Show me the Brita...

...and I won't blow myself up in this public place?

Hamas gained popular support in a context of official fecklessness. The equation is not simply, provide general welfare = win elections. Hamas won the Palestinian assembly because it gave people, over the course of decades, the material wealth that Fatah hoarded for itself, the Arafat family, and sundry cronies.

Point is, it doesn't matter how much American civilian aid / reconstruction gets doled out. If we are still bombing civilian targets on flawed intelligence, if we are still occupying territory, we are the enemy.

I mean, never mind the fact that there is not such thing as unfettered distribution of reconstruction aid: we and the Iraqi government have some problems building those precious water treatment plants.

There is always a government on the ground that is not our government, and sometimes it does things like fire all the dudes who blow the whistle on fraud.

Pakistan under Musharraf, and I'm guessing this won't change under Zardari, said thanks but no thanks to that reconstruction aid, adding, "Could we please have some of those F-16s though? We need a rapid-response delivery vehicle for our nuclear weapons, you see."

Reconstruction aid is a bridge to nowhere. Only a legitimately elected regional government will be able to deal with the NW Frontier. Our best bet in the meantime is targeted assassinations of Qaeda and Taliban leaders. Preferably not from airplanes/drones. If that would be made easier by breaking Pakistan into little bits (a Baluch republic in the southwest, bantustans around the Khyber) so be it. Eff with the bull, you get the horns.
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