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UN warns of disaster in Pakistan

Tashah

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UN warns of disaster in Pakistan
May 09, 2009
Rick Westhead

ISLAMABAD – A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in northwest Pakistan, aid agencies warn, as the country's military continues its vigorous assault on Taliban militants, leaving hundreds of thousands of civilians caught in the crossfire, struggling to get to the safety of refugee camps.

United Nations officials said as many as 200,000 people have fled their homes and another 300,000 may be forced to move. A UN spokesperson said 11 refugee camps supported by various aid agencies have been constructed in recent weeks and more are planned.
Source: The Toronto Star

I watched a lengthy report yesterday by the BBC filmed on location. Aid agencies estimate that 500,000 Pakistani's have now fled the fighting in the Swat region. The battles between government forces and the Taliban are intense and the destruction is heavy. Towns and roads are littered with burning vehicles and local structures bear abundant evidence of heavy caliber weapons fire.

It seems like the Pakistani government has finally realized that it must either eliminate its own creation... or be devoured by it.
 
Well prehaps if the UN wants to avoid a humanitarian crisis, they should do more than simply set up tents.

How about locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and manuever, and repel the enemy's assault by fire and close combat. For starters.
 
Well prehaps if the UN wants to avoid a humanitarian crisis, they should do more than simply set up tents.

How about locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and manuever, and repel the enemy's assault by fire and close combat. For starters.
Ummm........... :rofl
 
Well prehaps if the UN wants to avoid a humanitarian crisis, they should do more than simply set up tents.

How about locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and manuever, and repel the enemy's assault by fire and close combat. For starters.

You expect the UN to send its "peacekeepers" into harms way?

The same UN that ordered peacekeeping troops to stand aside and watch--literally watch--the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans, the same UN that abandoned Srebrenica and Potocari to ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, is the UN you now expect to stand up to the Taliban and actually fight?

Reality check: the UN only talks about peace and peacekeeping. They never take any real action on the concept. (that's what they have the US for)
 
You expect the UN to send its "peacekeepers" into harms way?

The same UN that ordered peacekeeping troops to stand aside and watch--literally watch--the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans, the same UN that abandoned Srebrenica and Potocari to ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, is the UN you now expect to stand up to the Taliban and actually fight?

Reality check: the UN only talks about peace and peacekeeping. They never take any real action on the concept. (that's what they have the US for)

Thats what I said they should do, not what I think they will do.

If I were to put money on what they will do, it will be to work with various agencies to set up camps for people fleeing(which they are doing), send a team of people to "investigate" the humanitarian crisis, and write a letter of condemnation, prehaps at the Pakistani government for not doing enough.

Basically they will do everything short of doing anything that would prevent the humanitarian crisis from spreading.
 
Pakistan needs to get off it's horse and request U.S. firepower. And then we need to provide it. I'll not hold my breath for the U.N. to do one damn thing in order to facilitate the defeat of the Taliban in Pakistan. It will be up to Pakistan, the U.S., and possibly the U.K.

The very fact that Pakistani nuclear weapons could be lost to Taliban forces should have us pre-positioning a strike force on the border with the mission of moving in and engaging the Taliban rapidly and with extreme prejudice once ordered to do so. Regional air assets should be built up and we should be ready to completely destroy this enemy without mercy.
 
Thats what I said they should do, not what I think they will do.

If I were to put money on what they will do, it will be to work with various agencies to set up camps for people fleeing(which they are doing), send a team of people to "investigate" the humanitarian crisis, and write a letter of condemnation, prehaps at the Pakistani government for not doing enough.

Basically they will do everything short of doing anything that would prevent the humanitarian crisis from spreading.

You forgot the most significant things the UN is going to do:

1) Blame the United States.

2) Ask the United States for more money.
 
Pakistan needs to get off it's horse and request U.S. firepower. And then we need to provide it. I'll not hold my breath for the U.N. to do one damn thing in order to facilitate the defeat of the Taliban in Pakistan. It will be up to Pakistan, the U.S., and possibly the U.K.

The very fact that Pakistani nuclear weapons could be lost to Taliban forces should have us pre-positioning a strike force on the border with the mission of moving in and engaging the Taliban rapidly and with extreme prejudice once ordered to do so. Regional air assets should be built up and we should be ready to completely destroy this enemy without mercy.

No. Pakistan has to request the US military to take over the fight. No damn reason we should follow their command.

And the US should say...okay, hand over all your nuclear materials, and then we'll help.

They don't give us their nukes, they get to suffer on their own. And when the Taliban overruns Pakistan's nuclear shoebox, we send in a mission to kill them and seize the assets.
 
You expect Pakistan to risk alot over the demands of an ally that is already in the process of running out on another ally?

Are you joking?


Both our allies and our enemies have seen how easily the Democrats break..with them in power now the enemy holds the initiative.
'We' threw it away.



UN? ..whatever...
 
No. Pakistan has to request the US military to take over the fight. No damn reason we should follow their command.

And the US should say...okay, hand over all your nuclear materials, and then we'll help.

They don't give us their nukes, they get to suffer on their own. And when the Taliban overruns Pakistan's nuclear shoebox, we send in a mission to kill them and seize the assets.
One problem. No one really has a clear idea of where the nukes are stored.

The Pakistani army is quite able to take the Taliban on head to head. The problem is that Pakistan is understandably reluctant to leave its border with India undefended.

The US should do several things on both the diplomatic and military fronts:

  1. Remind India that the brand of Islamic fundamentalism promoted by the Taliban is as much of a threat to India as any place else, and if Islamabad falls to the Taliban New Delhi is going to be in the crosshairs pretty damn quickly. It would be in their best interests to stand down their military in Kashmir and along the Pakistani border, contingent upon the Pakistanis redeploying those troops towards the Swat valley.
  2. Make aerial drones to Pakistan for strikes in the Swat valley against Taliban targets.
  3. Interdict lines of supply into Pakistan from the Afghani frontier.

The peoples of the Afghan/Pakistani frontier are a tribal people, and a warrior people. They gravitate to strength, and are wooed by victory. If a coalition of Pakistani and US military might can flex some muscle in a persuasive way, the Taliban will crumble.

The perpetual challenge of the Taliban has been that, religion aside, they are the most focused and disciplined group seeking power in the region. The solution to the Taliban will be finding and supporting local leaders who can match the Taliban in intensity and determination.
 
Pakistan should demand the USA officially declare war on al Qaeda and the Taliban.

That is about he only avenue the USA has left to instill any sort of confidence in its allies that they will not be blamed for the USA bugging out in 2-3 years.


Osama and Omar are more honest and trustworthy to their allies then we our to ours. They instill confidence in victory in their followers. They stand behind them no matter how hard it gets

Current leadership in the USA lied about Iraq, Smeared its nations soldiers, **** on its allies, and advocated at the height of violence abandoning civilians to al Qaeda.
If you trust them or expect our allies, soldiers, etc to trust them then your a damn fool.
 
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You forgot the most significant things the UN is going to do:

1) Blame the United States.

2) Ask the United States for more money.

You left out

3. blame the joo's because its their master plan of destroying all the Muslims.
 
Pakistan should demand the USA officially declare war on al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Pakistan is not really in a position to demand anything.

However, the moral impetus attached to a declaration of war gives the notion some merit--if not a formal declaration, then some resolution by Congress to that effect (much the way Congress made regime change in Iraq official government policy back in 1998 during the Clinton years).
 
Pakistan needs to get off it's horse and request U.S. firepower. And then we need to provide it. I'll not hold my breath for the U.N. to do one damn thing in order to facilitate the defeat of the Taliban in Pakistan. It will be up to Pakistan, the U.S., and possibly the U.K.

The very fact that Pakistani nuclear weapons could be lost to Taliban forces should have us pre-positioning a strike force on the border with the mission of moving in and engaging the Taliban rapidly and with extreme prejudice once ordered to do so. Regional air assets should be built up and we should be ready to completely destroy this enemy without mercy.
I thought we were suppose to stop being the world's policeman, getting into unnecessary wars. :roll:
 
I thought we were suppose to stop being the world's policeman, getting into unnecessary wars. :roll:

Kipling nailed it over a century ago:

Tommy (1890)
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, 'We serve no erd-coats 'ere.'
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed and giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again, an' to myself sez I:
Oh, it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Tommy, go away':
But it's 'Thank you, Mister Atkins,' when the band begins to play -
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
Oh, it's 'Thank you, Mister Atkins,' when the band begins to play.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Tommy, wait outside';
But it's 'Special train for Atkins' when the trooper's on the tide -
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
Oh, it's 'Special train for Atkins' when the trooper's on the tide.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?'
But it's 'Thin red line of 'eroes' when the drums begin to roll -
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
Oh, it's 'Thin red line of 'eroes when the drums begin to roll.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that , an' 'Tommy, fall be'ind,'
But it's 'Please to walk in front, sir,' when there's trouble in the wind -
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
Oh, it's 'Please to walk in front, sir,' when there's trouble in the wind.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, san-serif]You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Chuck him out, the brute!'
But it's 'Saviour of 'is country' when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!
[/FONT]
 
.......
The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training -- sacrifice.
In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those divine attributes which his Maker gave when he created man in his own image. No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of the Divine help which alone can sustain him.
However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind.
You now face a new world -- a world of change. The thrust into outer space of the satellite, spheres, and missiles mark the beginning of another epoch in the long story of mankind. In the five or more billions of years the scientists tell us it has taken to form the earth, in the three or more billion years of development of the human race, there has never been a more abrupt or staggering evolution. We deal now not with things of this world alone, but with the illimitable distances and as yet unfathomed mysteries of the universe. We are reaching out for a new and boundless frontier.
We speak in strange terms: of harnessing the cosmic energy; of making winds and tides work for us; of creating unheard synthetic materials to supplement or even replace our old standard basics; to purify sea water for our drink; of mining ocean floors for new fields of wealth and food; of disease preventatives to expand life into the hundreds of years; of controlling the weather for a more equitable distribution of heat and cold, of rain and shine; of space ships to the moon; of the primary target in war, no longer limited to the armed forces of an enemy, but instead to include his civil populations; of ultimate conflict between a united human race and the sinister forces of some other planetary galaxy; of such dreams and fantasies as to make life the most exciting of all time.
And through all this welter of change and development, your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable: it is to win our wars.
Everything else in your professional career is but corollary to this vital dedication. All other public purposes, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishment. But you are the ones who are trained to fight. Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory; that if you lose, the nation will be destroyed; that the very obsession of your public service must be: Duty, Honor, Country.
Others will debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide men's minds; but serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the Nation's war-guardian, as its lifeguard from the raging tides of international conflict, as its gladiator in the arena of battle. For a century and a half you have defended, guarded, and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.
Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government; whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing, indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as thorough and complete as they should be. These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a ten-fold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.
You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the nation's destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds. The Long Gray Line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.
This does not mean that you are war mongers.
On the contrary, the soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.
But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."
The shadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old have vanished, tone and tint. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen vainly, but with thirsty ears, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll. In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield.
But in the evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point.
Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country.

General Douglas MacArthur
Sylvanus Thayer Award Acceptance Address
 
What happened to the idea that BO could charm them into being nice?

.
 
Damn but MacArthur could talk pretty.
 
I thought we were suppose to stop being the world's policeman, getting into unnecessary wars. :roll:
This one would not be "unnecessary." There are legitimate nuclear weapons at risk of falling into the hands of radical militants. So do you not agree that we should stand ready to take action or are you just being consistent here?
Pakistan should demand the USA officially declare war on al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Pakistan should request direct military assistance from the U.S. at this point instead of telling us to stay out of their affairs as they have been. It seems as though they actually need our help right now.
That is about he only avenue the USA has left to instill any sort of confidence in its allies that they will not be blamed for the USA bugging out in 2-3 years.
Oh lord, here we go. Please show me where our allies have announced that they've lost confidence in us. Please give some specific citations on this.

Osama and Omar are more honest and trustworthy to their allies then we our to ours. They instill confidence in victory in their followers. They stand behind them no matter how hard it gets
Apparently you know absolutely nothing about Al Qaeda. Due to it's flat organizational structure there is no leadership, most are independent cells operating on their own within a loose alliance. Osama Bin Laden has been underground and done little more than release video and audio taped messages to this followers. Obama and our Congress stand behind our troops and we have not abandoned any allies. They have a different foreign policy posture than the Bush administration, so what? I'm quite glad over this, Bush ****ed this country with his brand of international strategy. You don't like different, it scares you apparently. Why else would you be blustering on the way you are, with baseless fear mongering and unsubstantiated drivel.

Current leadership in the USA lied about Iraq, Smeared its nations soldiers, **** on its allies, and advocated at the height of violence abandoning civilians to al Qaeda.
If you trust them or expect our allies, soldiers, etc to trust them then your a damn fool.
And you're damned liar.

You expect Pakistan to risk alot over the demands of an ally that is already in the process of running out on another ally?

Are you joking?
We are running out on no one.

Both our allies and our enemies have seen how easily the Democrats break..with them in power now the enemy holds the initiative.
'We' threw it away.
Once again you offer up nothing but anemic rhetoric, partisan caterwauling with no substance. I ought PM you a box of diapers.

UN? ..whatever...
Agreed.

No. Pakistan has to request the US military to take over the fight. No damn reason we should follow their command.
Who ever suggested we follow their command? Reread my post.

And the US should say...okay, hand over all your nuclear materials, and then we'll help.
Sure, it probably won't happen, but why not ask?

They don't give us their nukes, they get to suffer on their own. And when the Taliban overruns Pakistan's nuclear shoebox, we send in a mission to kill them and seize the assets.
Yeah, that's a damn good plan. Wait until the government collapses and the enemy has the nuclear weapons, then send our troops in. Brilliant. I mean seriously, that's awesome.
 
What happened to the idea that BO could charm them into being nice?

.

That was an idea that people like you made up so that you could come back and use that as the foundation for a dishonest criticism.
 
That was an idea that people like you made up so that you could come back and use that as the foundation for a dishonest criticism.

Guess again.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West - know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
Sound familiar?
 
Damn, he does talk so purdy.

If Prez Doofus just asks them I'm sure the Taliban and AQ will fall to their knees and start worshipping him like the cult members do. :lol:

.
 

How does this back up your nonsensical statement that Obama would "charm them into being nice?" Only a truly partisan hack would criticize the man for attempting to bring our enemies to the table without arbitrary use of a bayonet. You sit here and try to insinuate that the Democrats or Liberals made this argument that Obama could win Al Qaeda or the Taliban over with kind words, and nobody ever took that stance. You created it out of a speech that came nowhere close to that.

This is what you are reduced to. Broad scale straw man arguments. How about you actually make some comments that are based in logic and reason.
 
Damn, he does talk so purdy.

If Prez Doofus just asks them I'm sure the Taliban and AQ will fall to their knees and start worshipping him like the cult members do. :lol:

.

Wow, that was absolutely brilliant. Nice to see you jump in to the conversation and add such an intelligent and insightful comment.
 
Wow, that was absolutely brilliant. Nice to see you jump in to the conversation and add such an intelligent and insightful comment.
Thanks. Glad to see you finally seeing the light on Prez Doofus. ;)

.
 
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