Irony dies when a bomb in a car kills 23 Lahore shoppers and wounds over 300. This constant war, which kills poor people, will not go on forever . . .
. . ., and when the world becomes just, those who died will be reckoned as righteous war dead, not just victims (which they were, horribly). They were just trying to live like I do, like we do, in an urban milieu where difference is tolerated, where men and women go outside openly to a market, converse without fear, put on or take off coverings as they wish.
We are with you, Pakistan, fighting for the rule of law and the attempt at intellectual mastery of our problems, the attempt to maintain equal rights for all citizens, the respect for religious pluralism, your court system, your people not ready to give in and permit the rule of the clerisy and the armed young men in their thrall. You are on the front lines. We are wounded with you.
There is a war out there, it is a slow burning war, it is not over. Only because we had a foolish and culpable administration for eight years, shot ourselves in the foot over and over, violated the principles we're fighting for, pretended the violations were no big deal, overreacted and overreached, killed thousands . . .
Doesn't mean we are lost to you. We're with you still.