Five people were killed and six others wounded when a missile—allegedly fired from a US drone—hit a suspected militant compound in the restive North Waziristan region of Pakistan, near the Afghan border Nov. 2. Residents said a pilotless US drone fired two missiles into the compound in Dandi Darpakhel in the outskirts of Miran Shah, the regional capital. At least two of the wounded were said to be of Uzbek origin. The casualties were given first aid and taken away by men associated with a militant commander from South Waziristan. Militants sealed off the entire area and did not allow anyone to get to the compound. Some residents put the death toll at 10 and the number of wounded at 12. The compound was located near the madrassa of Waziristan Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani, who is said to have close ties to Osama bin Laden. The Pentagon denied the US military was responsible for the missile strike. A spokesman for the CIA, which operates drones as well, declined to comment. (NYT; Dawn, Pakistan, Nov. 3)
The US has likewise denied it before and before.
See our last post on Pakistan.
Martial law in Pakistan: whose side is the US on?
So Gen. Musharraf suspends the constitution, shuts down opposition media and replaces chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry—just as the Supreme Court is to rule on whether he can stay on as army chief after being sworn in for another term as president Nov. 15 following a boycotted, messy and contested vote by parliament last month. (Guardian, Nov. 4) It seems US CentCom chief Admiral William J. Fallon was in Pakistan the night of Musharraf’s auto-golpe—and the New York Times asks us to believe that he “told General Musharraf and his top generals in a meeting here that declaring emergency rule would jeopardize the extensive American financial support for the Pakistani military.”
However, Pakistan’s Daily Times reports Nov. 3 that Fallon had offered to actually send US troops to fight in Waziristan (as if they weren’t almost certainly there already)—and makes explicit the inevitable rumors that the timing of Fallon’s Pakistan visit was not coincidental:
This reminds us of Alberto Fujimori’s 1992 auto-golpe in Peru. The US immediately denounced the move—but Undersecretary of State Bernard Aronson was in Lima the day of the coup—leading to much speculation about secret US support, appearances notwithstanding. (NACLA Report Vol. 26, 1992, via Questia)
So was Fallon was in Pakistan to oppose Musharraf’s auto-golpe—or to grease it? Sound off, readers…
Surprise! US to continue aid to Pakistan
…And, as in Peru after Fujimori’s auto-golpe, US military aid to Pakistan will likely continue—official hand-wringing notwithstanding. The only real difference in Washington’s rhetoric then and now is the substitution of “anti-terrorist” for “anti-narcotics.” A Nov. 5 AP account quotes various administration figures (press secretary Dana Perino, State Department spokesman Tom Casey, defense undersecretary for policy issues Eric Edelman) all wagging their fingers at Musharraf—while hastening to add that nothing so hasty as an aid cut-off is in the works. Reads the lead: “President Bush’s top national security aides say U.S. financial backing for Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts likely will go uninterrupted despite the administration’s unhappiness with President Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of a state of emergency.”
Defense Secretary Robert Gates talks out of both sides of his mouth, in classic politician manner: “We are reviewing all of our assistance programs, although we are mindful not to do anything that would undermine ongoing counterterrorism efforts.”
The Indian news agency IANS quotes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice making similar noises. “We’re going to review aid. But look, we do have continuing counter-terrorism concerns and we have to be able to protect America and protect American citizens by continuing to fight against terrorists. And we have a significant counter-terrorism effort in Pakistan and so we have to review this whole situation.”
IANS reminds readers: “Pakistan this year will receive about $700 million in US economic and military assistance and in 2008 is expected to receive more than $800 million. It has received about $10 billion in US aid since 2001, much of that in counter-terrorism assistance.”
Meanwhile, if Musharraf’s auto-golpe was aimed at the jihadi threat (which is, alas, real enough), funny that he has been shutting down secular opposition media outlets and rounding up hundreds of secular political opponents. AP reports that among the some 500 activists arrested in the sweeps are Javed Hashmi, acting president of the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif; cricket star-turned- politician Imran Khan; Asma Jehangir, chairman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan; and Hamid Gul, former intelligence chief—”and a staunch critic of Musharraf’s support for the US.” Some 200 armed police stormed the Human Rights Commission office in Lahore yesterday and arrested about 50 activists.
Seymour Hersh reported in 2004 that Hamid Gul told him the introduction of US troops into Pakistan would mean “a rupture in the relationship.” Asma Jehangir led anti-war protests during Musharraf’s 2002 showdown with India—and also, by the way, protested US connivance with warlords in Afghanistan, saying “If America wants to introduce Afghanistan-like democracy in Iraq, we will condemn it.”
Sorry, but it smells to us like Washington’s admonishments are all for show and the US really quietly supported the auto-golpe as a prelude to direct military intervention in Pakistan…
NYT op-eds call out Musharraf’s power grab
Well, it’s vindicating to see many of the points we’ve been making on the op-ed page of the New York Times Nov. 7. Maybe the auto-golpe will not be a slam-dunk after all. First, from Benazir Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People’s Party and the country’s prime minister from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996. In “Musharraf’s Martial Plan,” she calls out Bush on his hypocrisy, and raises once again the specter of official complicity in the deadly Oct. 18 assassination attempt her:
Next, from Mohammed Hanif, the head of the BBC’s Urdu Service, the coyly-entitled “Pakistan’s General Anarchy“:
He then recounts—through personal anecdotes of his own military service—how Islamism has become the official ideology and political culture of of the armed forces. Yet, he concludes, Musharraf’s own motivations are more prosaic…
Indeed so. We are reminded once again of the old R. Cobb cartoon.