- Conspiracy theorists assure us that Osama bin Laden was
killed in December 2001 and his body put on ice in-of course-an undisclosed
location. If the recent killing of bin Laden was a lie, who were the liars?
All 79 members of SEAL Team 6, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. State
Department, the White House and 16 U.S. intelligence agencies. All conspired
to have us believe that he was killed in Pakistan.
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- "Who you gonna believe," the theorists ask,
"me or your lyin' eyes?"
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- The killing or capture of Osama bin Laden was a strategic
imperative of the Obama presidency. His death on Pakistani soil now presents
a challenge to the strategic depth required for security and stability
in the region. How, under these circumstances, does the U.S. collaborate
with a nation given $20 billion since 911?
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- To date, the clash between the U.S. and Pakistan has
been the focus of mainstream news. Little has been said about the loss
of 30,000 Pakistani lives to the war on terrorism. That human toll includes
a sharp upswing in deadly attacks since the November 2008 assault in India
where Islamic extremists, trained in Pakistan, left 174 dead in Mumbai.
Pakistan was portrayed as guilty-by association.
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- Savvy national security analysts are monitoring who uses
bin Laden's death to tout The Clash of Civilizations. The continued plausibility
of this narrative requires a series of plausible Evil Doers, a role that
bin Laden played to perfection.
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- With his death in Abbottobad, home to Pakistan's elite
military academy, Islamabad looks guilty-by association. Mainstream media
immediately proposed a no-win proposition for Pakistan: it was either complicit
or incompetent. No other option was offered.
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- When deploying agenda-advancing narratives to induce
wars, the power of association is critical. Should a nuclear device be
used in the U.S., the U.K. or the E.U., here is the plausible storyline:
"How could Pakistan's nuclear arsenal be secure if their military
could not locate bin Laden's lair in a military town in Pakistan?"
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- Is Pakistan Next for Regime Change?
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- Is the power of association again being deployed to start
a war by inducing an internalized narrative that displaces facts with false
beliefs? Is Islamabad a new cast in a new movie featuring the same old
plot?
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- Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
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- Americans know they were induced to invade Iraq on false
intelligence. That deceit could not have succeeded absent pre-staging that
changed our perception of Iraq from ally to Evil Doer. Is a similar shift
in perspective being promoted to rebrand Pakistan?
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- Plausibility is key. Yet Tom Donilon, Obama's National
Security Adviser, was quick to concede there is no evidence of foreknowledge
by Pakistan of bin Laden's whereabouts.
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- He also concedes that Pakistan suffered greatly at the
hands of those who used its remote lawless regions to train fanatics and
launch attacks that killed Pakistanis while Islamabad provided intelligence
that enabled Washington to kill or capture extremists.
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- Obama chose not to share operational intelligence with
anyone, including Pakistanis and senior White House staff. Silence is the
essence of operational security.
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- Despite sovereignty issues, the U.S. and Pakistan must
make this six-decade relationship work. Progress is best sustained when
cooperation is based on mutual interests.
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- Why Not Try a Prescription That Matches the Malady?
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- Women in the Pashtun region bordering Afghanistan report
that their lives would be vastly improved if they had the electricity to
run four light bulbs, charge their cell phones and power their TVs. This
is 2011 after all.
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- Equipping an off-the-grid home with just two high efficiency
thin film solar panels would do the job. Another four panels would allow
them to refrigerate their food. Imagine raising and educating your children
without access to affordable electricity.
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- Approximately 70% of Pakistani tax revenues are used
to service external debt. Much of the balance funds their 1.5 million-strong
military, leaving few resources for education or other services for Pakistan's
185 million citizens.
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- It's no wonder that Pakistani children educated in 40,000
Islamic seminaries (madrassas) fail to learn useful job skills. Or that
the average Pakistani is skeptical of Islamabad.
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- The missing component is not trust but a shared vision
of what both nations require to restore and sustain their national security.
As the largest contributor of personnel to U.N. peacekeeping missions,
Pakistan is well positioned to become a global force for positive change.
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- At this key juncture in an essential relationship, should
Americans kill more Muslims, further advancing The Clash storyline? Or
should Pakistan and the U.S. join forces to create a new narrative founded
on peace through human dignity and solar-powered prosperity?
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- The tools are known, available and affordable. The missing
ingredients are leadership, imagination and the confidence that success
is possible.
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- Jeff Gates is author of Guilt By Association-How Deception
and Self-Deceit Took America to War. See www.criminalstate.com
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