Reality Cafe :: Making Sense :: November

Finally, the Pakistani government has made the right decision on the F-16 deal.

President Pervez Musharraf said Friday that Pakistan would postpone the purchase of F-16 fighter jets from the United States as his country tries to grapple with the devastation of the Oct. 8 earthquake that has claimed more than 73,000 lives. [IHT]

Why did the government postpone the deal? The cynics have a point:

“This is probably to get political mileage,” said Ayesha Siddiqua Aga, a security analyst based in Islamabad. “If you buy major weapon programs, you cannot attract foreign aid for relief and reconstruction.” [IHT]

Whatever the reason may be, the decision was the right one. Outright cancellation would have been more appropriate. The people are tired of eating grass, Mr. President: we demand sheer-khormah.

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Defering the F-16 deal is surely a welcome move on the part of the pakistani adminstration i also blogged about it on my . but I would disagree with you about outright cancellation of the order seeing the political and defence situation of pakistan.

Destitute Rebel — November 5, 2005 @ 3:48 am

Destitute Rebel — November 5, 2005 @ 3:51 am

Destitute Rebel, you’re falling for the military line that they need to spend almost 4% of GDP on defence to ensure survival against India. The bomb’s a big enough deterrent. You can now afford to go cheap elsewhere. But somehow the generals have convinced the public that national security (and prestige) is tied to acquiring some outdated hardware at a god-awful price.

Also make sure the Americans give you the root password to the plane’s software so you can see what unadvertised goodies they’ve buried in there - if this does not make sense, just ask the Israelis what they found on similar gifts (aka trojan horses) from the US.

libertarian — November 7, 2005 @ 5:57 pm

Nice to see you again libertarian, you have good insight on these issues if you’r not blogging already you should start. I would to state up front that I belive in democracy and that I believe very strongly that the army belongs in the barracks and I do not fall for the military line that easily, also I’m an avid follower of stategic studies reports on south asia. Yes the bomb is a detterent but it didnt work very well in the kargil situation, no one in their right mind would use the bomb in this day and age and we need a conventional military to fight wars. Oh and yes you’r right about the root passwords, although a lot of americans have not trusted israel after the Liberty “Incident” if you could call it that, so in a way they got what they deserved. And I would’nt be taking defence advise from the Israelis.

Destitute Rebel — November 7, 2005 @ 8:12 pm

Not that I need to say it, but I’m with libertarian here. The “bomb” is obscene, as are multi-billion dollar toys for military boys in poor countries like ours.

raven — November 7, 2005 @ 10:38 pm

I’m not saying that the “Big Boys” who have always had a need to prove that they are big boys should always get all they want. But there are some “needs” and some “wants”. I personally feel that the F-16’s fall in the needs categorie. While a lot of other things fall in the wants categories which should be stopped and not encouraged, for example the shifting of Naval war college from karachi to Lahore was definately un called for, also the purchasing of expensive substandard drones from other country while our own industry is capable of making a better product. Oh and yes I recently heard that all the corps commanders got brand new armoured 5 series BMW’s with civil pates for use by their family now these types of spending are absurd and should be stopped, but what can I say the big boys need to prove that they are big boys and they will always need their toys.

Destitute Rebel — November 8, 2005 @ 4:12 pm

Destitute Rebel, good to hear from you again too. You’ve clearly read more than I have on the bugged hardware topic, so I’ll defer to you.

Your point of need vs. want assumes a military context only. $40M (or whatever the cost of 1 F-16) goes a long way in opening good schools or hospitals, or better civil infrastructure - even after you account for “leakage” to politicians and/or the army.

libertarian — November 8, 2005 @ 7:18 pm

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