Saturday, January 14, 2006 US Attacks Pakistan?! (link)(link)
If Pakistan is really an ally country, you'd think the U.S. would at least get permission before launching airstrikes on villages in Pakistan. It's possible they did get permission and Pakistan is denying it to stave off popular opposition, but it doesn't look like it. And riots too! This type of action probably creates many more terrorists than it kills. Sad.
Update: This really sounds like a cover up. (link)
So now, Pakistan and the U.S. have declared that foreign terrorists were indeed killed in this attack even though no foreign bodies have been found and no eye witnesses in the village of Damadola where the attack took place have said that foreigners were present. U.S. and Pakistani officials, who weren't even there, are claiming the bodies of four foreign terrorists were secretly dragged away from the scene of the attack by their compatriots, based on the report of their "joint investigation team". But if they had real forensic evidence of their claim, you'd think they would say so... Who should we believe?
Clearly, the U.S. and Pakistani officials have an interest in claiming foreign terrorists were killed: The U.S. because it justifies their uninvited cross border assault on a defenseless Pakistani village that killed many innocent civilians; the Pakistanis, because the huge riots this attack has sparked have damaged the government's credibility with the people. By claiming terrorists were killed, Pakistan can hope to weaken the argument made increasingly by Pakistani political hardliners that the Musharoff government is a U.S. lapdog, and should be toppled.
To be fair, the residents of Damadola have an interest in claiming no terrorists were present, as they have all claimed, because to do otherwise would make it seem as if they were willingly harboring terrorists. But still, they were clearly the witnesses and deserve a bit more credibility than the "Pakistani provincial authorities" cited in the article. We'll see how this develops.
Final Update: Hey look. I was right. It really was a hoax. The supposedly dead terrorists have just resurfaced. The idiots in the white house who cooked this story up should have known this would happen! (link)
I can only imagine what this sort of fiasco does to Pakistani public sentiment. It should be a reality check for our media outlets, who packaged this "terrorists killed" story as a virtual fact, then came back with egg on their face, vindicating Arab media sources that were more doubtful. Our media is constantly trying to perpetuate the view that Arab media sources don't report the truth to the people. When something like this happens, it should make us stop and think whether our media sources are really much more credible than theirs. Of course, I still think they are, but I can't imagine why anyone in Pakistan should after an incident like this.
I wonder if this will spark more riots... The sad part is it might take more riots for this story to make the front page of U.S. newspapers, even though the initial false tales of terrorists killed were plastered across newspapers.
