Biden: White House has put the country in a tough spot on Pakistan

[babylonsister]

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/biden-white-house-has-put-the-country-in-a-tough-spot-on-pakistan-2007-11-04.html

Biden: White House has put the country in a tough spot on Pakistan
By Klaus Marre Posted: 11/4/07 12:26 p.m.
November 04, 2007

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on Sunday criticized the Bush administration’s Pakistan policy after Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended his country’s constitution and began a crackdown on opposition leaders.

Biden, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, said that he got the impression following a briefing with Bush administration officials that the White House does not have “any notion of what they’re going to do right now.”

The senator chided the administration for having a Musharraf policy and not a Pakistan policy. This, Biden argues, has left the White House and the country “in a tough spot” and its hands tied “pretty well.”

The Delaware Democrat has repeatedly pointed to the importance of Pakistan to U.S. national security, making the case that instability in Pakistan could lead to an extremist regime seizing power of a country that is in possession of nuclear weapons.

“We have a huge stake, a huge stake, in seeing to it that the moderate majority in Pakistan have a political outlet,” Biden said on CBS’ Face the Nation.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/biden-white-house-has-put-the-country-in-a-tough-spot-on-pakistan-2007-11-04.html

[seemslikeadream]

1. White House does not have “any notion of what they’re going to do right now.”

Did they ever?

[Inuca]

6. This is the first thing that jumped at me too

You would have thought that they had enough time to consider the possibility of something like this happening, evaluate alternative courses of action, etc. Not to mention tried to deal with the whole situation during the last several years in a way that might have PREVENTED this explosive situation from happening in the first place. The ineptitude and malfeasance is beyond what my meager words (but huge outrage) ca express. Pakistan: no oil, powder keg, nukes. Iran: oil, relatively stable (in terms of what "stable" means in that region), no nukes (maybe in the future, but not now). Guess where the focus has been. These people are criminally insane and criminally incompetent and just plain criminal.

[gateley]

11. Right on, Inuca! nt

[Evergreen Emerald]

2. That is pretty much what Dodd said on CNN

We are destroying the middle east. ARe we bungling it or is there a specific (oil) reason the neo-cons want upheavel in the middle east? I swear they are building WWIII

[Lucinda]

8. I dont think its just oil

I think its more than oil for junior. I really think he/they think they are doing their part in the "end times"

[Eurobabe]

3. This administration has no idea what good foreign policy even is...

Less than 442 days left for these fucknuts. Can't come soon enough that we get someone in as President who 1) cares 2) has a grasp of FP.

[jillan]

4. How can we not elect this man President?

He has been warning us that we should be worrying more about Pakistan than Iran.
He warned us the day before 9/11 that if the US gets attacked that it would not be from a missle....but could come from the belly of a plane.
And he is also warning us that the next President will have no margin for error, that the next President better know more than his advisors.
I have never been so certain about a candidate before in my entire life.

[Froward69]

5. Nor I have ever been so certain

if bushy had not fucked things up so badly, I might not be paying so much attention. Our country Depends on us selecting the best possible candidate. This Time around its Joe Biden.

[jillan]

7. He is the right man for right now. No other candidate comes close.

Dodd is probably next as he is the #2 Dem on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

And I'm with you, the reason I started paying attention is because of the idiot in chief. :grr:

[ryanmuegge]

14. Global Empire Maintenance Committee would probably be a more appropriate name.

Bush's policies aren't so much different as a potential Democratic president, they are just more brazenly aggressive and stupid.

We need a real change and new blood, rather than just electing the same people who have been in Congress for 30 years.

[niyad]

9. did anybody hear that moran ono cnn this moring, talking about why pakistan is

important--my personal favourite was that pakistan is democratic-- although musharef seized power, he was democratically elected, and we like to foster such democracy.

(funny, hugo chavez is democratically elected, and bushco doesn't want to work with him)

[gateley]

12. What makes my blood run cold is that there are a lot more morans out there

who believe this crap.

[DCKit]

15. From Bill Maher two weeks ago (won't quote, just the gist)

Bill Maher: But Putin has an 80% approval rating.
Gary Kasparov: How do you know (since Putin is in full control off the media)?

[fujiyama]

20. Democratically elected with a Saddam like 99%

where the opposition boycotted the "election".

[gateley]

10. Thanks so much! I've been WAITING to hear what Biden would say about this

situation. A couple of things really stand out for me:

...said that he got the impression following a briefing with Bush administration officials that the White House does not have “any notion of what they’re going to do right now.”

- We know that, which is why we're not paying any attention to what Bush/Rice are saying.

..."But what I worry about is that the total degeneration of that country,” Biden added. “And who knows what will come out of the military as well if this thing gets really out of hand?”

- Didn't the Pentagon say -- essentially -- that this isn't that big of a deal? This is ANOTHER reason why I want Biden in the WH - he will tell us what we're really dealing with, and we deserve to know.


Edit to say:
...said that he got the impression following a briefing with Bush administration officials that the White House does not have “any notion of what they’re going to do right now.
Just have to point out again how Biden tells it like it is - didn't couch his sentiment in less inflammatory words.

[BootinUp]

13. A few things

Its a huge mess. In fact Pakistan has been one for a long time.
The Administration favors elections, and I'll bet Joe is in agreement with that.
Has the Administration fucked up? Probably, but its not clear to me that instability would not have resulted no matter what President was in the Whitehouse. After all, the internal politics in Pakistan are primarily affected by Pakistanis.

[gateley]

16. Good points. I can't help but feel, though, that a Biden WH would have been

much more SENSITIVE and aware of the shifting sands (as it were) and making adjustments along the way.

My impression is that Bushco is like "Pakistan, got it covered, Musharraf is our guy! Next?"

[ginchinchili]

17. Except for this point, and it's a point that Biden brought up today on FTN

what happens in the rest of the Middle East affects Pakistan, in particular, our invasion of Iraq. Had we just focused on overthrowing the Taliban and going after bin Laden, the rest of the world, including most of the Middle East, would understand why and, in most respects, applaud it. By invading Iraq, killing tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in the process, and threatening military action against Iran gives the hardliners in Pakistan a very potent card to play. Musharraf is seen as a friend to the U.S., is supported by the U.S., the U.S. is appearing to be in the process of conquering Islamic countries, and Musharraf has just declared martial law, seen by many as a 2nd coup. So Bush's foreign policy really has made our job of advocating a democratic Pakistan dominated by moderates much more difficult. His policies could end up forcing an alliance between moderates and hardliners in an Islamic country that has nuclear weapons. All of this was pointed out by Sen. Biden on Face the Nation today.

[BootinUp]

18. I agree that the Iraq

invasion along with Musharraf's cooperation with the US weakened Musharraf politically. That is a very valid point.

[fujiyama]

21. Pakistan has a history of this - that much is true

Pakistan has a history of coups, extreme corruption, and military dictators.

But Mushy is the only hope the Bushies have there - and they've given his country 11 billion dollars+ to help "fight terrorism". He's been playing this administration (and the West in general) for a bunch of fools.

And BTW, do you seriously believe the administration cares about elections in Pakistan? This is posturing. The republicans would always favor a puppet dictator than anything else. The administration's condemnation of MUshy's constant power grabs is a joke. What the hell is "this is regrettable" supposed to mean?

So, while I think much of this is due to internal instability, Bush hasn't PROBABLY fucked up. Like everything, he fucked up - and did so big.

[BootinUp]

22. I don't think

BushCo supports his latest move, no. Sure they will support a military dictator if that is the best option (always huh?). But its pretty clear that the country would be more stable with increased participation from the opposition party.

Skepticism is good, but I think you are going a bit too far there, lol.

[fujiyama]

25. Do you really think Bush cares about this?

It doesn't matter if they actively support this or not. As long as Bush's man is in power, this matters very little. Condi more or less said, this is a great distraction from Iraq.

And nine times out of ten, I'll guarantee you the US would rather back a military dictator over a democratic one if the situation threatens US corporate interests or hegemony in even the slightest way.

[BootinUp]

26. No it was one of her aides

that was reported to have said that. I think Condi is trying lately. But I'm sure we will know more over the next week or so whether you are correct. The issue in Pakistan is not US corporate interests as far as I know.

[Inuca]

19. For those who did not get a chance to watch

here is the link to the page that links to both a transcript and the video from this morning's Face the Nation with Biden.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/04/ftn/main3450393.shtml

[democrat2thecore]

23. He came across very presidential.

Ready to assume the office and get to work.

[gateley]

24. Thank you for the link. This is important to watch - Biden supporter or not -

as it explains a little more what the situation is in Pakistan.

[murbley40]

27. K&R