The Pakistani situation and possible American responses

Juan Cole harshs on the Huck pretty severely (Huckabee Obsesses about 660 Pakistani Aliens; Clinton's 5 Point Plan Informed Comment blog 12/29/07):

Mike Huckabee is a smooth-talking, fanatical country preacher who has learned to make himself likeable on camera but who spews all kinds of hateful nonsense when among like-minded devotees.

The dark side of Huckabee, the anti-science and anti-gay side of Huckabee, and the anti-Palestinian genocidal side of Huckabee, are all more more dangerous than the incompetent fool side of Huckabee, but the latter is pretty dangerous, too.

The incompetent fool side was on full display in his remarks, apparently provoked by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, about the alleged threat of illegal Pakistani immigration into the United States. He actually thundered about 660 persons, claiming that the Pakistanis came right after Latinos in the ranks of illegals. He also seemed to think that building a wall around Mexico would keep out Pakistanis (the illegals among whom likely mostly just overstayed their visas and landed at LaGuardia).

He elaborates further in the post on how goofy Huckabee's responses were. Of course, that means goofy in policy terms. In terms of appealing to the racial fears and religious prejudices of the Republican base, it's more rational. But it's a good example of the sort of thing we could expect from a President Huck.

Cole also gives an extensive excerpt of a CNN interview with Hillary Clinton in which she illustrates that she not only has a clue, but also some substantial ideas about what US policy toward Pakistan should be right now.


Juan Cole is an excellent example of a "public intellectual", a scholar who actively addresses public affairs and also shares his expertise in ways relevant to current policy concerns. And not just by writing books and articles or giving speeches for pay. He blogs daily, rarely ever missing a single day. He's one of the leading experts in the US on Shi'a Islam. He lived for years in Lebanon and knows Arabic, Farsi (Persian) and Urdu (the main language in Pakistan and much of Afghanistan). At his blog, he provides summaries of articles from Arabic and Urdu broadcasts and publications.

Back in 2003, when Paul Bremer, the US viceroy in Iraq and head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), was staffing his mission with young Republicans with no expertise in Iraq or much of anything else but Republican partisan politics, he brushed off a fatwa by Aytollah Sistani challenging his initial proposals for elections. He didn't even know who Sistani was and suggested that, well, that could get a fatwa from some other ayatollah to support the CPA position.

Meanwhile, in a blog post of 06/06/03, Cole was explaining who Sistani was, the importance of his role as an Iraqi Shi'a leader, and why his fatwa on Bremer's election proposal was very significant. Sistani eventually got his way. But Bremer and his staff of Young Republicans Abroad couldn't be bothered to consult actual experts - even when their relevant advice was as easily available as Cole's. (I discussed that incident in more detail in my 10/01/06 review of Rajiv Chandrasekaran's Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone.

Currently, Cole is providing a wealth of material on the current situation in Pakistan with his own commentary to put it into context for American readers especially.

Tags: mike huckabee, hillary clinton, juan cole, pakistan

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