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It's always fun to turn this around.
What if Pakistani "diplomat" shot dead two "robbers" in USA.
Would the US let him escape under diplomatic immunity?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000...526001226.htmlU.S.-Pakistan Tensions Grow Over Diplomat
Aid Program's Effect Also Questioned
By ZAHID HUSSAIN And TOM WRIGHT
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The U.S. is threatening to cancel a high-level meeting involving Pakistan in Washington to protest Pakistan's continued detention of a U.S. diplomat who shot dead two armed men in Lahore in late January.
Separately, an American government assessment said a $7.5 billion, five-year civilian-aid program for Pakistan has failed to show it is achieving its goals since Congress approved the package in late 2009.
The Obama administration is hoping the aid program will help stabilize the fragile, strategically important country and boost America's image. The program focuses on funding visible infrastructure like bridges, roads and power plants.
But that strategy has faced a number of obstacles, including an Islamist insurgency that has made it dangerous for aid personnel to operate in some parts of the country. The U.S. remains deeply unpopular, in part due to strikes by unmanned Central Intelligence Agency drones against Taliban militants on the border with Afghanistan that have also killed civilians.
Pakistan, Afghanistan and U.S. officials were set to meet this month in Washington to discuss the war in Afghanistan. But Pakistani officials said the U.S. had conveyed its decision to cancel the meeting if the detained American diplomat, named by Pakistan as Raymond Davis, wasn't released.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said Washington hadn't yet officially decided when to hold the meeting.
Mr. Davis shot dead the two men after they approached his car armed with weapons. Police say the men had earlier robbed others in Lahore. A U.S. consular vehicle that came to aid Mr. Davis knocked over and killed a bystander. The driver of the second car escaped, but Mr. Davis was arrested.
The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad says Mr. Davis acted in self-defense and is covered by diplomatic immunity. But a Pakistani court last week remanded Mr. Davis in police custody and put his name on a list banning him from leaving the country.
Mr. Davis is to appear in court again Friday; he hasn't been formally charged with any crime.
The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, met President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday to push for Mr. Davis's release, the U.S. Embassy spokeswoman said.
Mr. Zardari has publicly said Pakistan's justice system should be allowed to run its course. Protests calling for Mr. Davis to be tried locally have broken out in Lahore since late January.
The situation became more volatile over the weekend after the widow of one of the alleged gunmen killed in the incident committed suicide Sunday by taking insecticide.
Just before her death, while in the hospital, she told local television she feared Mr. Davis would be set free. Hundreds of people chanting anti-American slogans attended her funeral Sunday in Faisalabad.
Mr. Zardari must balance the demands of Pakistan's streets with an increasingly irritated U.S.
Growing anti-American sentiment in the country is a cause of serious concern to the U.S., which needs Pakistan's cooperation to fight Taliban militants that shelter on its soil.
The report on American aid to Pakistan, released jointly by the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of State and Department of Defense, found U.S. aid officials on the ground in Pakistan had failed to supply data to allow a systematic evaluation of whether the assistance was helping stabilize the nation.
The report found that USAID, the lead U.S. government agency for overseeing foreign civilian assistance, has been unable to recruit sufficient staff to oversee its Pakistan program.
The U.S. has moved to change the way it distributes aid, funneling more money through the Pakistan government and local organizations rather than international contractors.
It's always fun to turn this around.
What if Pakistani "diplomat" shot dead two "robbers" in USA.
Would the US let him escape under diplomatic immunity?
The Obama administration is hoping the aid program will help stabilize the fragile, strategically important country and boost America's image.
Paying to be popular has never worked.
I would imagine we'd expect him to go through the courts just as they expect him to do likewise over there.
Targeted assassinations and unarmed drones on Pakistani soil put together with long standing US support of Pakistani military and intelligence, aren't exactly a recipe for popularity either.
The sky is blue.
If the robbers were armed, and chasing him on a motorcycle, I doubt we would really bat an eyelash.
Now, if someone from Pakistani intelligence ran over an American pedestrian, trying to get to their guy, we would be pissed, and rightfully so.
Except in Iraq...
If one is fighting the idea that one is evil, helping farmers and building schools would seem to fight that idea, would it not?
That's some pretty good shootin for a diplomat.
Armed motocycle guys=0
US diplomat in a rented car=2
Mere generalization deserves more of the same.
Nope.
Quite frankly, given the depth of the average Pakistani's hatred for the US, we should have been massively engaging them a long time ago.
I think that Pakistan will end up being lost to us as an ally within 5-10 years, and will turn around to be a Sunni version of Iran, armed with nukes. (edit) They are rapidly sinking into fundamentalism.(/edit)
We need to double or triple our aid to Pakistan, coordiated with NGOs to avoid this. I don't see that happening, no matter how good it would be for our long term interests.
Time to start getting chummy with India.
I thought we already did with the recent nuke accord.Time to start getting chummy with India.
We've been doing that around the world for decades. How's our global popularity?
It actually wasn't too bad before 2003 or so, IIRC.
I guess we received a bump after Obama was elected, as well.
http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/2009/10...s-the-pop.html
Maybe, but the Yankees and Lakers are consistently both among the top in favorite and most hated teams at the same time. I'm really not worried about if the farmer or vendor likes us, its the leaders and terrorists groups that concern me.
Well, like you pointed out, a winner tends to grate on people. No way to prevent that, though. Terrorists will attack us if we continue to project world power.
Terrorists will continue to attack countries with strong Christian/Judea values.
It ain't about popularity, anyway. That war can't be won and even if it could, it would not appear we are presently at any great pains to correct the (tragically mistaken) impression we don't really care about ordinary Pakistanis.
(lukewarm response to recent catastrophic floods, looking at you)
Allegiance to the US is destabilizing, disastrous really, for the legitimacy of civilian government in Pakistan. But it is also indispensable. For the time being.
Even if Pakistan becomes a "Sunni version of Iran" the power behind the power will still be the military. Does the military vanish into the Islamic state, or is it the other way around?
Last edited by Winehole23; 02-09-2011 at 04:45 PM.
this country doesn't have strong christian values.
I counter you with this:
Nuze 2/8/11
Stronger than you realize, and more than the extremists will tolerate. Besides, we have the largest Jewish population in the world.
The military has never really stopped being in control of Pakistan, since the arguments with India have, before the last couple of years, been the most important foreign affairs issue in Pakistan. The fights over the Cashmir territories have done more to poison the Pakistanis' view of every other country than any thing else. (the friend of my enemy is my enemy, e.g.)
I don't see how that counters the idea that US got a popularity bump after Obama was elected.
I didn't mean it as a rebuttal, but a more recent "Nuze" item.
Yours was old. Did you actually get the intent of your posting?
Has there been much on Obama's address to the Chamber of Commerce?
Probably the toughest audience he had in a long time. I wonder how many bit their teeth to beep from booing him?
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