How partnering with the U.S. could strengthen Pakistan's sovereignty – Washington Post. Is this our obligation?

In today’s Washington Post, David Ignatius writes an Op Ed piece entitled How partnering with the U.S. could strengthen Pakistan’s sovereignty in which he states the following:

"Here’s the cold, hard truth: U.S. success in Afghanistan depends on Pakistan gaining sovereignty over the tribal belt. If the insurgents can continue to maintain their havens in North Waziristan and other tribal areas, then President Obama’s surge of troops in Afghanistan will fail. It’s that simple."

Ignatius goes on to lay out good reason to keep the U.S. and Pakistan in close cooperation and ends the article with the following paragraph:

"The Af-Pak wars may seem like a mad gamble, but if given the right strategic framework, they represent a common effort to create a stable structure for Central and South Asia in the 21st century. The payoff is immense, especially for Pakistan. To understand why this conflict makes sense, people need to see the big idea that lies behind it — the stabilization of a lawless tribal region that has been causing trouble for 150 years."

If in fact we are in Afghanistan to stabilize the tribal regions of Pakistan and to reform central and western Asia by use of force, then the President needs to state that.  If American kids are going to be sacrificed on this crusade then an honest, truthful statement by the President needs to be forthcoming and his power to wage war independently under the 9/11 powers that were passed to him by Congress do not apply.

The Chief Executive has not been granted powers by Congress to wage war independently other than to pursue Al Qaeda in that region.

We have been told that we are in Afghanistan to quell Al Qaeda.  They are gone.  The troops need to come home no matter how good of an idea it is to quell Pakistani tribal areas.

This is ridiculous.  I also suspect it is illegal and that no legal powers exist to extend this war into the Pakistani tribal areas under the present U.S. laws.  This charade must end.

If David Ignatius thinks it is such a good idea for us to sacrifice kids to set Pakistan straight, then he needs to arrange to have his relatives and friends send their kids.  How about that?  It is easy to talk about extending a war when the speaker is paying no price for the devestation to his own family or neighborhood. 

I am sick to death of sycophants of the wealthy writing in the press about escalating this war like working class soldiers’ lives are no more than numbers.  These are people you idiot!  Grow up Ignatius and realize the pain you are supporting for thousands of American families.  What have you placed on the line for this wonderful idea of yours?

Do you see how easy it is for Patricians and their sycophants to write about waging war and to demand more sacrifice from the Plebian class on the battlefield when their kids, their families, their Ivy League educated relatives do not bear any burden from injury or death from the wars that they demand be waged for more money?  Do you see why unchecked "business interests" in this country are so ungodly dangerous?  Do you see how easily the mainstream media can be bought and manipulated?

Read on, you will see what is happening south of our border when "business interests" try to force the national government to do its bidding.  We are not all that far away from this, no matter what you might think.

In other news the Mexican Navy sent 200 sailors to flush out a drug kingpin in a town near Mexico City and they killed him.  This is a novel use of sailors I must say!  The article Mexican navy kills top cartel kingpin in shootout shows how desperate Mexico must be to rid itself of drug kingpins who are now routinely killing, often beheading, state police investigators.

This is what happens to a nation, any nation, when the Patrician class of "businessmen" is allowed total control of its own operating environment.  We are not all that different or far away from what we see now in Mexico, do not kid yourself.  This is "business" interests gone insane and the Mexican people and the Mexican state are paying a dear price for decades, even generations, of looking the other way when Mexican "business" went its own way.

Do you honestly think the Iraq fiasco and the Af-Pakistan charade are all that far removed from the Mexican tragedy?  Do you understand that the sole source contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan by Dick Cheney’s friends is not all that different from the Mexican cartels demanding allegiance from the Mexican government and committing murder when they do not get it?  Yes murder.  It happened and continues to happen.  Do not shut your eyes to it. It has occurred in our situation, you can believe it.

In this article, Documents show DHS improperly spied on National of Islam in 2007 , that title tells the story.  Here is an excerpt:

"The Department of Homeland Security improperly gathered intelligence on the Nation of Islam for eight months in 2007 when the leader of the black Muslim group, Louis Farrakhan, was in poor health and appeared to be yielding power, according to government documents released Wednesday.