In a perceptive post, Michael Collins exposes “The Big Con” being perpretrated by the US administration upon the American people in selling the preposterous idea that the Pakistani Taliban consisting of an estimated 35,000 to 50,000 members, is about to overrun the Pakistan Army, a well armed force of 650,000 with a substantial reserve force, that is the largest single contributor to UN peace keeping efforts, and take over Pakistan, a nation of 170 million people. As he puts it:

If Pakistan fell to the Taliban, it would be the most remarkable victory in the history of warfare…

In support he cites among others, Professor Juan Cole, a Middle East scholar and respected commentator who says that the notion of a Taliban victory simply “makes no sense” (Informed Comment, Apr 26, 2009); and even The Economist, Apr 30, 2009, not known for being partial to Pakistan: “If, unthinkably, the disparate warlords who make up the Pakistan Taliban were to mass together for a frontal attack, Pakistan’s army, which is 620,000-strong and well-drilled for conventional warfare, could crush them. Indeed, many pundits reckon that an Islamist takeover in Pakistan would be possible only with the army’s support.”

As for this being a — to use the mot du jour, existential — threat to the United States, Michael Collins concludes: “When the so-called experts tell us that 50,000 religious fanatics are an imminent threat to the country, it’s time to say: Surely you’re not serious? How could you have weakened us so that this is the case?”

A must read.

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