Spreading democracy and freedom

President Bush rewarded a key ally in the war on terrorism yesterday by authorizing the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan, prompting India to warn that the move would destabilize the volatile region.
  Boston.com article

Dateline: 06/12/98

At the end of the Gulf War, India's Chief of Staff was asked what lessons he had learned from observing the conflict. His response ...

"Don't fight the Americans without nuclear weapons."
  US Government Info article

The president's decision reversed 15 years of policy begun during the administration of his father. The United States barred the sale of F-16s to Pakistan in 1990 out of concern over its then-undeclared nuclear arms program, but Bush has forged a close relationship with Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, since Sept. 11, 2001, and considers his help crucial in the campaign against Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorist organization.
  Boston.com article

Or as some evidence indicates, in making sure bin Laden stays free, including not permitting U.S. forces to hunt for him on the Pakistan side of the border.

Then again, we're not really concerned about bin Laden any more...so what's with the "crucial" help?

You remember our ally Pakistan....the one that had a global nuclear proliferation program selling to Iran and North Korea to name a couple?

Pakistan's government is now trying to portray the sale of nuclear technology to Iran, Libya, and North Korea as the cloak-and-dagger work of a few, isolated rogues.

But that's a lie, says Jane's Defense Weekly, in a report released today. Nuclear sales were so out in the open that underlings of Abdul Qadeer Khan -- the father of the Pakistani Bomb -- were handing out glossy brochures advertising their services at a 2000 arms conference.
  full article at Defense Tech

"A brochure from Dr. Khan's laboratory, advertising technology
used in centrifuges to make nuclear arms, was circulated to
aspiring nuclear states and a network of middlemen." article

The administration tried to balance the sale by announcing simultaneously that it would allow US firms the right to provide India the next generation of sophisticated, multirole combat aircraft, including upgraded F-16 and F-18 warplanes, as well as broaden cooperation in military command and control systems, early warning detection, and missile defense. The sale of planes to India would require congressional approval.

''What we are trying to do is solidify and extend relations with both India and Pakistan at a time when we have good relations with both of them -- something most people didn't think could be done -- and at a time when they have improving relationships with one another," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
  Boston.com article

The brilliant reasoning is just staggering.

Your Armageddon handbill, courtesy YWA: