I read the following article from Pakistan's DAWN today. It provides a sterling example of how far we have yet to go, in order to having the average person on the street in Pakistan understand what is happening to their homeland.
They are under attack by the Taliban and their al Qaeda cronies. These forces were the creation of their own government. It was all well and good when their venom and religious rage was directed at the Western world and the forces of freedom and democracy. But now, they have come home to roost with a vengeance. Their government has been conscripted to join the war on terror and out of necessity, has had to take on the very forces of evil they had themselves created. Very much like Doctor Frankenstein having to turn on his own creation, lest he too be destroyed by it. And when the Taliban strike, in that blind, senseless, and indiscriminate way that they do... who do the locals blame? The answer is nothing short of stunning in it's short-sightedness and in it's stupidity.
Someone is going to have to get educated in a big hurry here, if they ever expect to fight their way out of this endless cycle of bloodshed and destruction. And make no mistake... they will have to literally fight for their very lives here... against their own kind. And meanwhile, the madrasses keep churning out more and more of them... brainwashed minions who'se only goal is a short and very unproductive life, ended by a remote telephone signal which will leave their atoms searching vainly for some 72 non-existent virgins...
Bombings, drone attacks fuel anti-US sentiment in Pakistan
Monday, 07 Dec, 2009
PESHAWAR: Umar Hayat was among scores of volunteers who worked for days to find survivors after Pakistan’s worst bomb blast in two years, panic rising as he scrambled through scorched rubble.
Clawing at debris after a massive bomb pulverised a busy market in Peshawar on October 28, Hayat could find no trace of his eldest son, 11-year-old Mohsin.
‘One after another, we found dead bodies. Soon after burying my brother, I came back to the bomb site. I found my son’s body at midnight. The next day, in the afternoon, we found my nephew’s body,’ Hayat told AFP.
‘My wife is still in shock. I don’t know what to do. She spends the whole time crying and saying ‘bring back my Mohsin’.’
But rather than feeling disgust at Taliban fighters blamed for an attack that killed 125 people, Hayat holds the United States responsible, reflecting a deep-seated distrust felt throughout Pakistan.
‘I appeal to America, please leave us be. Please stop this game, this war on terror. Osama (bin Laden) is just a smokescreen to attack Muslims,’ Hayat said.
‘Stop it. How many more lives will you take in revenge for the World Trade Centre? Do you want to destroy the whole of Pakistan?’
Washington is trying to win firmer backing from Pakistan to fight extremism as it prepares to deploy 30,000 extra troops to end the war in neighbouring Afghanistan, but reaction to the new strategy has been scathing.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani asked US President Barack Obama for more clarity, while many fear an increased troop presence could send more militants flooding into Pakistan as after the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
On the streets, people are already struggling to cope with increasingly potent suicide bombings.
Officials blame the blasts on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants, the architects of a two-and-a-half year insurgency that has killed more than 2,600 people in attacks across Pakistan.
Parents have lost children. Children have been orphaned. Struggling to comprehend the scale of the violence, conspiracy theories abound.
‘What did my father do? Why did somebody do this to us?’ said Rashid Javed, who lost his father and two cousins on October 28.
‘Half his (my cousin’s) body was missing. We received the upper half... I think America, Israel and India are involved. The Taliban can’t do this – they used to target only police and army men.’
Such views are widely held in Peshawar, a cultural capital for Pashtuns.
The sentiments are allegedly fuelled locally by Taliban propaganda blaming America and rival India for Pakistan’s ills and accusing the United States of trying to occupy the region.
CDs and DVDs can be bought in markets. Statements are distributed.
Text messages of shadowy origin go from phone to phone, spreading rumours that the United States deployed hundreds of Marines to Pakistan or that the private US security firm formerly known as Blackwater is operating in the country.
In mosques, preachers rail against ‘foreign elements’ allegedly meddling in Pakistan’s affairs.
The US embassy has sought to scotch the rumour mill by putting out statements denying reports of a Blackwater presence, but anti-American feeling in Pakistan has deep roots.
Many people feel bitterness over what they saw as US abandonment of the region once the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989.
Rahimullah Yusufzai, an expert on Pakistan’s northwest, blamed US foreign policy over the years, particularly the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
‘There are strong anti-American sentiments in this region and this is because of American policy and its role in this region since the Russian invasion in Afghanistan,’ Yusufzai said.
Fuelling anger are regular US missile strikes targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Pakistan’s northwest.
US drone attacks have killed around 625 people in the last 15 months, with Pakistanis seething at the perceived violation of sovereignty and reports of civilian casualties.
‘I’m sure it was a drone attack,’ said Ghulam Ali, looking at his cotton shop, which was damaged in the Peshawar blast.
‘We are fed up. I can’t believe the Taliban are involved in these bombings. I’m sure the troika – America, India and Israel – is doing all this.’ —AFP
*****************
Now... can you guess why none of this is ever going to change for you...??? I understand that we're talking about a largely unschooled and educated mass of people here, one lacking in the most basic forms of sophistication and perhaps almost neanderthal in their world outlook... but you have to be a special brand of 'Darwin-award material', when you can't even recognize what is killing you...
They are under attack by the Taliban and their al Qaeda cronies. These forces were the creation of their own government. It was all well and good when their venom and religious rage was directed at the Western world and the forces of freedom and democracy. But now, they have come home to roost with a vengeance. Their government has been conscripted to join the war on terror and out of necessity, has had to take on the very forces of evil they had themselves created. Very much like Doctor Frankenstein having to turn on his own creation, lest he too be destroyed by it. And when the Taliban strike, in that blind, senseless, and indiscriminate way that they do... who do the locals blame? The answer is nothing short of stunning in it's short-sightedness and in it's stupidity.
Someone is going to have to get educated in a big hurry here, if they ever expect to fight their way out of this endless cycle of bloodshed and destruction. And make no mistake... they will have to literally fight for their very lives here... against their own kind. And meanwhile, the madrasses keep churning out more and more of them... brainwashed minions who'se only goal is a short and very unproductive life, ended by a remote telephone signal which will leave their atoms searching vainly for some 72 non-existent virgins...
Bombings, drone attacks fuel anti-US sentiment in Pakistan
Monday, 07 Dec, 2009
PESHAWAR: Umar Hayat was among scores of volunteers who worked for days to find survivors after Pakistan’s worst bomb blast in two years, panic rising as he scrambled through scorched rubble.
Clawing at debris after a massive bomb pulverised a busy market in Peshawar on October 28, Hayat could find no trace of his eldest son, 11-year-old Mohsin.
‘One after another, we found dead bodies. Soon after burying my brother, I came back to the bomb site. I found my son’s body at midnight. The next day, in the afternoon, we found my nephew’s body,’ Hayat told AFP.
‘My wife is still in shock. I don’t know what to do. She spends the whole time crying and saying ‘bring back my Mohsin’.’
But rather than feeling disgust at Taliban fighters blamed for an attack that killed 125 people, Hayat holds the United States responsible, reflecting a deep-seated distrust felt throughout Pakistan.
‘I appeal to America, please leave us be. Please stop this game, this war on terror. Osama (bin Laden) is just a smokescreen to attack Muslims,’ Hayat said.
‘Stop it. How many more lives will you take in revenge for the World Trade Centre? Do you want to destroy the whole of Pakistan?’
Washington is trying to win firmer backing from Pakistan to fight extremism as it prepares to deploy 30,000 extra troops to end the war in neighbouring Afghanistan, but reaction to the new strategy has been scathing.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani asked US President Barack Obama for more clarity, while many fear an increased troop presence could send more militants flooding into Pakistan as after the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
On the streets, people are already struggling to cope with increasingly potent suicide bombings.
Officials blame the blasts on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants, the architects of a two-and-a-half year insurgency that has killed more than 2,600 people in attacks across Pakistan.
Parents have lost children. Children have been orphaned. Struggling to comprehend the scale of the violence, conspiracy theories abound.
‘What did my father do? Why did somebody do this to us?’ said Rashid Javed, who lost his father and two cousins on October 28.
‘Half his (my cousin’s) body was missing. We received the upper half... I think America, Israel and India are involved. The Taliban can’t do this – they used to target only police and army men.’
Such views are widely held in Peshawar, a cultural capital for Pashtuns.
The sentiments are allegedly fuelled locally by Taliban propaganda blaming America and rival India for Pakistan’s ills and accusing the United States of trying to occupy the region.
CDs and DVDs can be bought in markets. Statements are distributed.
Text messages of shadowy origin go from phone to phone, spreading rumours that the United States deployed hundreds of Marines to Pakistan or that the private US security firm formerly known as Blackwater is operating in the country.
In mosques, preachers rail against ‘foreign elements’ allegedly meddling in Pakistan’s affairs.
The US embassy has sought to scotch the rumour mill by putting out statements denying reports of a Blackwater presence, but anti-American feeling in Pakistan has deep roots.
Many people feel bitterness over what they saw as US abandonment of the region once the Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989.
Rahimullah Yusufzai, an expert on Pakistan’s northwest, blamed US foreign policy over the years, particularly the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
‘There are strong anti-American sentiments in this region and this is because of American policy and its role in this region since the Russian invasion in Afghanistan,’ Yusufzai said.
Fuelling anger are regular US missile strikes targeting Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Pakistan’s northwest.
US drone attacks have killed around 625 people in the last 15 months, with Pakistanis seething at the perceived violation of sovereignty and reports of civilian casualties.
‘I’m sure it was a drone attack,’ said Ghulam Ali, looking at his cotton shop, which was damaged in the Peshawar blast.
‘We are fed up. I can’t believe the Taliban are involved in these bombings. I’m sure the troika – America, India and Israel – is doing all this.’ —AFP
*****************
Now... can you guess why none of this is ever going to change for you...??? I understand that we're talking about a largely unschooled and educated mass of people here, one lacking in the most basic forms of sophistication and perhaps almost neanderthal in their world outlook... but you have to be a special brand of 'Darwin-award material', when you can't even recognize what is killing you...
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