Musharraf's Waco

We don't know at what stage the branch davidian group of fundamentalist christians of mount Carmel in Waco, Texas crossed the line of extremism. Most people don't remember what the suspected crime was which brought the US federal agencies complete with tanks and psychological weaponry to lay seige to the compound & demand its leader David Koresh to surrender. Was the illegal fully automatic weapons which neighbours professed to hear or the rumours that Koresh had taken unto him as wives all the females (some barely adolescent) in the compound to mother his children? Few will tell you that the Oklahoma bombing of a Federal social security office by Timothy Veigh & others as revenge for the Waco massacre was first atttributed to Islamic fundamentalists. We now know the FBI regretted the crises as soon as the charred remains of the children were brought out of the rubble. Musharraf's attack on the Lal Masjid or Red Mosque of Islamabad is comparable.

Waco saw the use of armed force and military intimidation with heavy weaponry deployed alongside megaphone negotiation. Those within merely saw their own apocalyptic and fundamentalist religious prejudices against the federal state confirmed. Waco saw the walls of the compound breached to facilitate the dispersal of teargas which forced those within into the furthest confines of the building from which hten later they couldn't escape the fire. Waco saw the use of sound recordings played constantly through the day and night at altering speed to disorientate those within the compound.

& so has Lala Masjid been the same?

Waco saw Koresh spit fury through his telephone link as water and power lines were cut to the compound of divine vengance and the willingness of his community to accept a martyrdom which would resonate amongst extremists Christians at least till this very day.

The Red Mosque has had its walls breached to facilitate tear gas. The Red mosque has children inside. The Red mosque has had its power and water cut. The Red Mosque has been surrounded by tanks, heavy weaponry and subjected to the same psychological sound disorientation tactics. Those within the Red Mosque have also invoked a divine vengance and martyrdom and promise that same will resonante amongst extremists for years to come.

The siege they tell us is finished. But all the dead haven't been brought out & it is now they tell us we see if Musharef can stay on as dictator. (you need popular support for that these days).
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pak_Lal_Masjid_death...6.cms
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/FullcoverageSto...+dead
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/10/world/asia/10cnd-paki...world

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6283240.stm
So what was the crime that brought the Tobacco Feds to Waco? Why were they shot at when trying to serve a warrent? Wasn't that why the FBI came in & did their thing? Did the Feds really kill Jesus? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_Siege

Likewise now we may wonder what is it this compound of a Sunni Deobandi muslims with their two madrashes - one for boys and one for girls have done? Are they really bad bad people?
Did they support the Taliban? Were they hiding Al Qaeda? Are they somalians? Did they have London tube maps & passes to the POD? Did they smash buddhist statues and cut opium poppies? Have the girls of the Jamia Hafsa madrasah been denied an education and expected to spend all their time beating or abducting chinese prostitutes instead of learning maths? What was the crime which brought Musharref to power? Didn't we shun him before 911? Wasn't 911 in the wake of Okahoma which followed Waco linked for a few moments to the plotting extreme right of patriot anti-federalist? Wasn't that why the patriot act got its name?

None of these questions will be answered. The mosque and the school are not the college of rhetoric of Rhodes - the ancient of Greece or the modern of Africa. Instead we see a masacre being justified by a timeline and we read speculation on how this means the end of Musharref's dictatorship & marks yet another collapse in the Bush/Cheney led inteference in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. WE see tippy toppy analysts remind us of the resolution which brought us into Afghanistan to stop the Taliban and Opium remind us they are more both more extensive and virulent now than back then.

Strange that isn't it? More Taliban & More Opium but less Chinese & military dictators in suits who need popular support to hold onto power.

links to other pithy thinking men & womens coverage :-

rolling blog from some backpacker
http://islamabad.metblogs.com/

good German English language coverage "Is Musharraf Losing his Grip on Pakistan?" (By Rüdiger Falksohn)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,493276....html

some guy with an Irish name doing a radio report on them shooting each other on balconies
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/podcasts/2007/07/audio_decl....html

the world drug report "drugs are down but production of cocaine and heroin are booming"
That might seem like a paradox but it isn't. You see we used not count sniffing tobacco as a drug. Horrible vice which it is, thankfully it is now nearly eradicated... Hence drug consumption is down. Whereas more coca and opium are grown meaning more cocaine and heroin are made - we can't forget more coca and opium plants are destroyed meaning less is produced. More Drugs means Less Drugs % if you don't get it - you need a degree. If you have a degree - you need another one.
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/world_drug_report.html