Arithmetic on the Frontier-Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Arithmetic on the Frontier

A great and glorious thing it is
  To learn, for seven years or so,
The Lord knows what of that and this,
  Ere reckoned fit to face the foe --
The flying bullet down the Pass,
That whistles clear: "All flesh is grass."

Three hundred pounds per annum spent
  On making brain and body meeter
For all the murderous intent
  Comprised in "villanous saltpetre!"
And after -- ask the Yusufzaies
What comes of all our 'ologies.

A scrimmage in a Border Station --
  A canter down some dark defile --
Two thousand pounds of education
  Drops to a ten-rupee jezail --
The Crammer's boast, the Squadron's pride,
Shot like a rabbit in a ride!

No proposition Euclid wrote,
  No formulae the text-books know,
Will turn the bullet from your coat,
  Or ward the tulwar's downward blow
Strike hard who cares -- shoot straight who can --
The odds are on the cheaper man.

One sword-knot stolen from the camp
  Will pay for all the school expenses
Of any Kurrum Valley scamp
  Who knows no word of moods and tenses,
But, being blessed with perfect sight,
Picks off our messmates left and right.

With home-bred hordes the hillsides teem,
  The troopships bring us one by one,
At vast expense of time and steam,
  To slay Afridis where they run.
The "captives of our bow and spear"
Are cheap, alas! as we are dear.

Military Instructor Suspended Over Islam Course

Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

HOW FAR & HOW FAST WE HAVE FALLEN AS A NATION...

I THOUGHT OUR POLITICIANS, GENERALS & COLONELS SWORE ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION & THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS...

What a craven treasonous bunch we have as "leaders."

We have become our own worst enemy when the truth is the new hate speech and "tolerance" is code for "submission."

The shame of it all.

Our founding fathers are spinning in their graves. MEN who put their wealth and health on the line for FREEDOM & LIBERTY & TRUTH. And they were the WEAKER party then.

http://news.yahoo.com/u-military-instructor-suspended-over-islam-course-200513749.html

http://news.yahoo.com/military-instructor-suspended-over-islam-course-145807000.html

QUOTE:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An instructor who provoked debate in his classroom of military officers by suggesting the United States was at war with Islam has been relieved of teaching duties at a military college and the course ordered redesigned, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

Lapan said "institutional failures in oversight and judgment" resulted in changes to the content about two years ago that resulted in inappropriate materials being introduced.
Lapan said an inquiry found the initial course content in 2004 was fine but "over time bad decisions and poor judgment was exercised in how the course was modified."
"The inquiry recommends the course be redesigned to include aspects of U.S. policy and reduce its reliance on external instruction," Lapan said in a statement.
The instructor was a U.S. military officer. Lapan declined to identify the instructor by name, citing privacy requirements."

WHAT A BUNCH OF HORSE MANURE THAT LAST STATEMENT IS...ALL THOSE LEAKED DOCUMENTS AND SLIDES FROM THIS ADMINISTRATION'S TOADIES TO THOSE YELLOW JOURNALISTS AT "DANGER ROOM"...yeah right on "privacy requirements." 

NDU's non-attribution policy was thrown out the window along with all the documents etc into the grasping hands of those "journalists" lurking below.

What a world we live in....

Pentagon Suspends Islam Class at Joint Forces Staff College

A Sunni Muslim Declared an "Islam Hater"

It is hard to keep quiet when one is being defamed, and colleagues vilified, thanks to two yellow journalists (Noah Shachtman and Spencer Ackerman, both working for Wired ) grasping for a "story."

The Wired article distorts a military course that also discusses possible scenarios. The Mecca/Medina one did take me aback as imprudent when I first saw it in this hit piece by Wired, but I recognize LTC Dooley's intent of provoking a scenario-based discussion (the US military has been known to war game invading Canada for example).

And, I will 100% defend LTC Dooley's professional right to provoke such a discussion in a non-attribution forum of a scholarly/educational military setting, where knowledge is sought from multiple sources.

As one of the speakers, and a Sunni Muslim born to a Muslim father, I'm labeled an "Islam hater." If anyone cared to take a closer look at my presentation slides (which were not intended for dissemination without permission), they would realize that my views are the truth and nothing more.

It is tiresome to be labeled an "Islamophobe" because one dare critique/question the current state of affairs (as well as the historical context) vis-a-vis my religion.

The contradictory, and frequently violent/intolerant, views of the ulema/mullahs/scholars of the orthodoxy who love to declare fellow Muslims as "deviant (mushriq), hypocrites (munafiq), or apostate (murtad)" if they don't subscribe to their narrow bigoted and cruel agendas (especially vis-a-vis the non-Muslim) are fact not fiction.

The ugliness of much of this propagated doctrine is reflected in haram actions like suicide attacks;  obscene demands in foreign lands; growing and violent intolerance towards all minorities in the Muslim world; rampant domestic violence; child marriages etc etc. It is us Muslims who should be ashamed of our behavior/projection.

Should the US have invaded Iraq and Afghanistan (I know this is how the counterattack will begin) post 9/11? No. Those were dumb and costly moves. There were better ways to handle this IMO. But the 'US did have every right to defend itself within its own borders from any future threats after almost 3000 civilians were killed by enemy combatants out of uniform who adhered to a specific sub-ideology of Islam.

Timely and firm action would have served notice on the enemy within and without who harbored ill will towards us. Yet, over a decade later, we've ended up with 1000s dead in combat, spent billions with little to show for it as we continue "nation building" overseas.

A task which frankly should have been led/funded by wealthy "brotherly" Muslim states (the Umma), and not by the "kuffar" (who are being taken for a ride AND demonized simultaneously). 

Historically, Islam's saving grace was the widespread Sufi movement which made Islam somewhat palatable, attractive and tolerable to the indigenous populace in Africa, Far East, Central Asia etc. That is just a fact. One of many that the "Islamists" reject as lies as they condemn the Sufis (the only "softer" face of Islam) to death.

Another ugly truth (and there are many which we Muslims know having been indoctrinated according to scripture by mullahs) is that it is fellow Muslims (the so-called near-enemy) who are terrorized the most by those with the various agendas. It isn't the infidels who are killing Muslims in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria and elsewhere, but their so-called Muslim "jihadi brothers" and others are busy at work.

When Muslims begin to acknowledge what are painful truths rather than the nonstop blame games; only then can there be a genuine concerted effort in such societies to seek a different way rather than the current trajectory towards oblivion.

The Best of Pukhtunkhwa: Rubab Music in the Mountains

Rudyard Kipling's Ballad of East and West (1889)

The Ballad of East and West Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth! Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border side, 5 And he has lifted the Colonel’s mare that is the Colonel’s pride: He has lifted her out of the stable-door between the dawn and the day, And turned the calkins upon her feet, and ridden her far away. Then up and spoke the Colonel’s son that led a troop of the Guides: “Is there never a man of all my men can say where Kamal hides?” 10 Then up and spoke Mahommed Khan, the son of the Ressaldar, “If ye know the track of the morning-mist, ye know where his pickets are. At dusk he harries the Abazai—at dawn he is into Bonair, But he must go by Fort Bukloh to his own place to fare, So if ye gallop to Fort Bukloh as fast as a bird can fly, 15 By the favor of God ye may cut him off ere he win to the Tongue of Jagai, But if he be passed the Tongue of Jagai, right swiftly turn ye then, For the length and the breadth of that grisly plain is sown with Kamal’s men. There is rock to the left, and rock to the right, and low lean thorn between, And ye may hear a breech-bolt snick where never a man is seen.” 20 The Colonel’s son has taken a horse, and a raw rough dun was he, With the mouth of a bell and the heart of Hell, and the head of the gallows-tree. The Colonel’s son to the Fort has won, they bid him stay to eat— Who rides at the tail of a Border thief, he sits not long at his meat. He ’s up and away from Fort Bukloh as fast as he can fly, 25 Till he was aware of his father’s mare in the gut of the Tongue of Jagai, Till he was aware of his father’s mare with Kamal upon her back, And when he could spy the white of her eye, he made the pistol crack. He has fired once, he has fired twice, but the whistling ball went wide. “Ye shoot like a soldier,” Kamal said. “Show now if ye can ride.” 30 It ’s up and over the Tongue of Jagai, as blown dust-devils go, The dun he fled like a stag of ten, but the mare like a barren doe. The dun he leaned against the bit and slugged his head above, But the red mare played with the snaffle-bars, as a maiden plays with a glove. There was rock to the left and rock to the right, and low lean thorn between, 35 And thrice he heard a breech-bolt snick tho’ never a man was seen. They have ridden the low moon out of the sky, their hoofs drum up the dawn, The dun he went like a wounded bull, but the mare like a new-roused fawn. The dun he fell at a water-course—in a woful heap fell he, And Kamal has turned the red mare back, and pulled the rider free. 40 He has knocked the pistol out of his hand—small room was there to strive, “’T was only by favor of mine,” quoth he, “ye rode so long alive: There was not a rock for twenty mile, there was not a clump of tree, But covered a man of my own men with his rifle cocked on his knee. If I had raised my bridle-hand, as I have held it low, 45 The little jackals that flee so fast, were feasting all in a row: If I had bowed my head on my breast, as I have held it high, The kite that whistles above us now were gorged till she could not fly.” Lightly answered the Colonel’s son:—“Do good to bird and beast, But count who come for the broken meats before thou makest a feast. 50 If there should follow a thousand swords to carry my bones away, Belike the price of a jackal’s meal were more than a thief could pay. They will feed their horse on the standing crop, their men on the garnered grain, The thatch of the byres will serve their fires when all the cattle are slain. But if thou thinkest the price be fair,—thy brethren wait to sup, 55 The hound is kin to the jackal-spawn,—howl, dog, and call them up! And if thou thinkest the price be high, in steer and gear and stack, Give me my father’s mare again, and I ’ll fight my own way back!” Kamal has gripped him by the hand and set him upon his feet. “No talk shall be of dogs,” said he, “when wolf and gray wolf meet. 60 May I eat dirt if thou hast hurt of me in deed or breath; What dam of lances brought thee forth to jest at the dawn with Death?” Lightly answered the Colonel’s son: “I hold by the blood of my clan: Take up the mare for my father’s gift—by God, she has carried a man!” The red mare ran to the Colonel’s son, and nuzzled against his breast, 65 “We be two strong men,” said Kamal then, “but she loveth the younger best. So she shall go with a lifter’s dower, my turquoise-studded rein, My broidered saddle and saddle-cloth, and silver stirrups twain.” The Colonel’s son a pistol drew and held it muzzle-end, “Ye have taken the one from a foe,” said he; “will ye take the mate from a friend?” 70 “A gift for a gift,” said Kamal straight; “a limb for the risk of a limb. Thy father has sent his son to me, I ’ll send my son to him!” With that he whistled his only son, that dropped from a mountain-crest— He trod the ling like a buck in spring, and he looked like a lance in rest. “Now here is thy master,” Kamal said, “who leads a troop of the Guides, 75 And thou must ride at his left side as shield on shoulder rides. Till Death or I cut loose the tie, at camp and board and bed, Thy life is his—thy fate it is to guard him with thy head. So thou must eat the White Queen’s meat, and all her foes are thine, And thou must harry thy father’s hold for the peace of the border-line. 80 And thou must make a trooper tough and hack thy way to power— Belike they will raise thee to Ressaldar when I am hanged in Peshawur.” They have looked each other between the eyes, and there they found no fault, They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on leavened bread and salt: They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on fire and fresh-cut sod, 85 On the hilt and the haft of the Khyber knife, and the Wondrous Names of God. The Colonel’s son he rides the mare and Kamal’s boy the dun, And two have come back to Fort Bukloh where there went forth but one. And when they drew to the Quarter-Guard, full twenty swords flew clear— There was not a man but carried his feud with the blood of the mountaineer. 90 “Ha’ done! ha’ done!” said the Colonel’s son. “Put up the steel at your sides! Last night ye had struck at a Border thief—to-night ’t is a man of the Guides!” Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the two shall meet, Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat; But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth, 95 When two strong men stand face to face, tho’ they come from the ends of the earth.

Rohrabacher: Why I Support Baluchistan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-i-support-baluchistan/2012/04/06/gIQAQ17Z0S_story.html

Some excerpts from the Honorable Rohrabacher's article:

Why I support Baluchistan

By Dana Rohrabacher,

There has been quite a stir since I introduced a resolution this year calling for recognition of the right to self-determination by the people of Baluchistan…

Some allege that my willingness to raise this subject has harmed U.S.-Pakistan relations…Pakistan’s Foreign Office twice summoned the U.S. charge d’affaires in Islamabad to protest the resolution…Well, to paraphrase Shakespeare, methinks Islamabad doth protest too much. In fact, Pakistani elites are upset not about lies but the truth.

Baluchistan is Pakistan’s largest province in area and lies in the south, near Iran and Afghanistan. It is replete with natural resources and treated like a colonial possession. Its natural gas, gold, uranium and copper are exploited for the benefit of the ruling elite in Islamabad; meanwhile, the Baluch people remain desperately poor.

This is consistent with my commitment to support freedom and people’s right to control their own destiny in accordance with their cultural values and sense of identity. There are many good people in Pakistan who understand that the abuse of human rights by security forces in Baluchistan is a stain on the honor of their country. Such heavy-handed oppression is also counterproductive. It drives people away.

We should not remain a silent partner to a Pakistani government that engages in monstrous crimes against its people and has been an accomplice to terrorist attacks on Americans, including those of Sept. 11, 2001. The real irritant to U.S.-Pakistan relations is not my resolution but the policies of the Islamabad government and military.

Consider the plight of Shakeel Afridi, the Pakistani physician who helped lead our Navy SEALs to Osama bin Laden. He has been arrested and threatened with a charge of treason. An inquiry commission deemed him a “national criminal” because he helped the United States put an end to the terrorist who plotted the deaths of thousands of Americans.

Islamabad has not only sheltered al-Qaeda but also provided a base of operations for the Taliban, who continue to kill Americans. With one hand officials thumb their noses at us and with the other hand they grab billions in our foreign aid. It is time Washington stopped aiding Pakistan and developed a closer friendship with India and, perhaps, Baluchistan.

I make no apology for submitting a resolution championing the oppressed people of Baluchistan in their dealings with a Pakistani government that has betrayed our trust.

Pakistani Army's Business as Usual: Assassination of Bugti's Grand Daughter

EXCERPT:
The violence took a new turn in January (2012) when Nawab Bugti’s granddaughter and great-granddaughter were intercepted driving home from a wedding in Karachi. The gunmen first shot the 13-year-old great-granddaughter, then dragged her mother out and shot her in the face. They left her expensive jewellery. The family believes this was a hit ordered by Pakistani intelligence.

http://www.economist.com/node/21552248

Balochistan

“We only receive back the bodies”

Murder and mayhem in an ugly but little-known Pakistani conflict

Apr 7th 2012 | KILLI KHURASAN AND QUETTA | from the print edition

ZULFIKAR LANGAU was 17 when he ran away “to the mountains”, a euphemism for joining independence-seeking insurgents in Balochistan, a vast, thinly populated province of deserts and mountains in the west of Pakistan. The death of a tribal chief, Nawab Akbar Bugti, in a cave during a clash with the Pakistani army in 2006, transformed Zulfikar’s mind, says his family. That event ignited the latest bloody phase of Balochistan’s on-off revolt against Pakistan, which has seen hundreds of mutilated bodies dumped on roadsides, thousands of people go missing and revenge killings by security forces and by competing tribal and religious factions. 

Balochistan, with 9m out of Pakistan’s 180m people, covers 44% the country’s territory and contains its most valuable deposits of gas, copper, iron ore and oil. It has a new deepwater port, Gwadar, and provides a route for trade and pipelines to Central Asia. Yet Balochistan is the country’s most impoverished province. The Baloch are convinced that they are being exploited to death by the country’s dominant ethnic group, the Punjabis. Balochistan was semi-independent under the British Raj, and some Baloch believe it was forcibly annexed in 1948, sparking the first of five revolts led by tribal chieftains.

 The current crisis is taking on wider ramifications.

 In February an American congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, submitted a resolution to Congress calling for “self-determination” for Balochistan. The proposal—not voted on—caused uproar in Pakistan, where the government has long charged that India supports Baloch separatists, via its consulates in Afghanistan. A sense of “great game” intrigue hangs over the province. Quetta is known as the hideout of the Afghan Taliban’s leadership council, the Quetta Shura. Iran and Afghanistan also have Baloch populations who would surely be affected if the situation in Balochistan worsened further. There is even talk about a new round of Pakistani disintegration, comparable to the break-up in 1971, when subjugated East Pakistan split away to become Bangladesh.

Since July 2010 over 300 battered corpses have been flung on roadsides and in remote areas across the province. Baloch activists and human-rights organisations believe these men, insurgents and activists, were victims of a “kill and dump” policy run by the Frontier Corps (FC), a paramilitary force that works with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency. With burn marks, broken limbs, nails pulled out, and sometimes with holes drilled in their heads, the bodies are discarded, becoming food for dogs. The security forces deny any connection to the corpses. No one has been held responsible.

Even more people simply go missing. Dr Deen Mohammad, who worked at a government hospital in the central Khuzdar district, was abducted from the hospital grounds one night in June 2009. He was a senior member of the Baloch National Movement, a political organisation—and a peaceful one, says his 19-year-old daughter, Sheeri. “We’ve had no news,” she says. “With all the Baloch brothers who’ve been taken, we only receive back the bodies.”

According to the Voice for Missing Baloch, a campaign group, 8,000 people have disappeared over the past nine years.

The violence took a new turn in January  (2012) when Nawab Bugti’s granddaughter and great-granddaughter were intercepted driving home from a wedding in Karachi. The gunmen first shot the 13-year-old great-granddaughter, then dragged her mother out and shot her in the face. They left her expensive jewellery. The family believes this was a hit ordered by Pakistani intelligence.

In March Lashkari Raisani, the brother of the province’s chief minister, resigned from the Senate, Pakistan’s upper house of parliament, complaining that politicians in Quetta and Islamabad were “not serious” about Balochistan. “We are going toward the point of no return,” he warns.