alone.

Having effectively mastered the medium, the message from the propagandist clerics of the Lal Masjid gained further credibility with it's relentless repetition. The message was clear, and that was that Musharraf's corrupt regime linked to the United States and the "war on terrorism" was the epitome of evil, a regime that put the demands of the United States above the demands of the Pakistani people.

For six months the regime passively swallowed every indignity heaped upon it by the Lal Masjid command. As the regime’s credit declined across the land, General Musharraf defended his capitulation to the mosque militants by saying he did not want to see people getting killed. Comfortably sitting on the fence, Musharraf could feign loyalty to both sides, but the tide had now turned against him and Musharraf instinctively knew that an attack on the Red Mosque would be the beginning of the end, an affirmation of his corruption and his submission to the West. The incorruptibility of the clerics in the eyes of the Pakistanis had granted them larger than life status something that can never be taken from them, even in death. Musharraf had been set up.

No one is going to believe that Pakistani psyops story about Maulana Aziz trying "escape" the mosque in a burka. The truth has already been told by Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz, that Maulana Aziz was deceived and that he spoke for peace but Musharraf insisted on a military operation which killed a large number of people. Regardless of how the crisis ends the Lal Masjid leadership will being painted as martyrs. They will be shown as people who stood up to the dictatorship and asked for the simplest of things that any Muslim could want.

On the surface of it, Pervez Musharraf appears to have won, he has the militants surrounded in their mosque, he has their leaders in custody awaiting trial and he has a media that will only report what he wants it to, but Pervez Musharraf forgot the one thing that his military once taught the Taliban. "Only fight on the physical plane to secure victory on the moral plane".

Regardless of how the siege on the Red Mosque ends, the game is over for Musharraf, he knows it, but does the United States?

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Musharraf Backs Down in Red Mosque Standoff

Instinctively many knew that the pro-taliban militants holed up in the Lal Masjid only had to last until Friday before the momentum would shift in their favour and that is precisely what has now happened.

The first signs of Pervez Musharraf's impotence became apparent yesterday evening when Musharraf expressed outrage over the airing of a "humiliating" interview by state-run PTV of the head cleric of from the Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz, who was "grilled" in the same burqa robes he wore while attempting to flee the siege on the Red mosque. Musharraf has directed the channel not to repeat the telecast of the interview.

Over the last few days Pervez Musharraf has found himself under increasing pressure from pro-taliban sympathizers in his own government and the military who have strongly objected to Musharraf's heavy-handed approach in dealing with the pro-taliban militants. That message would be made abundantly clear to Pervez Musharraf this morning at 10:15 am Pakistan time when anti-aircraft guns fixed on the rooftop of house adjacent to the Chaklala military air base in Rawalpindi fired rounds in the flight path of Musharraf's plane as it took off.

Prior to President General Pervez Musharraf's plane taking off from the presidential camp office in Rawalpindi, Musharraf would approve a plan presented to him by intelligence and security officals to give amnesty to the estimated 100 pro-taliban militants still holed up inside the Lal Masjid, provided that they lay down their weapons and surrender. Should the deputy cleric of the Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi, and 100 or more militants, decide to surrender, the government would withdraw all criminal cases filed against them since February.

For those familiar with the current situation in Pakistan, the firing on Pervez Musharraf's plane as it took off this morning was clearly meant to "drive the message home" and it has done just that.

A relaxation in the curfew and a halt in the siege was originally to start at 12:30 pm and end at 3:30 pm for Friday prayers. Up until 5:30 pm there has been no resumption in the operation to force the militants to surrender. Musharraf is reported to have ordered a temporary halt to the security operation to "access the situation" and for a delegation of political and religious figures to convey the amnesty proposal to the pro-taliban militants remaining inside.

A complete timeline of the events following can be found here

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"Operation Lal Deen" - Pakistan

In the last hour special forces have moved in on the Lal Masjid. Intense cross firing between the Law Enforcing agencies and students of mosque has been started and the explosions have rocked the Islamabad according to Metroblogging Islamabad.

Metroblogging Islamabad also has a play by play from last night's events - the Lal Masjid website that we linked to previously is now down again.

According to our sources in Islamabad, tensions continue to dangerously mount as the crisis is further prolonged with opposition parties now openly denouncing the use of military force on the Pakistani girl students in the mosque.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, said it was another example of Musharraf's misrule. "No one could be pleased by this game of blood and fire and every citizen appears deeply concerned on this state of the affairs taking place in the federal capital"

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