Acidus wrote:

] No Decius, we are not.

The Bush administration is addressing Pakistan. Most of the core support for Al'Q is presently based in Pakistan, along with the leadership including Bin Lauden. This has been covered extensively on MemeStreams. Unfortunately, many of the articles come from Stratfor and are not available anymore. Many of this stuff is forward looking, or a matter of extremely subtle diplomatic positioning, and therefore is not yet a factor in the mainstream "news." You might gain a little bit of insight by culling quotations in the threads:

http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200303/msg00323.html
http://www.memestreams.net/thread/bid11152/
http://www.memestreams.net/thread/bid10416/
http://www.memestreams.net/thread/bid10547/
http://www.memestreams.net/thread/bid10548/

One Washington Post editorial about one specific recent development in the situation does not equate to "The US is absolutely doing nothing." I read that article, and I appreciate your forwarding it. I do think it is significant, and it probably will mean a change in the nature of the relationship between the US and the present government of Pakistan. However, you can't take it out of context. The fact that the US side stepped this specific issue doesn't equate to "the US is doing nothing about Pakistan." You're ignoring the forest for a tree.

] As I covered in an earlier meme,
] (http://www.memestreams.net/users/acidus/blogid3721096), our
] response upon learning of the sale of Nuclear secrets was: "I
] don't think it's a matter for the United States to sit in
] judgment on."
]
] What the hell is that?

I don't know enough about the situation to say for certain, but neither do you. This individual is a national hero in Pakistan. In the United States we are used to having our national heros hauled away in handcuffs. We love it even. Its part of how our culture works. In Pakistan things may well be different. There are all kinds of possible ins and outs in this situation. There is no telling what sort of destabalizing effect arresting that guy would have. However, there is one point that overshadows all of this:

] The Administration should be talking of harsh recourse
] against pakistan, and should push for the IAEA to be there
] finding out the extent of these sales. If we are doing this,
] then I am certainly worng, but I have seen no mention of us
] condemming Pakistan in anyway, or calling for 3rd party people
] to investigate.

The selling of nuclear weapons is a serious problem, but its also something that already happened in the past. It is not our primary problem with Pakistan, nor is it likely to bubble up to the top of the priority list any time in the near future. Our primary priority with Pakistan is shutting down Al'Q operations there. Our secondary priority is ensuring that the state continues to move toward democracy and doesn't collapse into despotism. In particular, an Islamic fundamentalist despotism. Nuclear proliferation, while important, ranks a distant third.

So why nail them to the wall on it? Does it help our interests to alienate the present government? What would you rather do? Have the government of Pakistan root out the Al'Q organization there, including Bin Lauden, with US assistance as an ally. Or, nail their asses to the wall on this and have to invade the country as an enemy. Your choices are:

1. Get Bin Lauden without a nuclear war.
2. Have a nuclear war with Pakistan and then get Bin Lauden.

You're telling me that you are choosing option 2 because you think its morally consistent. If we refused to accept allegience with the Russians in WWII because we were opposed to communism where would we be right now?

RE: MSNBC - Pakistan sold nuclear materials to Iran, Libya