Pakistan has been a trustworthy ally in the war on terror.
Only problem is that terror attacks in the UK have a link to Pakistan. 7/7 bombing had links to Madrassas in Pakistan, today there has been some arrests in Pakistan and those are linked to...the UK terror plot.
After the flip some nasty numbers on weapons sales to Pakistan..
Weapon sales to Pakistan:
Since 2002 the US has sold weapons to Pakistan, her ally in the war on terror.
I did some counting and the sales are more than $7.7bn. (These are not yet delivered but the congress is not going to stop this.)
During the same time period Saudi-Arabia has received weapons worth $4.5bn.(same source, some deals could be cancelled)
Link to the database
Feel free to search other countries.
President Bush used nice little words today: Islamic fascists
Let us see what Pakistan has been doing:
- Pervez Musharraf became the leader of Pakistan after a military coup. In 2002 he held a referendum and he won, he became the legal ruler of Pakistan. He also kept his leadership in the army.
- In 2003 there was two attacks but Musharraf survived, the assasins missed his convoy.
- In 2004 Musharraf pardoned a nukular scientist who helped to sell nuke tech to such great nations as North korea, Iran and Libya.
- in 2004 He ordered 1400 foreign Madrassa students to leave
Pakistan is between a rock and a pile of cash. Every now and then they have operations against extremists, they clened the religious schools, they did send troops to waziristan and they have been participating in the war on terror. On the other hand, it seems that there are some links to the attacks in the UK, have those religious schools remained "clean", is the Pakistani secrets service really trying to fight Al Qaida ( or similar groups)?
BBC:
Sources told the BBC the "principal characters" suspected of being involved in the plot were British-born, and some have links to Pakistan.
A senior Pakistani security official told the AFP news agency that Pakistani intelligence agencies helped British authorities foil the plot.
Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said: "Pakistan played a very important role in uncovering and breaking this international terrorist network.
Close relations, but it troubles me.
Now, let's see how the freedom lovin' works:
State department
Security force personnel continued to torture persons in custody throughout the country. Human rights organizations reported that methods used included beating; burning with cigarettes; whipping the soles of the feet; prolonged isolation; electric shock; denial of food or sleep; hanging upside down; and forced spreading of the legs with bar fetters. Officials from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) estimated 5,000 cases of police torture annually; the Lawyers for Human Rights and Legal Aid Madadgaar Project recorded 1,101 cases of torture during the year.
Amnesty
Arbitrary arrests and detentions in the context of the "war on terror" continued. Several people reportedly "disappeared". In the tribal areas, arbitrary arrests and possible extrajudicial executions were reported during security operations. The government failed to control sectarian violence which cost hundreds of lives. The blasphemy laws continued to be used to prosecute members of minorities. Government initiatives to improve protection of rights of women and juveniles provided only limited relief. Some children continued to be prosecuted as adults. At least 394 people were sentenced to death and 15 were executed.
Hmmm..nice people? would you sell these guys any weapons?
The current problem in Pakistan seems to be that there are people who would like to kill/remove the current President. He has been using the current terrorism situation to justify some of his actions but how popular is he? I have no idea, if he dies, we all are in trouble.
If the extremists are succesful, what then? Pakistan has nukes, they have plans to build more( a new plant could create 40-50 per year). What do you think? What should be done?
(source for the f-16 Here)