Today we see one of the best examples of the maxim: “Watch what you wish for, you just might get it”. It has to be the best example I have seen in quite a while. What is really interesting about the example is how it parallels the US elections in 2006 and 2008 on the issue of terrorism, and how it is a preemptive example of how bad things can turn out if the wrong choices are made in selecting our leaders.

Much of the world is war-weary, but weariness and impatience are the worst reasons to suspend or stop military activity. They signal weakness and the potential to be defeated, which only brings stepped up attacks and more human carnage. The other maxim to keep in mind through all of this is: “Peace through strength”. Both lessons are being re-taught right now in Pakistan.

When President Musharraf was running things in Pakistan the liberal SurrenderMedia went all out for his opposition, saying military force was not the answer, that we could negotiate with the terrorist thugs who assassinate non-believers (it still amazes me there are so many suicidal fools out there who believe this nonsense). I blogged about this insanity on November 15th, 2007, when there were calls to overthrow the Pakistan government in order to surrender it to the Islamists:

For all her rhetoric about fighting extremism, for example, there is no reason to imagine that a Bhutto-led civilian government will make any more headway than Musharraf in the unpopular military campaign he is waging for the US in the Talibanised tribal areas. However, if Hasan proves over-optimistic and Musharraf digs in with American support, the possibility of a wider popular uprising is likely to grow – and with it, the chance of real and necessary political change.

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Despite having insisted earlier this year that she would do no such thing, she has even appealed to the leader of the country’s Islamist coalition, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, to join a common front against the dictatorship.

This was before Bhutto was assassinated by the very forces some wanted her to appease. Her failure to follow the Islamists plan probably cost her her life. In any event, the appeasers won the elections in Pakistan this year, ousting the pro-US forces and the pro-Taliban forces. It seemed peace would be just around the corner as promises were made to “end the fighting”, echoing the disastrous policy of the US democrats to end the war in Iraq by retreating as fast as possible.

Now we are seeing the fruits of all this appeasement in Pakistan, and it is uglier than even I would have predicted. The appeaser got what they wanted, and now are probably wondering what they were thinking they could realistically do.  

Instead of creating peace, the Pakistan militants sensed the weakness of the appeasers elected to office and began a two-front campaign. The first front was faux efforts at a peace deal, completely in line with the example Hitler used on Neville Chamberlain to delay military action and sanctions until Hitler was ready to make his military moves on his terms. This weekend the facade of peace was torn down as the militants massacred those who stood for peace, and began an invasion of Pakistani territory in the Northwest Province:

Pakistan’s top Taliban commander suspended peace talks with the government Saturday as troops launched an offensive against militants threatening the country’s main northwestern city.

The announcement by Baitullah Mehsud, accused by authorities of orchestrating the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, came as a severe blow to the new government’s policy of negotiating with the rebels.

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“We are suspending peace talks with the government because the government is constantly using force against us,” Mehsud told AFP by satellite telephone from his stronghold in the South Waziristan tribal district.

“The government is not showing any seriousness and is using force against us. But if the government takes any military action we are also ready for martyrdom,” Mehsud said.

Mehsud had announced a unilateral ceasefire in April.

Of course this is all lies and deceits to keep the naive and gullible immobilized. The truth is the Taliban are cornered and trying to make a break out move – not coincidentally timed to reap news headlines in the US during an election year. The proof of the lie is in Baitullah’s massacre of Muslim leaders:

Witnesses said troops were patrolling the street in the volatile Khyber district, which has been in the virtual control of militants loyal to local Islamist leader Mangal Bagh.

The troops’ mobilisation followed a series of attacks on police and local tribesmen by the militants vowing to establish Taliban-style rule in the area.

“We have moved paramilitary troops to clear the area of militants and establish the writ of the government,” a senior security official told AFP.

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Mehsud’s followers executed 22 pro-government elders and dumped their bodies by a roadside on Wednesday after abducting them during clashes for control of the town.

Now the Pakistan forces are being mobilized to stop the flood of Taliban fighters coming out of FATA and into the neighboring NWFP:

Peshawar — literally ‘High Fort’ in Persian — now stands encircled. Haji Mangal Bagh Afridi controls most of what is west of Peshawar. Dara Adam Khel, a mere 35 kilometres south of Peshawar, is controlled by Baitullah Mehsud’s loyalists. Charsadda and Shabqadar, both less than 30 kilometres north of Peshawar, are controlled by Commander Umar Khalid, TTP’s (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) leader in Mohmand agency. Two weeks ago, Javed Aziz Khan of The News reported that Sheikhan, Sarband, Regi and Nasir Bagh were under Mangal Bagh’s absolute control while Mathra, Michni, Daudzai and Khazana were under Umar Khalid’s control.

What is the real plan? Is the ‘High Fort’ being surrounded with the intent of an assault? After all, Pakistan army’s XI Corp — some 60,000 soldiers — commanded by the brave Lieutenant-General Masood Aslam is headquartered in Peshawar …

The situations is reported to be near critical levels:

“The security situation in Peshawar is grim. Officials in the home department, who evaluate the situation on an almost daily basis, believe declaring a state of red alert is now only a matter of time,” Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported on Tuesday.

“With militants knocking at the gates of the capital of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), even the more circumspect government and police officials now grudgingly concede that Peshawar, too, could fall in a few months.

“‘Peshawar is in a state of siege and if Peshawar falls, the rest of the districts in the NWFP would fall like ninepins’, a worried senior government official told Dawn.”

The Pakistan military and security organizations are supposedly poised to act, yet they seem to be awaiting orders from a new and paralyzed civilian government that arrogantly assumed it could appease the terrorists with smooth talk and lots of carrots.

Whatever the specifics, the current situation in Pakistan, thanks to liberal appeasers to stop the fighting and to bring peace, is they have wrought just the opposite. The militants played them like the fools they are, as the military backed off and gave the militants time to regroup AND execute a counter-offensive, now threatening one of Pakistan’s main cities.

This is what we would have seen in Iraq if we had followed the suicidal ideas of the liberal, democrat congress in 2007. Instead, our President shifted tactics by exploiting the rift between Muslims and the Islamists at every turn, and increased our troop strength so we could assist the moderate Muslims in purging their areas of the militants.

But we are not free and clear yet. al-Qaeda, while severely diminished, is not quite destroyed. And still, with examples galore that the West has nothing to offer the Islamists in any negotiated peace, we see another line up of dupes who naively think all we need to do is lower our weapons and stop our efforts and the militants will sue for peace. The whole thing reminds me of the movie Independence Day, where it takes world leaders way too long to realize there is no option for negotiated peace. Islamists want us dead and gone, that is the only result they will accept.

 

 

And every time we blink, hesitate or rest our enemies see an opening, a weakness or an opportunity. Think about it – they massacre their fellow Muslims to demonstrate their resolve and impose their will! What kind of fool does it take to think Islamists will negotiate and co-exist peacefully with the Great Satan America or its allies when it will sacrifice its own kind? These people do not feel the need to tell the truth to non-believers. In fact they feel it is OK to completely lie in order to vanquish their enemies. Fools who think otherwise are just demonstrating why Darwin was right, for some extinction is wired right into their DNA. They have no choice but to fail.

Update: Now reality finally emerges, the reality that we are at war with a dangerous, determined, lying enemy:

With Islamic militants tightening their grip around Peshawar, kidnapping residents and threatening the city itself, the new coalition government of Pakistan delivered its first military response to the Islamists on Saturday.

The action was limited, with security forces shelling territory outside Peshawar held by an extremist leader. Army forces were not used, and the intent apparently was merely to push the militants back from the city’s perimeter.

But the shelling was the first time the new civilian government, which has been committed to negotiating peace accords with Pakistani Taliban and other Islamic militants, resorted to military action.

Will this be a real action or more half-hearted efforts, reminiscent of another liberal disaster waged under Clinton in Somalia? Are we learning yet?

Update: Well, some initial progress in the Khyber Agency. As usual, once you clean an area of militant scum you find the horror that is militant Islam.

Tags: al-Qaeda, Baitullah Meshud, Iraq, Pakistan, Peshawar, Taliban