Johnny, rosin up your bow

...I didn't manage to actually post this the other day, so it's a bit late, but...

A bit of credit goes to a local DJ in Washington, who, during his "cavalcade of comedy" on the morning show noted, "Venezuela's Hugo Chavez called President Bush 'the devil' during a speech to the UN General Assembly yesterday. Bush had no comment, as he was on his way down to Georgia." I always like cleverness at 7:45 am.

Underlying this joke, though, is something we all should've seen coming - a war of rhetoric. Since the debut of the "Axis of Evil," world politics has read like something out of a Marvel comic. It's only fitting that we've now moved beyond name-calling of epic proportions, and into the Biblical.

I suppose it's only fitting then to evoke an even earlier time - the Stone Age. For all of you who wondered why we were fighting the GWOT alongside an autocratic regime founded via a military coup, Pervez Musharraf now has your answer. Apparently, they're fighting on our side since Dick Armitage told the Pakistani Intelligence Director, "Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age." Heck, I'd think that was a pretty convincing reason. See the Times article here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2369505,00.html

But why is this coming to light now, five years after 9/11? Turns out Mr. Musharraf didn't like Bush's statement that he'd kill Osama bin Laden inside Pakistan, thereby violating Pakistani sovereignty.

But wait! This is a surprise?

We've known for years (decades, really) that Pakistan's northwestern border is porous, that the people living on each side consider themselves to be one people, and that the Pakistani government has little control in the region. We've chosen to make policy that ignores this fact, and now our government has finally realized that we are putting ourselves at risk.

This is amazing to me, frankly, since I have in my files a memo from 1981 (seriously - I keep it because it's older than I am) talking about security and development in the Pakistani tribal areas, and what sort of potential aid programming would be appropriate in the region. Looks like we'd've been better off if the USG had acted back in the 80s.