A DEADLY REGION FACES MORE VIOLENCE

The assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan was a sad turn of events in an already deadly region. Her challenge to current dictator, and president, Pervez Musharraf was publicly welcomed by the U.S. even though the Bush administration has long been a backer of Musharraf. In Pakistan the popular resistance calls their president Busharraf in order to acknowledge the close connections between Pakistan and the U.S.

The U.S. has long been providing Pakistan with high-tech weapons systems which has only made neighboring India more insecure as they see their border rival armed to the teeth. The U.S. response has of course been to sell India even more weapons thus creating a regional nightmare.

Bhutto was a polarizing figure who served two turbulent tenures as prime minister, first from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996.

We are told that she was attempting to save her homeland from military rule and the madness that has torn apart Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, by the Western created Islamic mujaheddin originally funded to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan.

The new film "Charlie Wilson's War" glorifies the U.S. role in Afghanistan as best as I can make out. Admittedly I've not yet seen the movie but it appears to make a hero out of Wilson's role in organizing Congressional covert funding of the Afghan mujaheddin and Pakistan's intelligence service (ISI). Read this review of the film by Chalmers Johnson:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/29863

The Bush administration has been a staunch supporter of Musharraf, providing his regime with over $10 billion in financial aid since 2001. Musharraf's use of U.S. funds to crack down on the country's democratic forces has led to growing anti-American sentiments among the nation's moderate, secular forces.

One likely consequence of the Bhutto assassination is greater militarization and fragmentation of Pakistan and Afghanistan, including more U.S. and NATO troops to "suppress" fundamentalist terrorism.

Thus the Bhutto assassination will sadly help to prepare the American people for expanded U.S. operations in Pakistan.

Democratic party presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama has been saying for some time that the U.S. should shift its focus from Iraq to become more involved in the internal problems inside Pakistan. In a statement yesterday following the killing of Bhutto, Obama said, "I've been saying for some time that we've got a very big problem" in Pakistan. "We were distracted from focusing on them."

News reports in recent days have been predicting that early next year U.S. special forces will vastly expand their presence in Pakistan to train and support counter-insurgency units. This will sink the U.S. further into the quagmire and it is likely that both major political parties in the U.S. will back such an explosive policy.

Militarists in the south Asia region have gained the upper hand. That means more weapons, more violence, and loss of democracy. The U.S., once again, seems eager to offer its own prescription for stability - endless war.

The obvious links to fossil fuel extraction and pipeline routes in this region cannot be ignored. This is what drives U.S. policy today. Unfortunately for the people in the region they will continue to suffer due to the fact of where they happen to live.