Peace and democracy - Bush-Blair-style

In today's NYT (March 21), Larry Pressler writes:

"ONE big story from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's trip to South Asia was that once again Washington's policymakers are trying to send F-16 jet fighters to Pakistan. This is like a broken record - the argument has come up repeatedly since 1990, when an amendment I wrote quashed a deal involving 28 of the planes - but unfortunately this time the sale may well happen.

"Pakistan is a declared ally in the fight against terrorism, and thus we give it huge amounts of military aid. But F-16's have nothing to do with fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban. So what is really going on here?" (Pressler, 'Dissing democracy in Asia,' The New York Times, March 21, 2005)

Pressler continues:

"Pakistan... is a corrupt, absolute dictatorship. It has a horrendous record on human rights and religious tolerance, and it has been found again and again to be selling nuclear materials to our worst enemies. It claims to be helping us to fight terrorism, although many intelligence experts have suggested that most of our money actually goes to strengthening the rule of Gen. Pervez Musharraf."

According to Pressler, the US should be supporting India instead. No need! In September 2003, it was reported that 66 BAE Systems Hawk jets were being sold to India in a £1 billion package. The Hawks were to be used to train Indian pilots to fly more powerful jets, including Jaguar bombers, also made by BAE Systems, which the Ministry of Defence has accepted can be adapted to deliver nuclear weapons. Some 126 of these nuclear-capable bombers were reported as being built under licence.

Any other ethical problems here?

Over the past 17 years, India and Pakistan have fought a simmering low-intensity war at a cost of some 60,000 lives. In December 2001, terrorists stormed India's parliament building in New Delhi, killing several people. India held Pakistan responsible, mobilised thousands of troops and came close to declaring war in June 2002. Sources in the Foreign Office have declared Kashmir their "number one concern" due to fears that the two countries could slip into uncontrolled conflict and nuclear war.