The Real Central Front In The WOT

Cato:

Pakistan, under President Pervez Musharraf -- the general who, in a coup, overthrew a democratically elected government -- and whose military and security services had served before 9/11 as the leading backer of the Taliban, seems to be undermining stability in neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistan also is reportedly harboring Islamic militants, fighting Indian forces in Kashmir and elsewhere, and playing an active role in the proliferation of nuclear weapons, which it has already developed -- unlike Iraq or Iran, the latter another member of the infamous Axis of Evil...

[S]ome intelligence experts suspect that Osama bin Ladin and other al Qaeda and Taliban leaders may have found sanctuaries in the so-called Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan.
...
More of a concern for the United States is the growing evidence that Pakistan's nuclear program -- an arsenal believed to contain between 35 and 60 nuclear weapons -- may have become a source of technology for North Korea and Iran. Also, some evidence points to some Pakistani nuclear scientists maintaining ties to al Qaeda and other extremist Islamic groups. All of this suggests that under various scenarios, including the collapse of Musharraf's rule or a coup staged by radical Islamists, Pakistan could turn into a nuclear-armed ally of al Qaida.
...
While the United States should work with Pakistan in the economic arena, it should refrain from embracing the Musharraf regime as an ally. In a way, Pakistan -- not Iraq -- remains a central stage in America's continuing antiterrorism campaign. By diverting scarce military and economic resources to fight an unnecessary war in Iraq, Washington may have weakened its ability to contain those who perpetrated the 9/11 terrorist acts and their benefactors.

Translation: we're doing everything we can to give AQ, Iran and N. Korea access to the nukes we don't want them to have. Bush may talk tough about the "war on terror", but in the end he is himself aiding and abetting the terrorists by cozying up to yet another dictator of convenience who is at best an ineffective ally and possibly playing us like a cheap fiddle.

Rather than addressing root issues, BushCo engages in bellicose rhetoric while sowing the seeds of nuclear crisis and setting the stage for a possibly devastating terrorist attack. Oh that's right, Cheney said something about that--how else can the administration justify its agenda without having such a threat hanging over our heads. Then I guess everything's going according to plan...

ntodd  ¶ 9:35 AM