The long expected attack comes
A car bomb detonated outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, killing four and injuring several others. Although nobody knows who did yet -- at least not officially -- everybody knows why. The AP reports:
Denmark has faced threats at its embassies following the reprinting in Danish newspapers of a caricature depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Muslims generally consider depicting the prophet to be sacrilegious and Islamic militants had warned of reprisals.
In April, Danish intelligence officials warned of an "aggravated" terror threat against Denmark because of the cartoon. The warning specifically singled Pakistan, along with North Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan.
No Danes were reported killed. But several innocent Pakistanis died.
Sirens wailed as ambulances took the wounded from the scene. One group of rescuers carried away what appeared to be the upper half of a man's body. Pieces of metal and glass were scattered at least 200 yards from the blast site.
An exterior wall of the embassy collapsed and its metal gate was blown inward but the embassy building itself remained intact. The Danish flag and the EU flag were blown off their staffs and the windows of the embassy were blown out.
The office of a Pakistani development organization opposite the embassy was badly damaged, its roof partially collapsed. Anjum Masood, a field operations manager for the U.N.-funded group, Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment, said dozens of its 100 employees were wounded, mostly because of flying glass. His own left hand was bandaged.
It's virtually certain that when blame for this incident is eventually apportioned some will point a finger at the Danes who dared to publish the Mohammed cartoons. Of course this is lunacy. But the greatest triumph of radical Islam has been its ability to impose its mode of thought and its twisted illogic upon the opinion leaders of the West.
That's unfortunate because objectively speaking the entire bombing attack illustrates better than anything else how weak radical Islam has become. Making a lesson of a small European country must have been high on their list of priorities since the cartoons were published. That it has taken this long; that it needed to be mounted in a country that is practically the stronghold of al-Qaeda; and that it failed to be delivered directly into the embassy compound shows that this is the best they can do. Their arm has become very, very weak.
And BTW, was this the image they wanted to prevent people from seeing?
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posted by wretchardthecat at 6/02/2008 04:11:00 AM
19 Comments:
Taliban Leader Flaunts Power Inside Pakistan
An appearance by the reclusive leader of the Pakistani Taliban shows the wide latitude Pakistan’s government has granted the militants.
Yes, that was the image. They exploded a bomb to remind people not to think of that.
So far, it's not working . . . but don't remind them.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
I guess this vaunted Taliban Leader is the Evil Villain du jour, because Ahmedinejad is so 2007.
We may not know the specific group that carried out this jihad act, but we can be certain that it is done in imitatio prophetus. Why, who else would blow up a kafir embassy in an Islamic country? The Mormons?
How great the prophet offended by a cartoon? I hope these beer nuts(SBUT)* to the right dont take offense.
*salt be upon them.
Blast Femur!
Pakistan seems to have a particular problem figuring out how to be Islamic, modern, and self-preserving. It is an "identity-nation," founded to embody the ideals of Islam, and it needs to demonstrate its bona fides even if it means engaging in an ongoing national reducio ad absurdum.
Horace,
That's the one...
Buy my guess is that is why Wretchard 'republished' it, eh.
From worlmeets.us "A Historic Project to Bring the World's Views of America to Americans
On Behalf of the American People and the English-Speaking World":
The policy of fighting terrorism after September 11 has anchored President Pervez Musharraf to the United States. But now to Washington's dismay, President Musharraf has become the weakest link in a fragile power structure composed of groups with conflicting aims and ambitions.
While in uniform, General Musharraf ruled Pakistan for nearly eight years. His attempt to seek legitimacy through elections while in achkan [civilian dress ] has failed because of his Pakistan Muslim League's [PML-Q ] miserable performance at the polls. And in his own way, General Kiyani has slowly been distancing himself from President Musharraf, indicating that he'd like the Army to keep out of any confrontation between the President and the civilian government.
And as long as the Pakistan Army is reluctant to fight terror, the Gilani government will never be stable and strong enough to effectively fight terrorism the way Washington would like it to do.
At the same time, the U.S. can't ignore the importance of Pakistan's emerging civil society, which whipped up such widespread agitation against Musharraf’s sacking of the Supreme Court. Pakistani civil society has created a new climate in Pakistan that is opposed to Pervez Musharraf as well as the Pakistan Army.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
But this emerging power center of civil society and the democratic sentiment that embodies it isn't yet strong enough to fight the fundamentalists, extremists, al-Qaeda and the Taliban, all of which have become a serious problem.
http://worldmeets.us/thetribune000003.shtml
Short, sweet, to the point. I completely agree. This was a weak showing of what they intended to do.
Mark: Pakistan seems to have a particular problem figuring out how to be Islamic, modern, and self-preserving.
Much like the old saying, "You can have it faster, better or cheaper ... Pick two", No Muslim majority nation can meet all three requirements of being Islamic, modern and self-preserving. Again, pick only two.
It [Pakistan] is an "identity-nation," founded to embody the ideals of Islam ...
And towards that end, Pakistan is doing a superb job. Shall we count the ways?
Terrorist haven? Check!
Neanderthal tribalism? Check!
Self-inflicted epidemics? Check!
Abuse of disaster relief? Check
Weapons proliferation? Check!
Ethnic cleansing? Check!
Sponsor attacks on neighbor countries? Check!
Right down to the traditional Muslim cognitive dissonance of training and exporting suicide bombers only to howl in rage when they start launching such attacks inside Pakistan.
Yes, indeedy, Pakistan most certainly embodies the ideals of Islam.
Well, I hope you are satisfied now, Wretchard!
The Islamonuts will now have to blow up every computer in the world because you published that cartoon.
And it’s all gonna be YOUR fault!
It really is a very nice work of art. It's quite an attractive portrait. I don't know why they wouldn't use it as an emblem. Are they angry because no one would think of using a bomb in the name of Islam?
I think it's inaccurate, though. I'm not sure gunpowder was even invented yet. I also suspect he had a lot more on his mind than that, considering the 72 raisins and all.
"BTW, was this the image they wanted to prevent people from seeing?"
I'm not sure, isn't that a likeness of ..., dare I say it... Oh Bomba?
Or is that El Bomba?
Das Bomb bit al?
Muk bomba al Sadr?
More puns, less bombast.
And now this news item:
DHAKA (Reuters) - Blasts at a multi-storey hotel in the Bangladesh capital injured more than 30 people overnight, police and fire authorities said on Monday, adding the explosions appeared to have been caused by gas leaking from a room heater.
They said two explosions rocked the nine-storey Orchard Plaza hotel in Dhaka's Nayapaltan area late on Sunday night, setting two upper floors on fire.
The interesting point, to me, is that the article immediately goes on to deny it was a terrorist plot because no explosives were used. What they ignore is the fact that a gas heater makes a very effective IED...
Perhaps they are offended by the inaccuracy of the cartoon. A
s everyone should know, no one as high up as M******d, PBHN, would ever carry a bomb themselves.
> An appearance by the reclusive leader of the Pakistani Taliban shows the wide latitude Pakistan’s government has granted the militants.
My "cousin in law" is from Pakistan.
a) He's one of those "moderate Muslims" you hear exist but see no real evidence of. I point that out just so people know that they really, really do exist. Numbers, percentages, I have no idea -- but I believe it's important to be aware that it's at least possible.
b) as far as "granted", no, not exactly. There is an area of Pakistan, on the border with Afghanistan, which is, in fact, a no-man's land. Officially, it's a part of Pakistan, but the Paki gov't has little more say over that area than I do over the operations of Washington, DC.
About the only way that they could bring it under control is to do much the same thing we did with Falujah. Send in crack troops, kill most of what moves, and sit on it until the cockroaches are all dead.
This potential activity is hindered by two things:
a) The Paki gov't is exceedingly corrupt, and thus subject to financial manipulation and diversion
b) Does anyone but me see the problem with the term "Crack Paki Troops"? LOL -- I mean beyond the auditory amusement engendered, btw. I could be wrong, but Pakistan is not a place I associate with the kind of great military tradition that usually produces "crack troops".
My point is that this isn't so much the Pakis "allowing" such, it's more a matter of them not really having the wherewithal and determination to do something about it.
OTOH, while we might readily go in there and clear out that area, to allow us to do so would be very unpolitically astute of any Paki leader. It would be both an admission of weakness (and how obvious it is is less important than acking it, in a shame/honor society, like all Islamic cultures), as well as a surrender of sovereignty that wouldn't be acceptable.
> More puns, less bombLast.
You missed a letter. I added it for you... :oP
> PBHN
Pigshit Be His Name?
.
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