Bush & Pakistan

George Bush chose to launch his supreme debacle in Iraq instead of concentrating on the capture of Osama bin Laden. Now Bin Laden is almost certainly operating in the rugged mountains of northwest Pakistan (North and South Waziristan), surrounded by countless Pakistani supporters. This is Al Qaeda and Taleban country.

Pakistan is a country with 170 million inhabitants, nuclear weapons and multitudes of people who hate the US.

In the wake of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, it is becoming ever more clear that the "foreign fighters" in Pakistan are being joined by more and more Pakistanis. (See today's New York Times.) The country now has an estimated five groups that train and send out suicide bombers. This god-awful mess has been building up even as the US poured billions of dollars into the treasury of Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf, only to learn that a lot of that US money was being diverted.

It is difficult indeed to be optimistic about the region.