Sins of omission and sins of commission haunt Bush in Pakistan-McClatchy

Commentary: Sins of omission and sins of commission haunt Bush in Pakistan
Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/v-print/story/24095.html

last updated: January 02, 2008 03:36:46 PM

In the real world, there are consequences. For every action there’s a reaction, and often even inaction triggers a reaction.

The unfolding disaster in Pakistan in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is in part a reaction to a series of inactions and actions by the Bush administration during the last six years.

Bush and Company took their eyes off the ball and became preoccupied with the sideshow of their own creation in Iraq as things went sideways and backward in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Then they outsourced much of the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda to Pakistani Pres. Pervez Musharraf.
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A relatively small group of U.S. special operators rented enough tribal leaders and their armies and, backed by American air power, were able to topple the Taliban government and put al Qaeda on the run. A force of only 7,000 U.S. Army and Marine troops went in to chase the bad guys.
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Benign neglect is a dangerous policy in the badlands along the Afghan-Pakistani border, where the bleached bones of invading armies litter the mountain passes and the inhospitable deserts. Rudyard Kipling, the poet laureate of the British Indian Army, had this to say on the subject:

“When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains,

And the women come out to cut up your remains,

Just roll to your rifle and blow out your brains,

And go to your God like a soldier.”