US prevented war between India, Pak: Powell

[PfcHammer]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_786599,00050001.htm

US prevented war between India, Pak: Powell
Press Trust of India

US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday listed "stopping" a war between India and Pakistan as an achievement of the administration of President George W Bush.

"We stopped a war between India and Pakistan," said Powell, speaking to a round table of print correspondents on the accomplishments of Bush administration.

Recalling how the two countries mobilised their armies almost two years ago, he said, "There was a great deal of discussion and commentary about these two nuclear powers... There was a great deal of concern.

"It was international diplomacy led by the US that went to the task of talking to these two nations."



Would've been nice if the US had prevented the war in Iraq.

[AP]

1. Clinton stopped war between Pak and India too.

Read about it in the book War at the Top of the World.

[cosmicdot]

2. that's great, Colin ... need any extra oars?

paddling upstream to do self-image damage control? I'm thinking of Sidney Blumenthal's latest Solon piece.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2004/05/27/chalabi/index_np.html

holding a featherless hat desperately grasping for feathers??

he should call Hill & Knowlton to see if they can PR re-engineer his PR ...

so, Colin, what'cha done down in Columbia and Venezuela? How are our relations with Canada? heck, how are they around the world? What's a Secretary of State suppose to do?

Didn't India-Pakistan have a nuke-tensed situation during the Clinton Presidency, too.

sorry to be hard on you ol'man ... but, I never trusted anyone who formed an alliance with the BFEE ...

[indepat]

3. Well, that's the job and responsibilities of the permanent members

of the UN Security Council, to use their power and moral suasion to prevent smaller powers from starting wars. Then I seem to remember Powell allegedly told many whoppers to the UN in this nation's run up to a war of aggression deemed illegal by most of the rest of the world.

[moof]

4. What a total lie.

Pakistan, a country that has a dictator who pocesses WMD in the form of nuclear weapons ??!!!!

You don't really expect anyone to believe that the Dicktator in charge of protecting America would allow this to be possible do you ?

Sour chasm off.

[jmcgowanjm]

5. What precluded the "peacemaking"

the Administration decided in the immediate wake of 9-11,
to seek the ‘cooperation' of Pakistan's ISI in "going after
Osama", despite the fact (documented by the FBI) that the
ISI was financing and abetting the 9-11 terrorists.
Contradictory? One might say that it's like "asking Al Capone
to help in going after organized crime"

9/9: THE ASSASSINATION OF THE LEADER OF
THE NORTHERN ALLIANCE AHMAD SHAH MASSOOD

9/10 OSAMA IN HOSPITAL ON 9/10, ONE DAY BEFORE
THE ATTACKS ON THE WTC

9/11. 11 SEPTEMBER: TERRORIST ATTACKS ON WTC
AND PENTAGON. FOLLOW-UP BREAKFAST MEETING
ON CAPITOL HILL WITH GENERAL MAHMOUD
AHMAD HOSTED BY SENATOR BOB GRAHAM AND
REP PORTER GOSS. THE "WAR ON TERRORISM"
IS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED

9/12-9/13 THE AFTERMATH, THE ALLEGED
"MONEYMAN" GENERAL MAHMOUD AHMAD MEETS
COLIN POWELL & RICHARD ARMITAGE AT THE
STATE DEPARTMENT TO DISUCSS(sic) TERMS
OF PAKISTAN’S COOPERATION IN THE WAR ON
TERRORISM .

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO405E.html

more...

[jmcgowanjm]

6. The December 2001 terrorist attacks on the Indian Parliament

--which contributed to pushing India and Pakistan to the brink
of war-- were allegedly conducted by two Pakistan-based
rebel groups, Lashkar-e-Taiba ("Army of the Pure")
and Jaish-e-Muhammad ("Army of Mohammed"), both of
which according to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
are supported by Pakistan's ISI. (Council on Foreign Relations
at

http://www.terrorismanswers.com/groups/harakat2.html , Washington 2002).

What the CFR fails to acknowledge is the crucial
relationship between the ISI and the CIA and the fact that the
ISI continues to support Lashkar, Jaish and the militant
Jammu and Kashmir Hizbul Mujahideen (JKHM), while
also collaborating with the CIA. (For further details see
Michel Chossudovsky, Fabricating an Enemy,
March 2003,

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO301B.html )

[teryang]

7. Actually we were a cause of the nuclear crisis

By abandoning our military embargo of Pakistan, the worlds greatest proliferator in nuclear weapons, and bringing substantial American Armed Forces into Pakistan, we destabilized the delicate strategic balance of terror between Pakistan and India.

As a result Pakistan was emboldened by our armed forces presence to engage in several provocative attacks on India, which almost resulted in a nulcear war.

[AP]

8. It wasn't just Pakistan. Hindu Nationalists in the BJP ratcheted up....

...tensions too.

Many of them want a war with Pakistan because they're pretty shure they can win one.

[teryang]

10. Groups will do what they will do but

...the presence of US Armed Forces in the area, created the perception that Pakistan could hide behind our skirts and they took full advantage of it. It is really a balance of power issue, not who did what to whom. The strategic imbalance was due to our injecting military forces into Pakistan and renewing our prior military relationship with them. Thus we were obligated to try to fix it by trying to assure India that we valued our relationship with them as much as with Pakistan. Basically, we bought them off.

[gasperc]

9. unfortunately...war breaking out throughout the rest of the world

:kick:

[daleo]

11. For all I know, Powell may have done some good in this case

But it is hubris to claim that he or the Bush administration "stopped" or "prevented" a war between two other sovereign nations. It is reminiscent of the claim made for Reagan that he caused the breakup of the U.S.S.R. and liberalization of Russia, as if Gorbachev and others on the spot were only bit players.

This attitude is typical of the mentality of imperialism though - every important event in the world is either caused or prevented by the imperial power. This isn't to say that American actions (or inactions) don't have substantial influence on the course of affairs, for good and ill, just that things have to be kept in perspective.

[a_random_joel]

12. U.S. prevented war between the Athenians and the Spartans.

So there.

[salin]

13. Except of course that we took a back seat to negotiations

in which Putin (Russia) stepped in to work to deescalate the situation. We had our hands somewhat tied due to the need to stay neutral due to our reliance on Pakistan's support for our efforts in Afghanistan - and had we taken a major role in this there was a risk that Musharef's tentative hold over the Muslim fundamentalists would have fallen apart.

Interesting rewriting of this episode that Powell is doing. Wonder if anyone in the US press will challenge it.

[Dark]

14. If they could stop a war between Pak and India with diplomacy,

why not Iraq and America?

[notadmblnd]

15. I'm thinking the payoff for India in standing down

was all the jobs that have left the US int the last two years.

[KansDem]

16. Consider Kashmir...

Pakistan and India have been adversaries for quite some time.

Pakistan wanted to grab Kashmir, even though its ruler in the terms of Independance Act, had acceded to India, and signed the instrument of Accession as required under the said Act. The main burden of Pakistan invasion had to be borne by the Hindus of the districts of Muzzafarbad, Baramulla, Poonch, Rajuari, Mirpur, Bhimber, Kotli, Skardu, Gilgit and Ladhak. Thousands of people became the victims and lost their lives for no fault of theirs, and property worth crores accumulated for decades was lost just within a weeks time.

This was the result of the mighty Congress Party with its host of gallant leaders bowing disgracefully before fanaticism, ' Two Nation Theory ', and its author Mr. Jinah.

The Congress leaders accepted the partition of India, but totally ignored or could not perhaps realise its disastrous consequences. In short, the Hindus here have paid the penalty rather heavily. Kashmir was attacked in 1965 and 1971 by Pakistan. In spite of these historical vicissitudes the popular government has been trying its level best to mitigate the suffering of the people, thanks to the generous financial assistance of the Central Government.

The importance of the state of Jammu and Kashmir should never be lost sight of, because the borders of our country here touch the boundaries of Pakistan and China - the two states which are hostile to India.
http://koausa.org/Crown/history.html

Even Jimmy Stewart refers to "Kashmir ready to explode" in Rear Window(1954)

For Gen. Powell to say that Bush helped stop a war between India and Pakistan is disingenuous.