"In all, about 335 American personnel — C.I.A. officers and contractors and Special Operations forces — were being asked to leave the country, said a Pakistani official closely involved in the decision.
It was not clear how many C.I.A. personnel that would leave behind; the total number in Pakistan has not been disclosed. But the cuts demanded by the Pakistanis amounted to 25 to 40 percent of United States Special Operations forces in the country, the officials said. The number also included the removal of all the American contractors used by the C.I.A. in Pakistan." NY Times
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(Irony Alert) What's the matter with those people in Pakistan? Don't they understand that the US decides for them what will or will not be? Sovereignty? We dealt with that idea in Iraq. Didn't we?
To quote Christopher Matthews (is that still his name?) a few years back, "Who is in charge in Iraq, Us or them?"
Well, soon they will "sober up" (sort of) and realize who is in charge. Petraeus will fix all this. pl
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/world/asia/12pakistan.html
"Dissidence" OR "Dissonance"?
Posted by: William R. Cumming | 13 April 2011 at 02:16 AM
Pakistan is a terrorist country it supports terrorists for a long time against India so no other country will believe that country. The U.S. only supports Pakistan for its own benefits after that America will not support Pakistan in any circumstances.
Posted by: prasad | 13 April 2011 at 06:22 AM
China and Pakistan vis a vis India and US? Is this now the scenario? And if not now when, if ever?
My problem is that historic opportunity to help Pakistan with its endemic problems of development and even post-disaster reconstruction were largely wasted and ignored by Washington?
We (US) really don't get "it" do we? The "it" being the need to supply more than weaponry and CIA agent provocateurs to our "Friends"!
Personally I had the ability to do it I would take back some of the trillions from the banking and FIRE sector doled out by the FED and Treasury and send it to the multilateral development agencies and beef up AID! If return on investment is the key then the FIRE sector does not need more homes on the beach. Mother Nature will take care of those anyhow. No federal flood insurance for second homes.
Posted by: William R. Cumming | 13 April 2011 at 09:03 AM
FB Ali,
The US should certainly take the Pakistani military's offer and leave(both Afghanistan and Pakistan), however too many within the US government bureaucracy are locked into the status quo and thus can not or will not change positions. That, I believe, is the cost of 'civil servants' that the Col. was referring too.
Posted by: Fred | 13 April 2011 at 09:26 AM
Mark & WRC
“Cognitive Dissonance” is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously.
"Cognitive Dissidence” is a phrase my old fart’s mind pulled out to try to describe the conflict in DC which is all smoke and fog. The Politicians of both parties are the best that money can buy. They all are working for the same paymasters. The real issues of the forever wars and collapse of the American Middle Class are never acknowledged let alone discussed. The intention of Corporate Media Pundits, the Ryan Budget and President Obama if he agrees to dismantle Medicare is to screw Americans harder so Corporations and the Wealthy can get a larger tax cut and America can continue to fight Islam forever as it falls apart internally.
Posted by: VietnamVet | 13 April 2011 at 11:20 AM
Sicne Pakistan want's to be the "big kid on the block", why don't we propose:
The US will summarily withdraw all military and most CIA from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pakistan would now own the problem.
Do what you will in Afghanistan, BUT we keep active intelligence/surveillance just to make sure that you (Pakistan) maintain control.
Posted by: graywolf | 13 April 2011 at 01:04 PM
If the US pulls out of Afghanistan/Pakistan, the ISI will then turn the Taliban on India, and the US will have lost its bargaining chip to restrain India. There will likely be a big, big war. Probably nuclear.
Posted by: TamBram | 13 April 2011 at 01:19 PM
In a state of distress over our follies in Pakistan, we may relieve the pain by shifting our neurological attention to Iraq, It's the technique of ignoring a hammered thumb by hammering another digit. Prospects in Iraq carry the added promise of hilarious doings even more entertaining than those provided by master agent pigment challenged 'Kim' Davis.
In a few months, the United States' imperial embassy in Baghdad will have roughly 16,000 armed 'men' at its disposal. The combined force of hired guns, CIA field operatives, and serving personnel relabelled trainers/mediators/ reconciliation experts is slated to be under the operational command of a retired Marine Colonel (evidently a specialist in performing those off-beat missions). He shall be reporting through the Ambassador to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. We henceforth may refer to this motley army as 'Hillary's Hordes." That should resonate among the natives who developed a considerable respect for other 'Hordes' 750 years ago. I presume that as of January 1, Commander Hillary will habitually appear in public wearing the camaflouge outfit that keeps today's crops of commander invisible to the skeptical eye. When testifying before Congress, she could add six or seven rows of multi-hued ribbons - color coordinated.
MBrenner
Posted by: Michael Brenner | 13 April 2011 at 01:19 PM
“Cognitive Dissonance” is an uncomfortable feeling caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously
Uncomfortable? An acquired taste. If you aren't experiencing it, you aren't paying attention.
[/frivol]
Cognitive Dissidence is related to Faustian Bargain buyer's remorse.
Posted by: rjj | 13 April 2011 at 01:52 PM
Pete Deer
I agree. There is a madcap aura about government today that the coyote seems to represent. I suppose the RR represents the implacable chaos of the universe? pl
Posted by: Patrick Lang | 13 April 2011 at 02:03 PM
Re "In a few months, the United States' imperial embassy in Baghdad will have roughly 16,000 armed 'men' at its disposal"
For comparison, that equals:
- more than twice the size of the Royal (UK) Marines
- more than half of the entire armies of both Australia and the Netherlands
-just under the number of men in the Continental Army
Posted by: Twit | 13 April 2011 at 04:25 PM
How about “Cognitive Deliquesence” to represent the fading of effective thought into the smoke and fog of politics which seems more and more to be regarded as a substitute for - or at least preferable to - reality.
Mark
Posted by: Frabjous | 13 April 2011 at 05:19 PM
Cognitive dissonance is a polite name for "doublethink" - the ability to hold Two mutually contradictory ideas - and believe both are true.
One can easily do this after neurolinguistics training by "framing". It helped me a lot dealing with lawyers and venture capitalists.
Posted by: walrus | 13 April 2011 at 05:38 PM
I prefer 'Cognitive Dissidents': people who are smart enough to see what is being perpetrated, and refuse to join in screwing the pooch, even though it's all the rage these days.
Posted by: Roy G | 13 April 2011 at 10:10 PM
Plan to bleed the US a little like the Soviets: http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/04/15/choking_off_pakistan_us_relations
Posted by: Arun | 15 April 2011 at 04:25 PM