Magic Statistics

A report by the Defence Academy, a think tank of the UK Ministry of Defence, claims that Pakistan’s military intelligence agency ISI has provided indirect support to al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and the Madrid and London bombers.  Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf, now visiting England, is said to be livid and will raise the matter with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The policy paper is also reported to propose using military links between British and Pakistani armed forces to persuade Mr Musharraf to step down as leader of the country, accept free elections, withdraw the army from civilian life and dismantle ISI.

The Pakistan President reacted angrily to the findings, particularly the suggestion that his intelligence service had in any way colluded with terrorism.

He told the BBC: "These aspersions against ISI are by vested interests and by those who don’t understand ground realities. I don’t accept them at all and I reject them fully… Absolutely, 200 per cent, I reject it…

The report alleges that ISI abets terrorism indirectly through its support of religious political parties, and that Western support for President Musharraf is futile because Pakistan is teetering "on the edge of chaos".  It also suggests that the West’s war against terrorism has thus far been unsuccessful, if not counter-productive.

The paper, which was leaked to the BBC, has been disavowed as unrepresentative of the views of the ministry or the Government.

Previous related posts:

• Whose side is Pakistan on, anyway?
• Canadian terror plot linked to Pakistan

Drowsiness can spell disaster at the wheel

An American scientist has told Congress that the US needs more Arctic icebreakers in response to Canadian assertions of sovereignty.

Mead Treadwell, chairman of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, said building more icebreakers is vital to conducting research, accessing future oil supplies and mapping areas outside the 370-kilometre limit.

"We're hearing a lot from Canada's prime minister about sovereignty issues in the North," Mr. Treadwell told a House of Representatives transportation subcommittee.

"Whether or not the U.S. accedes to the Convention on the Law of the Sea, we must conduct surveys of our nation's extended continental shelf in order to support our claims of sovereignty," he said.
. . .
The United States has not ratified the convention which recognizes the 370-kilometre exclusive economic zone off a country's coast.

Does the US claim that its "extended continental shelf" extends off the coast and islands of the Canadian north?

The US apparently wants to be ready to encroach on Canada’s northern region, so we need to bolster our armed-forces presence in the North.  For decades, the Liberals ignored this issue while allowing our military to deteriorate so severely that now the Conservative government has to play catch-up real fast.  We don't have even one icebreaker that can traverse our Arctic territorial waters in winter.

Fortunately, Stephen Harper is on the case.  He toured the North last August (who can forget the hoofaraw over his skipping that AIDS conference?), shortly after Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor visited Nunavut.  Both men have promised a deep-sea port and new military hardware for the Arctic.  The sooner we get going on those, the better.

Current Liberal leader Bill Graham is on record against military measures to protect Arctic sovereignty.  Where do the Liberal leadership candidates stand?  Canadians want to know.

Previous related posts:

• Navy to visit NW passage for first time in decades
• Defence Minister prefers not to wait for a threat
• If we wait for an "immediate" threat, it'll be too late