"On Dancer, on Blitzer, On Rudolf."
Jubilant Pakistanis on their way to the airport to welcome Hillary
You know that country where everybody hates America? No, I'm not talking about San Francisco; I'm talking about Pakistan. Well, they won't hate us much longer because Hillary Clinton has just arrived on her world tour with a basket full of goodies. Yes, Hillary appeared in Islamabad yesterday and announced that the US is tripling its (non-military) aid to Pakistan. And who is going to pay for all this? Need you ask?
Hillary fans trying to get through police to get a glimpse of their hero-and perhaps an autograph
That will include hundreds of millions of bucks in civilian aid projects (water, electricity, agricultural) that are sure to warm the hearts of every Pakistani man, woman and child. Previously, under mean old George W Bush, most aid to Pakistan was military, which outraged the civilian populace. Of course, Bush wasn't president some thirty years ago when grateful Pakistanis sacked and burned the American embassy in Islamabad after someone had spread the rumor that the US was involved in the attack on the Grand Mosque in Mecca. One of my friends and colleagues in DEA was a hero that day as he saved several lives in the burning embassy compound.
Of course, some curmudgeonly old conservative will ask the question as to why the Pakistani government can't supply these needs itself. Water, electricity, agriculture? Does it really require the US or anybody else to step in and take care of this? Absolutely. You see, with all the corruption in Pakistan, these things never get to the people. Therefore, it takes good old Uncle Sam and his millions of tax-paying nephews to step in and take care of it so the ruling elite can continue to live in luxury and the foundation of Pakistani society (corruption) doesn't crumble. Why, it's so simple even a university professor, with his longitudinal analyses retrospective follow-ups, multilevel regression analyses, qualitative analyses, and mathematical predictive models could figure it out. As Madeline Albright once proclaimed, "America is the indispensable nation". Indeed.
"Long live America!!"
The other benefit is that it keeps countries like Pakistan on our side (heh heh). It also keeps that pesky UN off our back with their constant claims that we don't give enough. Bribery? I find such strong terms distasteful. Let's call it protection money.
American aid money being delivered to the Karachi Stock Exchange
Tuesday Update: Now we hear that Hillary believes that some in the Pakistani government know where Bin Laden is hiding. Gee, do you think for all that money we are giving them, they might give him up?
Nah.
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