I like The Rachel Maddow Show, and I especially admire Maddow’s tenacious reporting on right-wing astroturf efforts to stymie health care reform. She’s getting through to a mass audience with a hugely important point: that in politics, all is not as it seems. Always look behind the curtain.
For that very reason, Maddow’s comment last night on Afghanistan-Pakistan was frustrating. She said, in a nutshell, that the Obama administration’s premise — bolstering the Karzai and Zardari governments so they can fight their own battles — is flawed when you consider the whopping shortcomings of those very governments. True enough: Karzai has all but forfeited his legitimacy and Zardari seems a corrupt bungler.
But Maddow then mentioned yesterday’s suicide bombing of the World Food Program offices in Islamabad, and cited the fact that the bomber was apparently wearing a uniform of the Pakistani military (actually, the Frontier Corps). This, Maddow suggested, points to Pakistani state collusion. But we don’t know that at all.
The uniform was, in all likelihood, something that has served criminal perpetrators very well throughout history: a disguise. The case of Iraq has made clear that military uniforms can be stolen or obtained through bribery or in any of a number of surreptitious ways. Insurgents in Waziristan and the Northwest Frontier have taken many Frontier Corps hostages in recent years. It’s easy enough to remove and keep their clothes.
So Maddow, who knows all too well about false appearances in the battle over health care, is missing something crucial about false appearances in the battle over Pakistan.
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