PAKISTAN Special

P.Symonds has been just to the point while exposing US' designs and stretegy. You see how it all fits in. You see what's behind all the hu ha about terrorism. You unleash terror so you get away with terror. Age old imperial game but this time Washington’s moves will not go unopposed...

BY: Peter Symonds

Comments by China’s ambassador in Islamabad last Thursday highlight the reckless character of the Obama administration’s escalating intervention in Pakistan. By pressuring Islamabad to wage an all-out military offensive against Islamic insurgents in the Swat Valley and neighbouring districts, Washington is not only destabilising Pakistan but raising tensions in a highly volatile area.

Speaking to Pakistani business leaders, Chinese ambassador Luo Zhaohui pointedly voiced concern about the growth of “outside influence” in the region. He singled out the US in particular, saying that China was worried about US policies and the presence of a large number of foreign troops in neighbouring Afghanistan. While reiterating China’s support for “the fight against terror,” Luo declared that US strategies needed some “corrective measures”. He added, “These are issues of serious concern for China.”

Luo’s unusually blunt remarks came just one day after US President Obama spoke to his Chinese counterpart, President Hu Jintao. While a number of issues were discussed, the escalating war in Pakistan was clearly high on the agenda. This first publicised phone call between the two men came as Obama met with the Afghan and Pakistani presidents over US strategy in the two countries. While Hu reportedly offered his cooperation, Luo’s comments express China’s underlying fears over growing US influence in South Asia.

Last week’s tripartite summit in Washington signalled a major upsurge in military violence in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Under intense pressure from the US, the Pakistani army has launched a large-scale offensive against militants in the Swat Valley in which hundreds have already died and hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee. The summit, however, involved more than discussions on military cooperation, outlining comprehensive plans for the closer economic and strategic integration of the two countries into an American sphere of influence.

China, which has longstanding ties with Pakistan, is obviously disturbed by these developments. As Ambassador Luo told his business audience, more than 60 Chinese companies are involved in 122 projects in Pakistan. He noted the “close liaison” with Pakistan over the security of over 10,000 Chinese engineers and technical experts in the country. In fact, Beijing has previously insisted on reprisals over the abduction and killing of Chinese citizens by Pakistani militants as well as military action against Islamic Uighur separatists from western China taking refuge in Pakistan.

More fundamentally, Beijing regards Islamabad as a crucial partner in its own regional strategy. China devoted considerable resources to building up Pakistan as a counterweight to India after the 1962 Sino-Indian border war. Pakistan is the largest purchaser of Chinese arms and, according to the Pentagon, accounted for 36 percent of China’s military exports between 2003 and 2007. Chinese technical assistance was critical to Pakistan’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs.

In return, China received the green light to build a major naval/commercial port facility at Gwadar, a coastal town in Baluchistan. The port is the linchpin of Beijing’s “string of pearls” strategy to establish access for its expanding navy to a series of ports along key sea routes across the Indian Ocean—above all, to protect oil and gas supplies from the Middle East and Africa. For its part, the US, which regards China as a rising economic and strategic rival, is determined to maintain its military, including naval, predominance.

US-China tensions over Pakistan only highlight the deeply destabilising role of Washington’s aggressive intervention, firstly in subjugating Afghanistan, and now in seeking to bring Pakistan more directly under its sway. The escalating conflict in Pakistan is a direct product of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, which the Bush administration forced Pakistan to support under the threat of becoming a military target itself. Widespread opposition inside Pakistan and Afghanistan to US actions has fuelled a growing insurgency that threatens not only the US occupation of Afghanistan, but a full-scale civil war in Pakistan.

US imperialism, under the Obama administration, is determined to exploit the very disasters it has created in order to advance its strategic interests throughout the broader region, especially in energy-rich Central Asia. By doing so, Washington is fundamentally altering the precarious strategic balance and threatening to draw the other major powers into the vortex.

China is not alone in its fear of US designs in Central Asia and the presence of large numbers of foreign troops in Afghanistan. Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US has been seeking to establish military alliances and economic ties with the newly established Central Asian Republics. Washington exploited its invasion of Afghanistan to establish military bases in Central Asia for the first time. Afghanistan and Pakistan also provided a potential alternate pipeline route to extract energy riches from the region. In response, China and Russia, which both regard the region as their backyard, came together in the Shanghai Cooperation Group to counter expanding American influence.

Neighbouring India is also watching events in Pakistan with trepidation. While quietly applauding Washington’s pressure on Islamabad to wage war against “terrorism”, New Delhi is concerned that Pakistan’s closer incorporation under the American umbrella may lead to the downgrading of the US-Indian strategic partnership, which only developed in the late 1990s. The weakening of rival Pakistan, against which India has fought three wars, is no doubt welcomed in New Delhi. But its replacement by a US client state, or worse its collapse into chaos, would only confront the Indian establishment with new uncertainties.

The entire region remains a potential powder keg. The Cold War certainties that divided the world between the Soviet and Western blocs have been replaced by new tensions and rivalries. Tentative steps by India and Pakistan to resolve their longstanding disputes, especially over Kashmir, have all but stalled. Efforts by China and India to improve relations have moved slowly. Each continues to eye the other with suspicion and to intrigue at each other’s expense in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Burma.

The most explosive ingredient in this volatile mixture is the attempt by US imperialism to use its military superiority to offset its long-term economic decline. Far from easing tensions, the installation of the Obama administration marked an aggressive new turn in the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan aimed at advancing US ambitions. Last week’s comments by China’s ambassador are another sign that Washington’s moves will not go unopposed.

 

BY: MUHAMMAD DAUD MIRAKI, Director Afghan DU & Recovery Fund
It is interesting that people describe different periods in history with existing adjectives in use in each respective period. To judge an era as either beneficial or harmful, people in different periods in time used their respective linguistic terms such as good, comfortable, bad and evil describing the ambiance created by a regime, ruler or empire. Rarely, have people resorted to events as descriptive indicators of their experience in a particular period in time; instead, they used linguistic means, namely, adjectives in describing some period in history as either good or bad. The reason for this is that each period in history has established terminology in use denoting the events, phenomena and social reality around them. For example, the Stalin era could easily be described by words such as evil, or Stalin and his crimes could easily be viewed as manifestation of evil. Although American academics of the Jewish faith have used 'holocaust' describing the mass murders of Stalin's era as a type of descriptive synonym equivalent to the Jewish experience under the Nazis. To my knowledge, no one has used one current event or social phenomenon in place of existing adjective as a type of antonym trying to describe another current event, until now. The reason that compels me to do so in this paper stems from the ineffectiveness of adjectives in describing our current state of affairs.

The boundless murders committed by the government of the United States under variously false pretexts make the government of the United States and its armed forces 'Killers without Borders'. The group that I chose to use as an antonym in describing the heinousness of the United States crimes worldwide is 'Doctors without Borders'. The reason I chose this group to serve as an antonym in this essay is rather straightforward. That is, 'Doctors without Borders' engage in benevolence with the sole purpose of saving lives irrespective of national borders, while, the US policy makers and armed forces serve as 'Killers without Borders' ready to murder innocent people without the slightest regard to basic human decency, national sovereignty or official borders.

The group 'Doctors without Borders' as its name connotes are doctors who do not value political and geographic borders in bringing life saving treatments and medicines to the needy whenever violence and disease have taken their toll on the poor and the disenfranchised. There are no material gains for these selfless doctors except the intangibles, feeling that they have done something good and decent amidst vast indecency in the world today. This group does not care about peoples' political affiliations, religious beliefs, national origin or ethnic descent. After all decency does not recognize the world in such clear terms as the evil portrayed and perpetrated by the United States of America. The government of the United States with the blessing of majority of its people 52% voting for Bush---have chosen the role of a gigantic mass killer aimed at satisfying its lust for material gains and imposing sheer pain on other people, who choose to be different.

Similar to 'Doctors without Borders', the United States does not recognize borders, however, contrary to the 'Doctors without Borders', the US does not aim at helping the poor and the needy, instead, it targets the weak militarily, depriving people of lives worldwide under the false banner of democracy and liberation.

Strategies of the Killers Without Borders

The Uniquely effective Use of the Word 'Democracy' : The significance of language as the crucial tool in human existence can not be looked at as a mere tool of communication. Language does not only serve as a tool of communication, but it also plays a crucial role as a major component of social structure. What I mean by social structure is any relatively stable pattern of social behavior. Hence, the function of language is much broader than is apparent at the outset. It is essential to realize that language is the tool of socialization and an effective tool of dissemination and diffusion of culture. Since culture does not remain still, the agents of socialization along with tools of socialization adjust accordingly. Agents of socialization are families, schools, peer groups, and media; they change with the passage of time as is evident for every adult in his/her middle age. What used to be 'cool' at their youth is no longer cool at adulthood. The use and meaning of some words are appropriate at certain point in one's life, but they lose their meaning from the intended with passage of years and decades. This is especially true for various descriptive jargons and phrases used by colonial powers describing their political and economic intent of subjugation of the conquered people in different parts of the world. For example, when Napoleon entered Egypt, he portrayed himself as someone who had come to civilize the Egyptian or for that matter any other people. Hence, Napoleon saw himself as a liberator than an occupier. The pertinent phrases of the early European powers were christianization and civilization. These words were appropriate from the perspective of the colonial powers in that time, after all, 'what was good for the Europeans had to be good for everybody else in the world'. Thus, the imposition of values and denigration of other cultures and religions are nothing unique to the current global hegemon, the United States, but rather inherited from its European predecessors.

With the advent of the British Empire, the above-mentioned phrases were still in use but were used selectively in different parts of the world. For example, in regions where Islam was the dominant religion the phrase christianization would be dropped and instead, they would use the phrase civilization and modernization, respectively. Slowly, civilization as the choice jargon would be almost entirely replaced by modernization and modernity and technology. Incidentally, every colonial power's aim was to obtain raw materials from the conquered regions, and then the resultant manufactured goods would be transported back to the conquered regions and sold to the populations there. What could be more profitable than this, especially, when raw natural resources are secured for free? It is worth mentioning that the British would also employ the corrupt elite in the conquered lands and use these influential locals as front in dealing with the population. Today, we see the same thing with a different form.

The United States copied some of the methods of the British; however, the US is much more efficient in portraying falsehood under the guise of phrases that are valued every where. As I mentioned that different deceptive phrases were used by colonial powers in different times and places, the phrases the US chose are democracy, liberty and freedom. These phrases are significant worldwide and transcend national borders and different regions. After all, these phrases envisage fundamental human necessities and god granted rights. However, these phrases would not find meaning unless presented in tangible manner to the conquered people and people worldwide. This is when local puppets from the region that have sold out and chose to exchange their dignity for some dirty dollars and authority, become tools of dissemination and diffusion of falsehood. This is similar to the British practice, but much more sophisticated. The sophistication of the mechanism the US uses is not really the invention of the United States but rather it is the consequence of globalization, which made travel from different parts of the world easy and facilitated opportunities for foreign nationals to receive education or seek employment. These foreign nationals became ideal instruments of manipulation. Although they chose to sell themselves out for prospects of power and money, they also serve as an effective smoke screen for the conquered region. For example, in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, who was an asset of the US intelligence agencies, the CIA especially, served as a tool of the US hegemony; thus, he provided the tangibility needed behind the phrases democracy, liberty, and freedom.

How this works is rather effective. The effectiveness is two folds and has two groups of consumers, local and global.

1) The use of the word democracy manifests legitimacy in the eyes of subjugated local people and portrays a glimpse of hope for the future of local people. This is especially true when the subjected population has suffered either from induced civil wars, such as in Afghanistan orchestrated by the CIA after 1992 or from US installed and supported dictators, such as Saddam Hussein of Iraq.

2) The US attempts to use democracy as a vehicle of legitimacy to audience worldwide as if though people worldwide were ignorant had narrow sources of information as do Americans by being glued to their television sets.

The appointment of Karzai in Afghanistan and Alawi in Iraq are portrayed to the world as fruits of US foreign policy success. Now let's explore what these fruits of democracy have brought to their respective regions.

In Afghanistan, there are thousands more widows today than there were before the US invasion. There are more than 32,000 Afghan civilians - a conservative number - who have lost their lives to the US bombing. This number reflects only those victims who lost their lives from October 7, 2001 to the first three months of 2002. Moreover, there are thousands more orphans today than before the US invasion. These orphans are roaming Afghan streets and alleys, sleeping in cemeteries and bombed buildings, only to die from cold weather and disease. The other dreadful consequence for these orphans is the high rate of kidnapping. These orphans are kidnapped and then sold into slavery and prostitution or they serve as candidates for harvesting human organs to be sold to the highest bidder. Orphans are not the only ones that are kidnapped, but rather, due to the insecurity in different parts of the country, criminals target children of various backgrounds for these heinous purposes. Another tragedy that dwarfs all others is the heavy contamination of Afghanistan with uranium isotopes after the US used bunker-buster bombs and cannons using uranium projectiles. This incidentally is the "gift" that keeps on giving since uranium has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, a perpetual death sentence has been imposed on the entire nation.

Words to Convey Action: Besides being a tool of communications, language also serves as the most effective tool in conveying action. After all had it not been for language how would one distinguish an evil deed from a good one? Incidentally, it brings fort the argument of chicken and egg, whether language existed first or actions and circumstances contributed to the evolution of language. This essay is certainly not the place to argue the anthropological and philosophical aspects of this issue. However, some individuals argue that action itself is a tool of communication. If this assertion were true, could one imagine what would one person do in order to show another person to distinguish a good deed from an evil one? Perhaps, the first person would have to kill another person to convey evil, while feed another to envisage what he/she means by good. But thankfully, we have been blessed with languages as effective tools of communications.

In addition to the primary function of language, language also serves as a vehicle for the conveyance of action through the use of common as well as technical words. These words could convey action either explicitly or implicitly. We use and interpret action from spoken words on daily basis. For example, if I said that I will drive to nearby town, I have explicitly expressed my intentions, however, if I said, the nearby town is a good place to work, the listeners could deduce that I might be looking for work in the nearby town. Moreover, one needs not to use long sentences to illustrate a particular action; instead, an effective use of key words is ample to establish an intended action. This is evident in the rhetoric of this administration trying to envisage righteousness. When GW Bush used the word tyranny in his speech, he wanted to imply to the public that his actions are those of a liberator not of an oppressor. Bush and his flock of cowards used the biblical words of good and evil in his first term, again trying to distinguish himself as a god-fearing man going after evil individuals.

The continuous use of these words has conditioned the American public in an effective manner. Since Americans are glued to their television sets and their entire worldview comes from television, they become truly the ideal mass sheep to be conditioned and used in ways that they would not acknowledge being part of.

Shameless Media Pundits: The most complicit in this global murder is the US corporate media and the shameless so-called journalists and experts. Sometimes one can not help but to ask how degrading a human being becomes in order to earn a living. Perhaps, earning a living is not the issue, but rather being part of a mass deception is a complex game of flawed semblance and semantics. But amidst this tragedy of murder and deception, one discovers how low a massive industry and individuals stoop for material gains. This fact becomes apparent when reporters from large media outlets and newspapers talk on shows or express themselves in writing.

Incidentally, I was watching the Charlie Rose Show when Thomas Freedman of the New York Times appeared on his show to discuss the Iraqi election. When he was talking about the United States occupation of Iraq, he would use his index fingers in the air to present occupation in a quotation mark, illustrating as if this "occupation" is not really "occupation" but rather liberation, yes liberation. Furthermore, the same cowards of the US and Western media would not dare to report facts, in fact, they are the vehicles whereupon the conditioning mechanism succeeds in this country. This, off course, does not exonerate the American consumers; after all, they have alternative media Internet, library, but more than anything else they have their brain to rely on.

When the CIA dog, Johnny Spann lost his life in the prison uprising in Northern Afghanistan, the media was talking about this character continuously. In fact, his widow was invited to the State of the Union. When confronted by reporters, the family of this CIA agent wished the other American, John Walker Lindh - 'the American Taliban' - to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. These people fail to realize what was their son the CIA agent - doing in Afghanistan in the first place? Perhaps, one of the readers would say that the reason US invaded Afghanistan was because Bin Laden attacked the US, and the Taliban gave him sanctuary. There is no need for me to debate that point here. Those that are curious should know that it is amply established that the attacks of September 11, 2001 were part of an inside job aimed at facilitating global hegemony. But the US media could care less that more than 1200 young men were slaughtered by the US B-52 bombing in the prison uprising and another 3500 lost their lives by being sealed into transport containers in northern Afghanistan. The containers were shot when the prisoners screamed for air and water, and their bodies were dumped in Dasht-e-Lailia desert in Northern Afghanistan.

Another example of media's cowardliness is the reporting of conflict in Palestine. When Israelis entered the Jenin Refugee Camp, where they killed civilians, destroyed their houses and deprived them of food and water, the coward media outlets were exhibiting sorrow for the loss of 13 Israeli soldiers, not the poor Palestinian refugees. This discussion went on until the Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi was shocked and questioned the decency of the television reporter and other American analysts on that show. This dirty game wherein Muslim men and women lose their lives in the hands of few mass murderers in Washington and London is a well calculated scheme concocted by morally corrupt academics at US academic institutions in order to justify what amounts to world domination.

Corruption As An Effective Tool: Moreover, another ironic tool that these Killers without Borders, use is that of corruption. It is a sociological fact that in order to control a family, one has to introduce corruption into the family and expose the family members to corrupt and degenerative behavior. Once that occurs, the family disintegrates by itself. Hence, corruption and collapse of moral values serve instruments of family disintegration. Family disintegration brings about what the 19th century French Sociologist Emile Durkheim would refer to as anomie. This is especially true in Kabul. The use of money and consumerism and opportunities for prostitution, drinking, gambling and other degenerate activities have brought about textbook sociological situations that have facilitated the disintegration of the basic institution of society, namely family.

This method is very effective among the Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara minority communities. The reason for the failure of the material enticement among the Pashtuns Afghans Afghanistan’s major ethnic group is the strong traditional family values and the rigid enforcement of those values among Pashtun households. For example, if a Pashtun woman compromised her dignity, the only outcome she would certainly encounter would be death because indignity is one among a handful things Pashtuns can not tolerate in their lives, and that is why, they are very protective of the female members of their family.

The classic mechanism the Americans and their coward allies use is the mechanism of luring females into training and job creation. Most of the time these women would end up in a US military base where they supposedly would get training, instead, they encounter funsex, drinking and partying. Tajiks are extremely susceptible to the aforementioned degenerate activities, but they also include Uzbek, Qazel Bash, and a few Hazara women.

There are 5 to 6 porn cable television channels free of charge available from 11 PM until 6 AM. The youngsters watch these movies and become immune to the whole notion of immorality associated with such behaviors. In addition, prostitute houses from India, Turkey, China and Thailand among others opened outlets in Kabul. These prostitute houses facilitate opportunities for young men who watch porn on television, to try to rob or engage in some other deviant behavior to come up with the needed money for attending these brothels.

The magnitude of deviation and corruption is so acute that no where in the world has the sex pill Viagra been so much in demand as in Kabul. Furthermore, condom manufacturers have sponsored radio station in order to increase its sale margin. The best democracy one could fuck, as one individual said.

Divide & Conquer - Another Tool: The instrument of divide and conquer is also employed in Afghanistan that is evident in the rhetoric of Karzai and his American handlers in naming some Taliban as moderate while others as extremists. It is also important to keep in mind that the Americans used the principle of divide and conquer effectively in using one ethnic group against another whereby they put in motion the electoral processes. In order to understand how these processes were put in motion some concise background is in order. Since Afghanistan is a multiethnic society, the fear of domination of one ethnic group over the other serves as an effective tool in luring ethnic groups to engage in actions that would impede the other ethnic groups from undermining their rights.

After the fall of the Soviet installed puppet regime in 1992, the subsequent infighting was fought along ethnic lines, although for strategic purposes alliances between opposing ethnic groups did take place. However, for the most part, the minority groups Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara dominated the post-1992 government in Kabul, and they resorted to targeting the Pashtun population in Kabul and in the north; thus, undermining them as a majority. Although Pashtuns also took to revenge and retaliatory measures during this era, which was followed by the emergence of Taliban as a reaction to the blatant violations committed by the minority groups. This period struck a severe blow to the Pashtuns' ego and their pride. The situation became worse when the Taliban regime collapsed. This was yet another blow to the Pashtuns' identity, especially that the Northern Alliance--composed of the same minority ethnic groups that dominated the post-1992 regime--played a key role in the US anti-Taliban campaign. The Bush administration took advantage of the dynamics at hand and played the majority against the minorities and vice versa. In light of the lengthy hostilities, Pashtuns had to 'sell their soul to the devil' and participate in the mock election and vote for the puppet Hamid Karzai even though he is America's stooge. The difficult decision Pashtuns in Afghanistan took was based on keeping the minorities at bay; otherwise, the minorities would have occupied the position of authority. This was indeed the proverbial double edge sword.

Therefore, inter-group conflicts along the mocked symbols of legitimacy, namely, election/democracy and the blunt use of force are some of the tricks of these 'Killers without Borders'.

However, the US officials are quite amateurish in their view of Afghanistan; they fail to comprehend Afghan history. For a foreign power to fail and bog down in Afghanistan, there need not be large armies of resistance, instead, effective groups of resistance break foreign enemies incrementally through attrition until they are too frail to get up.

The situation in Iraq is equally dim. According to a study by the British Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians lost their lives subsequent to the US-British invasion of Iraq. In addition, thousands of widows and orphans are the byproduct of this cowardly invasion. Though the uranium contamination was prevalent after the first Gulf War, it has become much worse after this second invasion and occupation. Iraqi women are forced into prostitution either by hunger and homelessness brought on by the US. Criminal elements roam around the country eager to make money even if they sell women's dignity. Oh, I almost forgot, this should not matter to the US since this is considered freedom for women and women rights. Another uncharacteristic situation in Iraq has been the widespread sale and use of illicit drugs. There were never any trade or consumption of illicit drugs in Iraq. On the same token, opium and heroin were wiped out by religious decree under the Taliban regime, but now, drug production in Afghanistan has gone up exponentially alarming the United Nations to the extent to forecast a dim future for Afghanistan since it had edged upon becoming a narco-state. The drugs produced in Afghanistan, are transported by the US intelligence and military agencies to different parts of the world including Iraq, where a drugs market has emerged that serves not only Iraqi addicts but also transported to the Gulf States including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other oil rich nations.

Why Killers Without Borders?  The reason I chose to call this article 'Killers without Borders' stems from the methods of killings. These methods are as follows:

1. The invasion of another sovereign nation is the blatant violation of international law, which the US government has no regards for. Since the fall of the former Soviet Union, the US has become the sole superpower. This status entails military, economic and consequently political weights. As usual, the US abuses its economic and military power for political gains in the United Nations as it was apparent in the wake of the Iraq war. At that time, the Bush administration was blatantly intimidating and bribing smaller nations and fail to even acknowledge the existence of its European allies. In the European arena, Bush's poodle, Tony Blair did the necessary barking. It is important to keep in mind that it is no surprise that the US is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court; had it been a signatory to the court, the US government would have been one of the most visible defendants tried for war crimes.

2. The second aspect is dependent upon the first one for the most part. Due to the economic and military might of the United States, other nations are eager to accommodate their airspace for the US fighter jets and rockets. Some nation-states such as Pakistan--which is nothing but an overused and undervalued prostitute pleasing the US government--would not even require the US armed forces to ask for permission. Therefore, the US jet fighters and tomahawk missiles crisscross national borders as if they did not exist. After all, 'everyone' wants to be on the good side of the global killer.

3. In this process to please the US's imperialist ventures, smaller nations target their own citizens suspected to be against the American aggression. This was especially evident in the case of Pakistan. As I mentioned, Pakistan as a country and its establishment constitute the omnipresent prostitute to please the US government. Thus, it was no surprise when a US State Department official stated publicly that a Pakistani would sell his mother for a few dollars.

4. The fourth characteristic of the 'Killers without Borders' is the facilitation of opportunities for other corrupt regimes to oppress domestic opposition and murder many under the rubric of some concocted legitimacy. For example, in light of the so-called 'war on terror', regimes worldwide have found easy ways to get rid of individuals deemed political troublemakers. The government of Uzbekistan, China, Russia and Algiers have used the label of the war on terror, to suppress and prosecute oppositions.

5. The fifth aspect of the 'Killers without Borders' is the use of the weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Specifically, the use of uranium munitions--bunker-buster bombs, canon rounds and projectiles--not only contaminate the land where they are used but also contaminate neighboring countries. Since uranium alloy used in these weapons pulverizes upon impact, it becomes aerosol. This way the dust becomes susceptible to wind pattern and water flow. Since wind and water are not confined to a geographic area bound by political borders, people across borders become ill and die.

6. The US's indiscriminate bombings force people to abandon their homelands and become refugees in a neighboring countries. In the process of displacement, refugees die on all sides of borders, as it was evident in the case of Afghanistan when the US started bombing. Furthermore, for the thousands forced to flee their homes, survival becomes the only issue. Hence, to survive, people resort to disparate actions, which sometimes result in the loss of lives in the host country. So, death is brought upon the victim population in different forms.

Killers share certain universal characteristics--by no means exhaustive--that include disregard for the victim, considering the victim less human, rationalizing their crimes among many other characteristics. A killer could have many motives for perpetrating his/her inhumane and gruesome action. The motives could initially not be murder but rather another degenerate undertaking such as robbery, sexual attack, or simply an argument had gone sour and the individual enraged and reacted in an miscalculated manner, killing the other individual. When there are actual motives for murder, they could range from revenge to utter hatred of the targeted person. In some instances, an individual might be a psychotic, and some schizophrenic urges might have resulted in heinous actions. The above-mentioned scenarios would happen in a defined geographic location, wherein the offender(s) might reside. The crime committed by individuals in their own respective enclaves, confine them within the bounds of legal infrastructure of that enclave. When murder is committed in a defined geographic location, the offender could be held accountable for committing murder under defined local laws. The guilt of the person is defined by the action of murder alone. In the case of the United States, the mechanism of murder is obviously different but is also heinous, complex and boundless, and is not subject to any legal imperatives since it does not value any rule of law including its own.

Hence, the US forces and supporters as 'Killers without Borders' are different from common murderers in certain specific ways. It is worth mentioning that this list is no means exhaustive.

First, the perpetration of murder by the United States is indiscriminate, brutal, and recognizes no geographic boundaries. For example, the US mercenary murderers commit their murders by targeting large number of people in a locality, followed by targeting those civilian rescuers that would attempt to help the victims of the first wave of attacks.

This practice was witnessed and reported by the UN officials and condemned when the US armed forces targeted Afghan civilians.

During the month of December, 2001, another liberation attempt was carried out by the 'brave' men of the US armed forces when they killed 52 civilians, mostly women and children in the village of Niazi Qala in Paktia province. The British newspaper, The Time published the following account of the tragedy:

"non-combatant women and children were chased and killed by U.S. helicopters during an attack on an Afghan village that left 52 dead."

According to the newspaper, in the initial strike in this village 10 women and 25 children were reported killed but later, a UN spokesperson, Stephanie Bunker said:

"After the women and children were killed in the village, a second group of civilians fled the attack and were gunned down by U.S. helicopters. All fifteen of the fleeing villagers were killed. A third group of civilians, who were trying to rescue survivors, was also killed by the U.S. military according to Ms. Bunker."

Similarly, in Jalal Abad, when the US jets bombed a mosque where people were praying, many civilians were killed at the entrance of the mosque. The survivors ran to help the wounded, however, it was not long before they were also targeted and became added numbers of collateral damage. The US forces use this practice of mass murder also in Iraq.

Second, the murders are not perpetrated in a defined time and space, but rather the use of the weapons in the murders leaves a legacy of perpetual death--killing for generations to come. This aspect of the crime of these 'Killers without Borders' is the most dreadful and heinous of all. The US armed forces rely heavily on uranium munitions. They use bunker buster bombs made of uranium alloy dropped by fighters jets and bombers, and uranium projectiles fired from the A-10 warthogs and AC-130 gunships. The heinous nature of murder through these weapons of mass destruction becomes evident in all sphere of the targeted population. In Afghanistan, the US use of bunker buster bombs has made the mountainous regions of east, southeast and southwestern parts of the country uninhabitable.

Third, the murders are committed in a very uneven plain field, wherein the victim is absolutely devoid of any means of self defense, while the US killers do not look at the nameless faces of their victims because these murderers are too much of cowards to fight face to face. Instead, they kill from 35,000 feet using B-52s.

Fourth, despite the heinousness of their crimes, the US killers are shameless to even admit their wrongdoing; on the contrary, they label their murders with descriptive terms such as liberation, freedom and democracy. In fact, after murdering thousands of innocent people, the United States wants and expects the targeted nation to acknowledge gratitude for bringing them democracy. This dirty public relation job is left to the puppets they put in place such as Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan and Allawi in Iraq.

Fifth, the US killers - Killers without Borders - unlike individual murderers in society refer to their victims as objects, namely collateral damage. Contrary to individual murderers when caught by law enforcement apologize in the sentencing phase, the US murderous government does not show any remorse. Instead, it usually releases statements barely touching the issue. For example, a White House spokesperson would say, "the United States regrets any loss of innocent life." Incidentally, when the surviving family members approach US officials asking for compensation, they are literally pushed away. For example, when widows and children approached the US embassy in Kabul expecting to be compensated for the loss of their homes---not family members---the US military personnel pushed them away.

Sixth, in countries such as Afghanistan where dignity dictates daily life, a murderer intent on taking revenge would not go after some body,s female family members because it is considered an indignity. The US mercenary murderers, who kill for money, and do not know anything about dignity, had taken Iraqi women hostage in order to force male family members to surrender. For example, in Fallujah, Iraq, the US coward armed forces went to arrest a young man who led local insurgents, however, he was not home. This prompted the US armed forces to drag the Iraqi man's sister, a young woman named Fatimah. The reason for Fatimah's arrest was to force her brother to put down arms and surrender. In the process, Fatimah along with other women in Abu Ghraib prison was raped many times. Until she wrote a letter and secretly passed it to the resistance through a third party. In that letter, she said the following:

"My brother Mujahideen in the path of God! What can I say to you? I say to you: our wombs have been filled with the children of fornication by those sons of apes and pigs who raped us. Or I could tell you that they have defaced our bodies, spit in our faces, and tore up the little copies of the Qur'an that hung around our necks? God is greatest! Can you not comprehend our situation? Is it true that you do not know what is happening to us? We are your sisters. God will be calling you to account about this tomorrow."

She continued,

"By God, we have not passed one night since we have been in prison without one of the apes and pigs jumping down upon us to rip our bodies apart with his overweening lust. And we are the ones who had guarded our virginity out of fear of God. Fear God! Kill us along with them! Destroy us along with them! Don't leave us here to let them get pleasure from raping us! It will be an act to ennoble the Throne of Almighty God. Fear God regarding us! Leave their tanks and aircraft outside. Come at us here in the prison of Abu Ghurayb."

The poor soul concludes with the following plea:

"I am your sister in God (Fatimah). They raped me on one day more than nine times. Can you comprehend? Imagine one of your sisters being raped. Why can't you all imagine it, as I am your sister. With me are 13 girls, all unmarried. All have been raped before the eyes and ears of everyone.

They won't let us pray. They took our clothes and won't let us get dressed. As I write this letter one of the girls has committed suicide. She was savagely raped. A soldier hit her on her chest and thigh after raping her. He subjected her to unbelievable torture. She beat her head against the wall of the cell until she died, for she couldn't take any more, even though suicide is forbidden in Islam. But I excuse that girl. I have hope that God will forgive her, because He is the Most Merciful of all.

Brothers, I tell you again, fear God! Kill us with them so that we might be at peace. Help! Help! Help! WaMu'tasimah!"

As a result of the emotional letter from Fatimah, her brother targeted the Abu Graib prison with rockets killing 68 American soldiers including Fatimah and other prisoners. At last, Fatimah's wish of welcoming death over the indignity that was brought upon her and other females by these Killers without Borders, the Americans.

In light of the crimes of these killers and the scope of their exploitation worldwide, the question to ask is what could be done. In the case of common murderers, law enforcement officials and police look for culprits and eventually bring them to face the consequences of their crimes. In this case, who is going to bring the US armed mercenary cowards to justice, and who is going to bring the people of this country at the least the 52% of them to justice and hold them accountable. The answer is simple, no one can because the victim nations do not have a comparable military force to take revenge; the United Nations-- and its coward Secretary General is instrument of the US's legitimacy. In fact, the misuse of international law and the United Nations as a rubber stamp are some of the ways the United States want to fool the world. Furthermore, the US refuses to become a signatory to the Court in Hague because the US government realizes that its soldiers and officials would be summoned to face their victims.

Thus, the alternative is to resort to improvisation, a poor man's weapon since the dawn of time. This improvisation is referred to as terrorism and the US and her allies saw to it to use the UN equally effective to tackle the issue of "terrorism."

Again, my question is what is the alternative? Let, me guess, write letters of complain, Right!! No, the only way a beast could be stopped in its tracks to force it to stop after all a beast does not listen to reason, if it cared about reason, would it commit such heinous crimes? Off course, not. Professor Ward Churchill provided the answer to this question, when he said that "the US needs more 911s."

Well, I have news to the United States and her government, you have dug a nasty deep hole for other people simply for being different, but be assured that you will end up in that hole and remain there until disintegrate. No one needs to do that; you as country are doing it to yourself. Everyone in the world is a spectator standing on the sideline, watching the last crawl of the United States until it crumbles.

Now let me touch upon the noble and selfless deeds of the Doctors without Borders and see how it stands against the actions of the Killers without Borders, the answer is simple. The actions of Doctors without Borders signify the best of humanity whereas those of the Killers without Borders are the lowest humanity could stoop to.

Yet another brilliant article by Dr Mazari, highlighting how a compromise of Pakistan's sovereignity is being very brazenly facilitated by incompetent Pakistan governmet. How the new prime minister and his cabinet views these advancements and what is their aproach towards checking this dangerous trend is yet to be seen. Indicators are not very encouraging, though. It is obvious that these dwarfs are only busy killing their time in tackling the matters of a lesser importance and are incapable of objectively assessing the present threat to Pakistan's very existence.

BY: SHIREEN M MAZARI
While the nation continues to watch the "back and forth" drama over the restoration of the judges issue, increasingly aware of where it will all end; and while the poor look beyond the judicial issue to the basics of survival in the face of rising costs of staple food and utilities; scant attention is being paid to the rapid threats to the country's sovereignty that are emerging from different quarters that are linked together in an overarching strategic partnership – that is India and the US with the UK an avid supporter. If one only examines events that took place April 23 to April 29 and connects them up, it becomes clear that either by default or by design Pakistan is in danger of losing its sovereignty.

To begin with, take the incident of April 23 when NATO forces (actually US forces) along with some Afghan soldiers attacked FC posts in Bajaur Agency. What is intriguing is the way in which this direct assault on the country's sovereignty was explained away. First we were told that it was a misunderstanding. Then some of us were told that in fact this action was in response to firing from across our side of the international Pakistan-Afghan border.

However, on exploring further it transpires that the firing from our side took place a day earlier so the violence from the US troops was not an immediate response to the firing -- although it is difficult in any case to actually assess the exact spot of the initial firing given the nature of the border. Instead, this was a pre-planned operation, conducted a day later, targeting our FC posts at a time when there were a few FC personnel on duty, and involved 600 US troops along with Afghan soldiers as well as helicopter gunships and tanks! Also, the attack continued for a fair length of time so that the FC was able to call in reinforcements -- again not simply an immediate response to fire from militants! Instead, it seems the US military deliberately targeted our paramilitary forces – to teach them some sort of "lesson".

Interestingly, this attack came a few days after reports that US commanders were seeking to widen their attacks inside Pakistan . Worse still, some of our border posts were occupied by the US-Afghan combine -- but we kept quiet and there was no contemplated retaliation. Why?

Now we hear that the peace talks with our tribal people are breaking down. Clearly a mischievous hand can be discerned, especially when one sees the bizarre story of a handbill being circulated in Peshawar inviting people to join the Taliban. The Taliban have denied the authenticity and, on this count, they are probably right because the language being used -- for instance the words "Janat ka direct ticket" -- is more in line with western advertising ruses than Taliban language! Also, the mobile number given in English makes little sense as does the fact that the handbill is in Urdu rather than in Pushto. It would appear the timing is directly an effort to sabotage the ANP's political strategy of dealing with the tribal issue and it does not take too much intelligence to understand who is indulging in such dirty tricks.

To add to efforts at our demoralisation, last week also saw the French Prime Minister declare that Pakistan will "fall" if France leaves Afghanistan ! Honestly, is this what we are being reduced to? Nor is this all. British Foreign Secretary, Milliband, who seems to find no other place to give him the sort of feel-good sense that Islamabad does, has decided to explain to the world on our behalf that "Pakistanis voted for democracy nor Talibanisation"! So are we supposed to feel more confident about ourselves after this statement?

But the British must be feeling pleased with us these days because in another clipping of our sovereignty we have now allowed the British to deploy an airline liaison officer at Islamabad airport -- in other words, the state of Pakistan has delegated its powers to Britain to block the departure of passengers from Islamabad to the UK! Is this a reciprocal renunciation of a chip of our independence? Are we going to be allowed to have similar privileges at British airports to block the travel to Pakistan of undesirables from Britain -- especially "sleeper" terrorists? Of course not! This also happened in the seven-day time period being discussed here, which seems to have been particularly good for those seeking to undermine our sovereignty as a nation.

For it was also in this period that we had former Indian National Security Adviser, Mishra, suggesting that India become part of the US-EU or NATO combine to fight terrorism in Pakistan ! This is like Pakistan suggesting we help India fight terrorism in its northeastern provinces or Hindu extremism in Gujarat ! But we do know that the US is seeking to bring India militarily into Afghanistan and one really wonders when we will react strongly to these efforts -- when it is already too late? Incidentally, the US continues to adopt its arrogantly imperial approach towards Pakistan and now we hear that despite paying the market price for the F-16s, we are not going to get the cutting edge technology India will get with its F-16s. Clearly the F-16 saga will not alter, but let us hope we are not reduced to wheat and soya beans again!

Of course, we are still going the extra mile, unilaterally, to support India on all fronts. We have now agreed in principle that India can export wheat to Afghanistan through Wagah – opening up the long sought after land route by India . Hopefully, this decision will include certain safeguards like ensuring that the transportation from Wagah to the Afghan border is done by Pakistani transporters and that India pays a transport levy. Since the decision has been taken on principle, one must wait to see how it is operationalised, but to allow India physical access through Pakistan 's sensitive areas surely cannot be contemplated. Will India allow us to transport foodstuff to Nepal through the land route from across India ?

At least some political leaders are showing a commitment to reciprocity with Mr Nawaz Sharif demanding a linkage between the Sarabjit case and the case of Pakistani prisoners languishing in Indian jails. No one seems to have shown any sensitivity to this issue at all. Even more critical, commutation of Sarabjit's death sentence to life imprisonment should first be linked to an overall decision by the state to commute all death sentences and, in fact, move to end the death penalty which does not deter most murders and only penalises the poor -- many of whom are wrongly condemned for lack of a good defence. After all, if an Indian who killed innocent Pakistanis is to live why not the poor Pakistanis rotting on death row? Is a foreign life worth more than a Pakistani life for us?

Imagine if so much of our sovereignty was chipped away in a mere seven days, how much of it has already been lost after our embrace of the US-led "global war on terror" post-9/11! Has it all been willingly done?

By GEN. (Retired)MIRZA ASLAM BAIG

The Pakistanis have foiled Washington’s plan for regime change in Islamabad . Now we have to move fast to foil a second conspiracy against Pakistan taking place in Afghanistan against our homeland. The Americans have established a huge intelligence network there to target Pakistan and a few other countries in the region. They have turned our northwestern neighbor into a free-for-all territory for smugglers, narcotic dealers, conspirators, intelligence agencies and NGOs, to operate with impunity. Pakistan has to destroy the anti-Pakistan base of operations in Afghanistan .

The people of Pakistan have succeeded in defeating the 'conspiracy for regime change' in Islamabad through their landmark mandate of Feb. 18, which, hopefully, would lead to the establishment of a sovereign parliament.

This parliament will be faced with the daunting task of defeating another dangerous conspiracy emanating from Afghanistan, which started with the occupation of Afghanistan in October 2001, when a large intelligence setup was created at Jabal-us-Seraj, north of Kabul , to provide the much needed intelligence to the occupation forces.

The areas in the north from Herat to Mazar-e-Sharif to Badakhshan are virtually under the control of the warlords.

In the south, areas bordering Pakistan are practically controlled by the Taliban, in addition to a 'free for all' territory for the smugglers, narcotic dealers, conspirators, intelligence agencies and the NGOs, to operate with impunity.

U.S. and India signed the Strategic Partnership Deal in 2005, with the declared objective of containing and curbing the rising military and economic power of China and the increasing threat of Islamic extremism in the region.

In this respect, both countries achieved harmony of interests in pursuit of these objectives. However, as the military situation worsened, attention got focused on the establishment of a large intelligence network in Afghanistan to destabilize Pakistan and other neighboring countries such as, China, Russia, Central Asian States and Iran.

It was at this time that the U.S. State Department declared that “Afghanistan, which has been part of Central Asia geopolitically, henceforth will be considered as part of South Asia .”

The implicit purpose was to bring Afghanistan within easy reach of India to use it as a base for intelligence operations against the neighboring countries.

We in Pakistan have enough information to identify this intelligence network inside Afghanistan , to accurately determine the dimensions of this Great Game.

The nerve center is at Jabal-us-Seraj, manned and operated by CIA, RAW, Mossad, MI-6 and BND (German intelligence). It’s a huge setup with concrete buildings, antennas and all the modern electronic gadgetry one can conceive of.

Country-specific outposts there are:

• Sarobi and Kandahar against Pakistan 
• Faizabad against China
• Mazar-e-Sharif against Russia and Central Asian states
• Herat against Iran

As far as Pakistan is concerned, Sarobi is the nerve center, headed by an Indian General officer, who also commands the Border Road Organization (BRO). Its forward bases are Ghazni, Khowst, Gardeyz, Jalalabad, Asadabad, Wakhan and Faizabad.

BRO has built an all-weather road from Sarobi to Asadabad to Faizabad. Sarobi network, targets the province of NWFP , Pakistan . Dissidents from Pakistan are trained at Sarobi for missions inside NWFP.

Wakhan is infested with dozens of electronic outposts covering Pakistan, China, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan .

Against Balochistan province, Kandahar has its forward bases at Lashkargah and Nawah. The dissidents from Balochistan are trained at Lashkargah for undertaking missions in Balochistan as well as in support of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). One of their tasks is to target the Chinese working in the province, particularly at Gwadar, Sandak and Hab.

The American anchorages on the Pakistani coast at Jiwani and Kalamat (The facilities at Jiwani and Kalamat were provided by Pakistan as logistic support bases to the Americans for operation in Afghanistan, but the same are now being used, to destabilize Balochistan and Iran.) jointly plan operations with BLA inside Balochistan.

They also use the Pakistani outposts at Mand for operations inside Iran . The American warships in the Arabian Sea and their intelligence base in Muscat provide the backup support.

The setup at Faizabad (Badakhshan) is against China and holds over 400 personnel mainly Muslim soldiers, engineers and workers from India . It serves as the training camp for the Chinese dissidents from the Xinjiang province of China . Indian Ulemas impart motivational education, giving the impression that the entire outfit at Faizabad was run by Pakistanis. The recently acquired facility for military deployment by India across the border in Tajikistan at Kalai Kumli adds a meaningful capability to India to operate inside Tajikistan, as well as Uzbekistan .

Against Russia , the intelligence base at Mazar-e-Sharif is run jointly by CIA, RAW, Mossad and BND. Chechen dissidents and agents from Turkmenistan are trained for operations in these countries. Rasheed Dostam and Ahmad Zia Masood are very active supporters of such activities in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan .

Against Iran, the forward base at Herat and Farah are manned by CIA, RAW and Mossad for subversive activities inside Iran . Jointly operating from these bases and the bases inside Pakistan, such as Kalamat, Jiwani and Mand, they have been able to undertake terrorist action inside Iran , killing a number of security forces personnel. The terrorist organization named Jandullah has been used for conduct of such operations inside Iran .  

The Karzai government in Kabul has granted all the main outposts of this network the status of diplomatic 'Consulates' to provide diplomatic cover for their activities, resulting into the worst kind of 'Terrorism Through Consensus' by the so-called civilized nations, in occupation of Afghanistan and the brutal violation of Afghanistan's sovereignty for this purpose.

It is surprising that after so much of suffering, as a result of this conspiracy, the government of Pakistan has woken up now to say that foreign hands are involved in the recent bomb blasts and suicide attacks. To defeat this conspiracy is the daunting task the new government and the sovereign parliament would be facing and we all hope it will stand up to the challenge.  

Mirza Aslam Baig is a former chief of army staff of the Pakistani Armed Forces.

This article is published with permission and courtsey of http://www.ahmedquraishi.com/