What offence did these 100+ men commit?
BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Report probes US custody deaths
Randomly picking up men off the street does not make them guilty especially when they've had no trial, and there has been a unilateral invasion based off flimsy evidence that was rejected by Hans Blix.
You will agree I think (unless I'm mistaken) that many detainees have died in US custody or become ghosts that nobody has found, perhaps more than Mehsud has callously beheaded? What is the difference here?
One could say the US has killed 100+ people intentionally in cold blooded murder. What is the difference between beating someone till they form a big bloody mass, and beheading someone? End result = dead person.
Of course Mehsud acts unlawfully. My point, you've been missing, is so has the US army. So I don't see how one can be held morally to a higher level than the other.
When you fight an asymmetric battle you do not fight them face to face. You fight them asymmetrically. Any other method would be pointless suicide.
Yet one can also equate the unilateral action taken by the US against the recommendations of the security council in Iraq as taking the law into its own hands and killing innocents. What is the difference between Mehsud's actions here, and those of the US in Iraq? Both act or have acted pretty much unlawfully.
Pakistani Taliban is a different tribe from the Afghani Taliban. Local people fighting their own areas. The Durand line is just an imaginary border that everyone seems to ignore. If the Pakistani Taliban try and implement laws in Afghanistan they will probably be shot at. if the Pakistani Taliban go to Afghanistan to trade, they will not have a problem.
I'm stating the Durand Line is irrelevant. Whether the Durand Line existed on a map or not, the people would still be crossing freely. it's not possible to stop them.
Let us accept that the 100+ plus were innocent and the US is wrong.
But the fact that it is known is in itself indicates the accountability and transparency of the western system.
In fact, if it were not so, many more would have vanished and gone.
Can we say the same for Mehsud?
Does Mehsud indicate the same transparency and accountability?
Han Blix is the sole authority? Not that I feel that US is without blemish, but I would abhor wearing coloured glasses to push a point as you are prone to doing.
And what has he rejected?
And as far as randomly picking up people, how is it that you have suddenly developed amnesia? Have you forgotten how many were picked up in Pakistan without a trace and for which the ex CJ was all het up about and signatured his doom?
If you compare Mehsud with Abu Gharaib, then you do not understand the Pashtuns penchant for revenge and anger. There is enough of literature to indicate their cold bloodness and that is why they are feared as adversaries. They brook no remorse and no niceties. Have you not seen the clips of the beheadings in the football stadiums in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime?
Mehsud and the US Army cannot be compared. Mehsud is freelance and without authority of the country he belongs to, while the US Army intent is known and their actions are in consonance with their mission. By your logic, Jack the Ripper would assume legitimacy since his mission was against prostitutes of London and that too was indirectly backed by religion!!
Asymmetric battles is a fancy word that covers suicide bombers. Yet, it is the cowards who adopted the mode of killing people surreptitiously. I am surprised that the Pashtuns, whose fighting prowess is so lauded, have come to this sorry state where they behave like women in burkha! They appear to be losing their
gurda!
The US action in Iraq is cognisable and cannot be seen. Mehsud's action is of a coward and cannot be seen before the act! That is the difference.
If you feel that the Durand Line is bogus, so be it. Try to sell it to the Pakistani govt.
The contention that there are two Talibans then also becomes bogus!
On a lighter note:-
