Swat This

The Pakistani Army commences to win hearts and minds in the Swat Valley:

Pakistan Fight Said to Cause ‘Massive Displacement’
By DEXTER FILKINS and ALAN COWELL

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A day after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani vowed to “eliminate” the Taliban militants who have taken over large parts of the country, Pakistani warplanes were reported Friday strafing targets in the contested Swat Valley northwest of the capital.

At the same time, concerns over vast displacements of civilians were rising sharply International relief agencies in Geneva said that reports from provincial authorities and the Pakistani government indicated that up to half a million people had been uprooted by the latest upsurge in violence, adding to a similar number already displaced by conflict in the area.

It is not possible to independently confirm such reports, given that reporters and aid agencies are not able to get to the area.

William Spindler, a spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, said that up to 200,000 people had arrived in safe areas over the past few days and that there could be another 300,000 on the move or about to flee areas in northwestern Pakistan.

The numbers were in addition to 555,000 counted since last August fleeing the areas of Dir, Buner and Swat, he said in a telephone interview. “We could be talking about a total of one million” since last August including the latest displaced people, he said. The figure is much higher than previously reported by international organizations.

Mr. Spindler said his office considered the provincial reports reliable.

And more from Pakistan's Prime Minister:

In a nationally televised address on Thursday, Mr. Gilani said: “To restore the honor and dignity of our homeland and to protect our people, the armed forces have been called in to eliminate the militants and terrorists.”

“We will not bow before extremists and terrorists,” he said, publicly declaring a get-tough strategy that American officials have been urging on him since he took office last year,

Islamic militants have taken control of three districts northwest of the capital, Islamabad, including Swat, where, Mr. Gilani said, the militants had reneged on a peace deal signed in February and had no one to blame but themselves.

“The militants have waged war against all segments of society,” Mr. Gilani said. “I regret to say that our bona fide intention to prefer reconciliation with them was perceived as a weakness on our part.”

The A.P. reported Friday that tens of thousands people remained in Mingora, the main city of Swat, and some said the Taliban was preventing them from leaving so as to use them as human shields.

Mr. Gilani’s speech appeared to reflect a break with the Taliban, who have been supported by elements of the Pakistan military and intelligence services since the mid-1990s. That support, which has been provided covertly, has enraged a succession of American leaders, who have helped give Pakistan’s military more than $1 billion a year since 2001.

Pakistan’s military has fought a desultory series of campaigns against the Taliban since 2004, and the militants have only grown stronger. It has never been clear the degree to which the failures of those military campaigns has been caused by incompetence, and how much by complicity. Pakistan’s army is in many respects stronger than the civilian government, and military leaders have ruled the country more often than not since its birth in 1947.

Mr. Gilani alluded to the growing impatience with the double game. “Our reputation among the international community has deteriorated, and we are labeled as terrorists,” he said.

I like the bit wondering whether the past military failures are due to incompetence or complicity.  Why not both?  The Pakistani Army is not equipped or trained for a counterinsurgency and has been allied with elements of the insurgency in joint efforts in Kashmir for years.

I DEPLORE THE AMERO-CENTRISM:  The Times concludes:

A collapse of the Pakistani state would be catastrophic for American and Western interests. The Taliban already use sanctuaries in Pakistan to attack American forces in Afghanistan. And there are fears that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of Islamic militants.

American and Western interests?  What about the reaction of India, a nuclear power that has fought Pakistm three times?  How these people can churn out article after article about Afghanistan and Pakistan without mentioning either Kashmir or India is astonishing.  How can I put this in terms they might grasp?  It would be like writing about the relationship between Israel and Syria without ever mentioning the West Bank or the Palestinians.

Comments

[GMax]

OT

In other cheerful news, I note:

Financial analysts are casting doubt on General Motors
Corp.’s ability to repay billions of dollars in U.S. government
loans, given the company’s debt load and sales outlook.
GM has acknowledged it can’t repay the U.S. loans in the
original time frame. It is proposing that the Treasury
Department accept majority ownership of the company in
exchange for wiping out about $10 billion in debt.
Discussions are ongoing.
But even with a large equity stake, the government risks
losing at least some of the $15.4 billion it has lent GM
since January, analysts said.
It would likely take years of profits and a significant appreciation
of the company’s value for the government to
recoup all of its money, analysts said. That time frame
would appear to conflict with the Obama administration’s
insistence that any government takeover of the company
be short-lived.
“Should a GM bankruptcy not proceed as the government
wishes, or demand for GM automobiles doesn’t rebound,
there is an outsized risk that the government could sustain
substantial losses,” said Joe Brusuelas, a director at
Moody’s Economy.com. He called the original decision to
lend to GM risky given the company’s condition.

[clarice]

Picky,picky,Tom. These are real international correspondents with those need khaki jackets that have all those pockets and stuff. Surely they know what they are doing.

And where would we be without international relief organizations. Do you remember all the tent cities established at the Iraq border after the invasion to handle the massive refugee crisis these folks assured us was sure to follow, along with cholera and the heartbreak of psoriasis and stuff.

[peter]

Don't worry about Pakistan or General Motors. Hope! change! It's all Bush's fault.

[clarice]

**NeAT khaki jackets***

[Rick Ballard]

Gmax,

Even better - Fannie Mae only dropped $23 billion in Q1 and the Fed is only $10 billion underwater on Maiden Lane. So far.

That's almost as exciting as the temporary census jobs puffing the total job loss numbers.

[clarice]

Well these guys had a soulful meeting yesterday with S o S wannabe John F Kerry and I'm sure he set them straight.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

“I regret to say that our bona fide intention to prefer reconciliation with them was perceived as a weakness on our part.”

Got that, Barrack?

[RichatUF]

Rick-

That's almost as exciting as the temporary census jobs puffing the total job loss numbers.

Talk like that will get you listed for a vacation up in Barrow. Remember it's a "green shoot" and the better than expected number are "jobs created and saved".

Nice to know that all that personal information is going to be collected by ACORN seeing as how they are now under investigation in Nevada and Pennsylvania.

[clarice]

Under INDICTMENT (or the states' equivalent) in Nevada and Pennsylvania.

[Rick Ballard]

Rich,

It's better than being on the ISI "enemy of the state" list that Ogabe is using for Predator targeting. Did you know that the ISI only uses "comfy chair" techniques in interrogations used to determine targeting? Honest - Speaker Pelosi says so. I sure hope the Paks are as kind and efficient in taking care of this minor internal problem as they have proven to be as participants in UN Rape and Plunder Peacekeeping Missions. I'm sure this will be resolved quickly using traditional muslim peaceable tactics such as those employed at Irbid by Hussein of Jordan.

[Danube of Thought]

Quagmire.

[RichatUF]

Rick-

Did you know that the ISI only uses "comfy chair" techniques in interrogations used to determine targeting?

I've heard that they give foot massages, and at night, sing Winnie the Pooh lullabies and tuck them into bed. Such caring folks.

[bad]

Swat This

Okay, TM, if you insist.

It just occured to me that TM may be feeling a little hurt that he hasn't been dibbed by the JOM crowd. Therefore:

DIBS ON TM!!!

[maryrose]

All these guys sound like they are a day late and a dollar short. Footage from Pakistan showed Taliban farely well entrenched and looking pretty powerful. Obama as usual is useless here and unable to promise anything because of the loony left.

[hit and run]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Group-drops-fight-against-apf-15184920.html?sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=>Group drops fight against Chrysler plan

NEW YORK (AP) -- The group of dissident Chrysler bond holders challenging Chrysler LLC's government-backed restructuring plans, said Friday that it is dropping its court fight.

Geoffrey Gwin, principal of the Group G Capital Partners LLC hedge funds, said that after weighing the obstacles ahead and along with the opposition they had faced before, the group's five remaining members realized that they couldn't mount an effective legal challenge.

"We're still opposing this and not signing the consents, but the active fight has been more challenging," Gwin said. "Everybody's going along with it."

Obama: "See, I'm starting to get the hang of this 'tough, smart diplomacy' thing."

[peter]

Hit, that is bad news indeed. So Chrysler is now owned by the thugocracy. See if I buy a Nitro or a Compass, now.

[MayBee]

Picky,picky,Tom. These are real international correspondents with those need khaki jackets that have all those pockets and stuff. Surely they know what they are doing.

Hilarious!

[GMax]

An interesting twist today. The white collar retirees of Chrysler have asked for the judge to appointed an Unsecured Creditors Committee for them. As they rightly point out, they are also retirees living on fixed income pensions and the goverment has chosen to ignore them and treat them totally different than the exact same claims of their masters the union bosses of the UAW.

If this gets picked up and trumpeted by the Press ( not holding my breath but Lou Dobbs might not think this is too kosher a pickle), Obama and minions will look even more beholden to the unions than they already do.

Go balloons, go balloons...

[MayBee]

Oh, interesting GMax. Email Lou.

It is fascinating to see 600,000 job losses a month go by the wayside, and Obama fighting like crazy to save the union (not white collar) jobs at Chrysler.

[hit and run]

600,000 job losses

aka 600,000 jobs Obama Didn't Save.

[cathyf]

Insty linked to this. It's a discussion of one of the issues in the New Deal was strengthening the bankruptcy laws to make sham sales illegal, and how the Chrysler "bankruptcy" is a classic example of the sort of cronyism and corruption that was typical of bankruptcies before the reforms.

[clarice]

And then as the WaPo reports and anyone with half a brain could have figured out:
"The U.S. government is pouring billions into General Motors in hopes of reviving the domestic economy, but when the automaker completes its restructuring plan, many of the company's new jobs will be filled by workers overseas."

[Dave]

hit and run: 600,000 job losses

aka 600,000 jobs Obama Didn't Save

Well, if you take a look at the BLS numbers:

Civilian labor force .... 154,731,000
Employment ............ 141,007,000
Unemployment .......... 13,724,000

That's 141 million jobs that Obama has saved so far!

[matt]

Obama: thuggery at its finest. We are going to watch as this fool nationalizes the entire economy and gives the choice pickings to his friends.The bankruptcy court was the last hope to find an equitable settlement.

Fiat gets 20% for nothing; the UAW gets 55% for dragging the company down, and no one says a word? what the hell is wrong with us as a country? I put up some thoughts at my blog if you're interested. LUN.

[hit and run]

NotHot: Speaking Truth to Power
NewCool: Cowering Anonymously While Letting http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i4e17d68abb9787337186a5038618057a?pn=1>Fox Do the Heavy Lifting

By and large, they personally forked out for his campaign, they voted for him, and they know he is capable of boosting TV ratings just by making an appearance.

But executives at the Big Four broadcast networks are seething behind the scenes that President Obama has cost them about $30 million in cumulative ad revenue this year with his three primetime news conference pre-emptions.

Now top network execs quietly are hoping that Fox's well-publicized rejection of the president's April 29 presser will serve as precedent for denying future White House requests for prime airtime.

"We will continue to make our decisions on White House requests on a case-by-case basis, but the Fox decision gives us cover to reject a request if we feel that there is no urgent breaking news that is going to be discussed," said one network exec, who, like all, would not speak for attribution fearing repercussions from the administration.

[Rick Ballard]

MayBee,

It's probably safer to focus on the bright ganGreen Shoot of the 60,000 ACORN thugs hired by Census. After all, their new "jobs" pay much more than the sub-minimum wage they were getting from SEIU. This action has made a lot of crack dealers very happy - won't you join in their joy?

[Bill in AZ]

Well, if you take a look at the BLS numbers:

Civilian labor force .... 154,731,000
Employment ............ 141,007,000
Unemployment .......... 13,724,000

That's 141 million jobs that Obama has saved so far!

But he promised 3.5 million jobs saved. He still has 137.5 million jobs to go, but he certainly has a good start.

[daddy]

Not to worry TM,

Next week I'll be back in China so I'll watch CCTV (Communist China TV) and RT (Russia Today), and then I'll be able to relay to you what's really going on so you don't have to simply rely on the NYTimes, CNN, BBC, etc, and we'll get the truth.

[pagar]

In just a 100 and few days, this nation has gone from the land of the free with George Bush, to a nation where every citizen lives in fear of "repercussions from the administration".

[matt]

be careful, Pagar...."Feeney, put 'im down in me black book"!

[PD]

I like how the 539,000 job loss figure is being painted by the administration as a sign that things are beginning to turn around.

Except that when you factor out the new government jobs, the figure goes to 611,000. Nice turnaround: The growth is in government, which generates no wealth, merely spends it.

[PD]

Since we're discussing New Deal parallels with today: Mark Levin refers to a paper "Great Myths of the Great Depression" (Lawrence W. Reed) in Liberty and Tryanny. [PDF]

I read it this afternoon. It takes on in succinct form (16 page) several myths such as that Hoover wasn't interventionist, and that FDR's government programs turned the economy around.

The eerie thing is how the Obama administration seems to be going full blast attempting to repeat the same actions we now know to be mistakes. And it was written in 2005, so it can't be said that Reed is trying to discredit Obama by finding these similarities deliberately.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Only scholars know that, PD. The vast majority of the American Public believes what has become eternal myth: FDR saved the US economy in the 30's. That myth sustained the dems' congressional supremacy for over 30 years and is now almost an article of faith. For those of us born in the late 30s and early 40s, the only break until 1968 was the Eisenhower Administration which had to deal with a Dem Congress for six of his eight years in office.