Today’s Captain Louis Renault Award goes to the Pakistani military:
Embarrassed by the Osama bin Laden raid and by a series of insurgent attacks on high-security sites, top Pakistani military officials are increasingly concerned that their ranks are penetrated by Islamists who are aiding militants in a campaign against the state….Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who like the government has publicly expressed anger over the secret U.S. raid, was so shaken by the discovery of bin Laden that he told U.S. officials in a recent meeting that his first priority was “bringing our house in order,” according to a senior Pakistani intelligence official.
….It is unclear how authentically committed Kayani and other top military leaders are to cleansing their ranks.
You can count me among those who think it’s unclear just how authentically committed the Pakistani military is to rooting out Islamists in its ranks. Or that any of its top officials were genuinely “shaken” by the discovery that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan. Or that they seriously expect us to believe they plan to do anything at all about this. As long as these guys are helpful — or perceived to be helpful — in Pakistan’s neverending struggle against the Great Satan India, they’ll have an endless supply of high-level sponsors. When they’re no longer helpful, they’ll get purged. American desires really have nothing to do with it.
