This was quite an interesting report. A decorated British Brigadier who’s held top command positions during the ongoing war on terror alongside the Americans recently wrote in his research paper on ‘British influence on US foregin policies’ that American Generals try to act like movie stars and “make good television back home” with “Loud voices, full body armour, wrap-around sunglasses, air strikes and daily broadcasts from shoulder-holster wearing brigadier generals proudly announcing how many Iraqis have been killed by US forces…”
We’ve all felt that way at one point or another. Brigadier Sharp went a few steps farther and stated it in an academic paper fairly bluntly and didnt hesitate stating what he saw and felt about the very type of american generals who had worked with him and by whom he had been decorated too.
Smart man Brig Sharp.
Will there be an end to this soap opera Bush’s been imposing on the world, and mostly on his own people…?
Let’s not get too excited about a British general. The next campaign and they all will be doing “zabiha” of yet another “evil empire”.
These are friendly jibes that every force takes on the other. Back in WWII, British soldiers used to joke about American GIs as “over-Eating, over-sexed…”. Did that change the WWII alliances? No.
Gen. Montgomery abhorred the antics of Gen. Patton. There were so many times Eisenhower had to step in and stop the bickering. Did that change the WWII alliances? No!
UK and US still worked together and beat the crap out of the “axis of evil”.
p.s. British Generals know very well the importance of US and so do Pakistani Generals.
Hope one day Pakistani intellectuals will quit following leftie media around the world, and realize the true importance of US policies towards Pakistan.
Look buddy (I hope buddy is not a banned term on GS).
Pakistan and US make deals for every contract. It really depends what you ask for. Back in the 60s to 80s Pakistan asked for hard-cash + weapons and US obliged (minus 28 F-16).
Thanks to our support to US during Korean conflict, US firms like General Motor ( they were much stronger back then) offered to outsource car parts and assembly to Karachi. Our baboos in Karachi refused. They instead asked for bedford and leyland trucks from UK. And they got them. We also asked for squadren full of Sabres, and we got them.
Looking back, we should have accepted GM offer. Then again hind sight is always 20/20.
Our leftie commie baboos in the ministries never understood the value of outsourcing until their Hindustani counterparts in Bharat started making tons of money off of outsourcing.
So US will give you cash, or other things when contracts are signed. You just have to know to ask for the right stuff.
yawn Again what concrete benefits did we get from the US? We have no FTA. We have no increased FDI from the US. We have no nuclear technology, we have 10 year old military technology, we don't get discounted prices or deals, we don't have increased market access, we do not have any MOUs on education, science and TOT.
Care to look at the topic of the thread. Why do you have to hijack it? If you are so roiled and boiled with US-Pak relationship, open a different thread please.
Where do we start, how about 3 billion in aid from last year...that is most recent. Split between economic assistance and military assistance. But, let's go back to another dictator and start from there...here are a select few:
1981: 3.2 Billion
1984: 40 F-16 worth (today) 6 billion
1986: 4 billion, 60% in economic aid and 40% military aid
Free hand for terrorism in Kashmir
Free hand in nuclear weapons development
Help from CIA and US Military in training Pakistani military
Financial support to any one Pakistan chose in Afghanistan
Beneficial trade incentives
Backing international loans
Debt forgiveness
Blind eye to Pakistani proliferation
From 1958 on, the US has done nothing but give Pakistan aid. As for the USSR in Afghanistan, it suited Zia Ul Haq's ambitions to fight them. Pakistan has done nothing that has not suited its dictators.
antiobl,
No one's excited about possibilities of any changes in the alliances or the larger scheme of things as they are. It's obvious this little comment by one Brig cant move mountains. The point of the thread was to celebrate the fact that someone out there like Brig Sharp took the opportunity to ridicule the US generals who indeed act that way.
And as far as such leg pulling is concerned, though out of fun most of the time as is quite common at unit level, it's not as much 'fun based' at General level. For eg the tensions between FM Montgomery and Gen Patton had quite a complicated background. Even most Americans today accept Patton was a mere shoman and a disputed figure.
You missed one. The "Major Non-Nato Ally" status that brough so much smoke out of Bharati behinds.
Grumpy and others don't realize that Pakistan is a Mulsim-Sipahi country (soldier land), just like Bharat is a Munshi-country (accountant and office support people's land), and China is a Mistri-country (factory-worker land), and Philippines is a Chrisitan-Sipahi + Munshi country.
Each one of these countries provide "services" and get market rate from the West.
So don't brood over what others (like Bharatis or Chinese, or Philippino) got. Just see Pakistan has always secured lucrative sipahi-contracts in the Middle East and Central Asia.
What exactly does that "achievement" mean to Pakistan's economy? development? ZILCH. The day Bush government is gone and Iraq bombings fade out, Pakistan will be in the top of list of "terrorist/terrorism sponsoring countries", you can subscribe to this thread to come back and visit in 2-3 years time.
What happens in future with US-Pak relations depends on what Pakistan does for USA and what USA does for Pakistan.
If we get generals like Mirza Aslam Beg or Hameed Gul, then we can say **Qul and Fatiha to US relations. **However if our generals remaind pro-West, then there is no worry.
However I do not have good hope with Paks politikos.
You think US is not wearing pants these days, that makes it so easy to lick the stuff that usually is hidden behind the pants?
In this world, you either lead, follow, or get out of the way. What Wahabi Jihadis and other tribals preach is to simply sit in the middle of the road like a Bharati cow. Then make marry, make babies, and eat grass and dump $hite on the same road.
Well remember those cows are only worshipped in Bharat. In the rest of the world, they get run over by 18 wheelers.
If Pakistani generals can't lead, then they must follow. Getting out of the way, or sitting in the middle of the road are not the sane options.