Matthew Yglesias: Why Am I Not Surprised?

[babylonsister]

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/11/why_am_i_not_surprised.php

Why Am I Not Surprised?

05 Nov 2007 05:14 pm

Guess who's behind the Bush administration's uncritical embrace of Musharraf? That's right: "Current and past U.S. officials tell me that Pakistan policy is essentially being run from Cheney's office. The vice president, they say, is close to Musharraf and refuses to brook any U.S. criticism of him." Also -- bonus incompetence!

The problem is exacerbated by a dramatic drop-off in U.S. expertise on Pakistan. Retired American officials say that, for the first time in U.S. history, nobody with serious Pakistan experience is working in the South Asia bureau of the State Department, on State's policy planning staff, on the National Security Council staff or even in Vice President Cheney's office. Anne W. Patterson, the new U.S. ambassador to Islamabad, is an expert on Latin American "drugs and thugs"; Richard A. Boucher, the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, is a former department spokesman who served three tours in Hong Kong and China but never was posted in South Asia.

Excellent.