Galloway and Bhutto

[faceless]

I can't say whether these articles are genuine, but they make for an interesting background if they are.

[harry perkins]

faceless said,
December 29, 2007 at 1:18 am

I’m a cunt.

What did you really say?

[faceless]

I didn't say anything... it's probably just some ex-member who can't handle even the hint of a suggestion that Galloway is as not pure as the driven snow. They're probably gin-soaked though and I suppose I could just lock this section to block him, but to allow some shitebag to mess things up for others is not really my style...

Apologies btw - at first I thought you were just calling me a cunt! haha

[mickyv]

I noticed with dismay that Benazir Bhutto did support the War on Terrorism, as made clear during her last appearance on Question Time, but I wasn’t aware of her support for the war on Iraq, and I hope for GG’s sake that this is not true. Otherwise he will rightly be accused of putting friendships before principles, as he admitted that he was going to help her in her election campaign, but urges people here to deselect all those MPs that voted for the War on Iraq.

I’m somewhat concerned.

[Mandy]

I wonder if a google search for Benazir and Iraq would bring up proof of what she advocated ... Even a report from a respectable paper which states what her position was would be helpful. I did a quick search, but can't find anything quickly ..

[Mandy]

Another report below. Whilst my enemy's enemy isn't always your friend (recalling the Taleban and Russia), you can often judge someone by their enemies, and on this basis Benazir Bhutto deserved support.


http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7699

Anglo-American Ambitions behind the Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the Destabilization of Pakistan

It has been known for months that the Bush-Cheney administration and its allies have been manuevering to strengthen their political control of Pakistan, paving the way for the expansion and deepening of the “war on terrorism” across the region. The assassination of Benazir Bhutto does not change this agenda. In fact, it simplifies Bush-Cheney’s options.
Breaking News » World » Asia » Pakistan

[mickyv]

There's a very interesting piece titled " Daughter of the West" by Tariq Ali on the Site of the opening post;

http://shirazsocialist.wordpress.com/2007/12/27/daughter-of-the-west/#comment-13331

"She had returned the favour in advance by expressing sympathy for the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, lunching with the Israeli ambassador to the UN (a litmus test) and pledging to ‘wipe out terrorism’ in her own country."

[Mandy]

The Tariq Ali article was mentioned by Robert Fisk :

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article3291600.ece

Only a few days ago – in one of the most remarkable (but typically unrecognised) scoops of the year – Tariq Ali published a brilliant dissection of Pakistan (and Bhutto) corruption in the London Review of Books, focusing on Benazir and headlined: "Daughter of the West". In fact, the article was on my desk to photocopy as its subject was being murdered in Rawalpindi.

Towards the end of this report, Tariq Ali dwelt at length on the subsequent murder of Murtaza Bhutto by police close to his home at a time when Benazir was prime minister – and at a time when Benazir was enraged at Murtaza for demanding a return to PPP values and for condemning Benazir's appointment of her own husband as minister for industry, a highly lucrative post.

In a passage which may yet be applied to the aftermath of Benazir's murder, the report continues: "The fatal bullet had been fired at close range. The trap had been carefully laid, but, as is the way in Pakistan, the crudeness of the operation – false entries in police log-books, lost evidence, witnesses arrested and intimidated – a policeman killed who they feared might talk – made it obvious that the decision to execute the prime minister's brother had been taken at a very high level."

When Murtaza's 14-year-old daughter, Fatima, rang her aunt Benazir to ask why witnesses were being arrested – rather than her father's killers – she says Benazir told her: "Look, you're very young. You don't understand things." Or so Tariq Ali's exposé would have us believe. Over all this, however, looms the shocking power of Pakistan's ISI, the Inter Services Intelligence.

This vast institution – corrupt, venal and brutal – works for Musharraf.

But it also worked – and still works – for the Taliban. It also works for the Americans. In fact, it works for everybody. But it is the key which Musharraf can use to open talks with America's enemies when he feels threatened or wants to put pressure on Afghanistan or wants to appease the " extremists" and "terrorists" who so oppress George Bush. And let us remember, by the way, that Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter beheaded by his Islamist captors in Karachi, actually made his fatal appointment with his future murderers from an ISI commander's office. Ahmed Rashid's book Taliban provides riveting proof of the ISI's web of corruption and violence. Read it, and all of the above makes more sense.