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By wendell minnick
Published: 3 Jan 16:04 EST (11:04 GMT)
TAIPEI - The timing could not have been worse for U.S. supporters of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. On Dec. 31, Pentagon officials announced that Lockheed Martin was being awarded a Foreign Military Sales contract modification for $498.2 million for 18 F-16C/D Block 52 fighter jets - just days after the Dec. 27 assassination of presidential candidate Benazir Bhutto and just two weeks before scheduled general elections.
On Jan. 2, U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., publicly attacked the sale as a "dangerously misguided" policy by the Bush administration. Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a Democratic candidate for president, pointed out that the recent passage of the Defense Appropriations bill blocks any assistance to Pakistan for arms sales that are not for counterterrorism missions. Biden also chastised the administration for releasing the F-16s just after Bhutto's assassination.
"It sends the wrong message to the Pakistani generals, and to the Pakistani people," he said.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October after Musharraf agreed to grant her amnesty for corruption charges. Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999, but recently left the Army to serve as a civilian president.
Bhutto, twice prime minister of Pakistan and a leading contender to win a third term in the now-delayed elections, had alleged that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate was planning to rig elections against her party. There have also been allegations that the ISI had a part in her assassination.
Pakistan has received about $10 billion in U.S. aid since 2001 to fight terrorism. There have been allegations that much of that money ended up in the coffers of corrupt government and military officials.
"In the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, any Pentagon support for Pakistan's military is bound to dismay Pakistan's democratic forces as well as Islamabad's critics on Capitol Hill," argues Richard Fisher, vice president of the Washington-based International Assessment and Strategy Center.
"While the announcement of the F-16 sale may be part of a normal sales program, its timing was simply unfortunate. While the Bush administration may justify the sale of advanced weapons to Pakistan as a means of sustaining Pakistani military cooperation against supporters of terror in Pakistan, it is also a sad reality that the Pakistani military is itself vulnerable to those same forces of religious radicalism."
Part of this concern has been what analysts have been referring to as the "military-mosque connection." Though Pakistan pays lip service to U.S. concerns on Islamic extremism and the war on terrorism, there is ample evidence that the Pakistani military is largely sympathetic to radical Islamic groups, as evidenced by Pakistan's support for the Taliban before 9/11.
There are also concerns over Pakistan's intimate military relationship with China. Pakistan and China jointly developed the JF-17 fighter for the Pakistan Air Force. Such arrangements give Pakistan leaders options outside U.S. restrictions placed on arms sales. China is not guided by human rights issues or fears of Islamic extremism in dealing with Pakistan.
Published: 3 Jan 16:04 EST (11:04 GMT)
TAIPEI - The timing could not have been worse for U.S. supporters of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. On Dec. 31, Pentagon officials announced that Lockheed Martin was being awarded a Foreign Military Sales contract modification for $498.2 million for 18 F-16C/D Block 52 fighter jets - just days after the Dec. 27 assassination of presidential candidate Benazir Bhutto and just two weeks before scheduled general elections.
On Jan. 2, U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., publicly attacked the sale as a "dangerously misguided" policy by the Bush administration. Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a Democratic candidate for president, pointed out that the recent passage of the Defense Appropriations bill blocks any assistance to Pakistan for arms sales that are not for counterterrorism missions. Biden also chastised the administration for releasing the F-16s just after Bhutto's assassination.
"It sends the wrong message to the Pakistani generals, and to the Pakistani people," he said.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan in October after Musharraf agreed to grant her amnesty for corruption charges. Musharraf seized power in a military coup in 1999, but recently left the Army to serve as a civilian president.
Bhutto, twice prime minister of Pakistan and a leading contender to win a third term in the now-delayed elections, had alleged that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate was planning to rig elections against her party. There have also been allegations that the ISI had a part in her assassination.
Pakistan has received about $10 billion in U.S. aid since 2001 to fight terrorism. There have been allegations that much of that money ended up in the coffers of corrupt government and military officials.
"In the wake of Benazir Bhutto's assassination, any Pentagon support for Pakistan's military is bound to dismay Pakistan's democratic forces as well as Islamabad's critics on Capitol Hill," argues Richard Fisher, vice president of the Washington-based International Assessment and Strategy Center.
"While the announcement of the F-16 sale may be part of a normal sales program, its timing was simply unfortunate. While the Bush administration may justify the sale of advanced weapons to Pakistan as a means of sustaining Pakistani military cooperation against supporters of terror in Pakistan, it is also a sad reality that the Pakistani military is itself vulnerable to those same forces of religious radicalism."
Part of this concern has been what analysts have been referring to as the "military-mosque connection." Though Pakistan pays lip service to U.S. concerns on Islamic extremism and the war on terrorism, there is ample evidence that the Pakistani military is largely sympathetic to radical Islamic groups, as evidenced by Pakistan's support for the Taliban before 9/11.
There are also concerns over Pakistan's intimate military relationship with China. Pakistan and China jointly developed the JF-17 fighter for the Pakistan Air Force. Such arrangements give Pakistan leaders options outside U.S. restrictions placed on arms sales. China is not guided by human rights issues or fears of Islamic extremism in dealing with Pakistan.
why post a 2 month old article? The issue is water under the bridge now.
