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attaboy

I came across this news flash while listening to National Public Radio (NPR). From the audio:


World
Pakistan Investigates Girl's Flogging By Taliban

by Philip Reeves
Listen Now [4 min 30 sec] add to playlist


Morning Edition, April 7, 2009 · Pakistan's Supreme Court has ordered an investigation into the public flogging of a teenage girl by the Taliban, which was caught on video. The incident happened in Pakistan's Swat Valley, where the government is forging a peace deal with the Taliban. The flogging has ignited a debate over whether the authorities should be making peace with the militants, and whether that kind of cruel punishment may spread across the country.


Pakistan Investigates Girl's Flogging By Taliban : NPR

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As a kid I always thought my nickname was "attaboy" until I realized they were rooting for the dog: "Attaboy, get 'em! Get 'em!".

Butterfly

there is only one option to deal with the Talibans,

it's their total destruction,

they would have been gone by now, if the US and their allies weren't distracted with that unnecessary war in Iraq,

speak of strategic stupidity, opening two losing fronts at the same time

blackgang

Well fuck Bfly, didn't they check with you before they went in??
I know they were looking for you, maybe you were to interested in that new ladyboy you had been snorting and they couldn't catch ya.. solly cholly.

Jet Gorgon

So, the French are there to clean this mess up, then?

Boon Mee

No worries: once they take over Pakistan, BO will sit down and talk with them without preconditions, and straighten everything out.

"Taliban turn children into live bombs," from the Daily Times, April 23

HermantheGerman

Have to agree with you on this one.

I also prefer the Bush option:
go into Pakistan
get 4,277 soldiers killed (count ain't over yet)
then ask yourself
WHAT FOR ?

blackgang

That is true, but Obama is going to end this shit and bring the boys home, at least thats what he said last October, september too.
But something seems to have gone astray and his men that were on the way home had to make an emergency landing in Afganastan and something has gone wrong with most of his pronises to the American public as well as the people of the world.
He seems to be a trilateral, as well as a lying lawyer/politician.

panama hat

Clearly not otherwise they wouldn't be in this mess . . . geez, BG, get with the program

Umm . . . why would they do that? Stupidity is nt really a French trait and besides, they read history books and maybe learn from them . . . unlike other nations

I guess you'd have t ask Haliburton et al . . . they will give you billions of reasons

Butterfly

The French have been very successful dealing with terrorists

In the 90s, we were the targets of vicious attacks from Algerian Islamics, all of it was solved withing 2 years, without a war in between

we don't like wars, that's why we lose them

GooMaiRoo

The Bolshevik analogy isn't as far-fetched as is seems. Pakistan is owned by a small landed power elite while the majority of the country lives in squalor. Even medieval savages like the Taliban might look good to an impoverished and illiterate Pakistani villager. The Taliban didn't gain supporters in Swat by flogging women. They did so by evicting a few dozen landlords who owned the entire area. If the West continues to view the Taliban's surge in Pakistan as some sort of virus and fails to see the economic context, military solutions will be about as effective as they were in Vietnam.

Here's some background from a New York Times article (link below): :

"In Swat, accounts from those who have fled now make clear that the Taliban seized control by pushing out about four dozen landlords who held the most power. To do so, the militants organized peasants into armed gangs that became their shock troops, the residents, government officials and analysts said. The approach allowed the Taliban to offer economic spoils to people frustrated with lax and corrupt government even as the militants imposed a strict form of Islam through terror and intimidation."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/wo...a/17pstan.html

Butterfly

^ yeah, seems some kind of Maoist inspired revolts, a revolution by the peasants against the great landlords

panama hat

Well, that particular word is . . . considering the Bolsheviks declared 'war' on religion . . . and the Taleban are quite fundamental in their religious beliefs

GooMaiRoo

I was referring to the Taleban attempts to redistribute wealth in Pakistan and how it was a major component of their appeal. My main point (apparently missed) is that we can't ignore the economic aspect of what's going on there. Sure, the Taleban are vile, misogynistic savages who must be exterminated, but there can be no long-term solution unless we face the causes of instability there.

panama hat

My apologies, I missed the connection and focussed too much on the base political aspect of the movement.

It would seem that more than just 'liberation' is required, as you say.

attaboy

They are using the Bolshevik thing as a cover. If I remember correctly, the audio describes how a Taliban gang will take over a village and occupy the home of the most well off person in the village or town. They're highwaymen who recruit locals, if they can, to loot. Much like FARC are drug manufactures and drug dealers who spread a little cash around.

I understand that if people aren't benefiting from the existing system they are more likely to join in the mayhem and looting. But then again some people will loot given an excuse, given an 'I was just following orders' or "I was only doing what everyone else was doing'. Set the mood and they will loot.

If anything, people can now conceive how religious fanatics can be associated with Marxism, well, more clearly, Bolshevism.

Jet Gorgon

Yep, those few German troops are really helping out over there. Call in NATO for help and then blame NATO for civilian deaths. Oh ya, I think it was the wk-end when German troops have time off.