I read somewhere on the web (now I can't find the link) that Harry Reid basically endorsed the implication by Frances Fragos Townsend that the US would be justified in launching attacks on Pakistan in order to strike Al Qaeda targets.
I don't have time to look up all of the relevant news stories as I have to go to bed soon. Likewise, I won't be able to respond to comments for the same reason. But I thought this would be important to put out into the Dkososphere because some of you apparently do get it, tho from what I can tell most of you don't - just like Harry Reid.
What is there to get? Pakistan is a sovereign country. We have not declared war against Pakistan, nor should we. Attacking Pakistan, even for the noble purpose of targetting Al Qaeda is an act of war plain and simple.
I've made this analogy before, but I'll use it again since it's such a good one: if Spain decided to launch air or missile strikes on a US suburb, even if it were the noble purpose of targetting terrorists, we would rightly be shitting bricks, and likely taking at least defensive military action against whatever weapons Spain points our way.
Why is this concept so hard for Reid to understand?
Why is this concept so hard for some of you to understand?
I think it may just have to do with the imperial mindset that has insidiously imbued at least a large subset of the collective consciousness of this nation. So now some of us have the feeling that we can do whatever we want to others, even things that would send us into coniption fits if those same things were done by others to us.
The fact that Reid doesn't get it furthers the notion that there is little difference between the Democratic leadership and BushCo. One certainly gets a sense of that when one of the most progressive senators (Feingold) only goes so far as to call for Censure, and even that is poopooed by the Dem leadership (Reid).
Reid, please at least think twice before you support anything the Bush administration supports. The fact of Bush administration support should raise red flags for any issue.
The American public should be intelligent enough to know why attacking Pakistan is not a reasonable option. Reid shouldn't have to worry about appearing "soft on terrorism."
The most effective thing we can do against AlQaeda is to stanch the flow of angry young Muslims who wish to join their cause. And the way to do that is to stop engaging in policies that kill, maim, and otherwise alienate large segments of ME Muslim society. It's really that simple. We could end the terrorism problem tomorrow. For whatever reason, we continually choose not to.