Pakistan: Obama = Ignorant

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070802/wl_sthasia_afp/usvote2008pakistanafghanistan

Awhile back, I wrote an entry characterizing how the Obama campaign made a remark against the Indian American community due to the belief that they are one of the main reasons that America is suffering from the effects of outsourcing. Now, it seems that Barack Obama has taken another swing at the South Asian community, but this time, Pakistan is the target of his remark.

As mentioned awhile back (but reiterated nonetheless), MAASU does not endorse any particular presidential candidate nor aligns itself with any one political party. Obama stated that if he were elected to the presidency, then he would make sure to send US troops into Pakistan in order to attack the terrorists that are presumed to be dwelling there (with or without President Musharraf's approval). The problem with this remark is that Obama seems to automatically assume that he can deploy our nation's troops into any country as long as there is a strong belief that terrorists are there. For some reason, the "Iraq War" seems to pop into my head all of a sudden...

Though America may be viewed by many as a leading superpower in the global community, it should not automatically assume that it has the right to throw its troops anywhere without the consent of the leaders of the targetted nation. I do understand that many feel strongly against the terrorists who wreaked so much havoc on 9/11 and would want nothing more than to bring those responsible to justice, but the unfortunate reality is that the only way we can do this is to learn to cooperate with other leaders, rather than spearheading a project and assuming that the world will join our bandwagon to end terrorism (didn't work with the war in Iraq and I'm doubting it will work now...)

What we may not even realize is that in the news when we hear about car bombings and suicide bombers killing a certain number of individuals, what we may not realize off the bat is that these individuals targetted are mostly innocent civilians who are unfortunately caught in the middle of a conflict with no resolution in sight. The US should be trying to be making allies with the world, rather than throwing its weight around and asserting a level of dominance that may place those who live in such areas in far greater danger than one may realize.

Foreign policy is a key area in regards to the role of the President of the United States and Obama's statement that Pakistan should be targetted is in many ways a foolish remark, because it places a negative light on the people of Pakistan, as well as creates the assumption that this nation should be the next on America's terrorist hitlist: there are innocent civilians who live in that nation and who may unfortunately feel the effects of America's attacks that are supposed to be aimed elsewhere.

Let's hope that Obama learns to modify his foreign policy and that whoever attains the presidency at the 08 elections has a better grasp of how to handle the current foreign crisis that has been left by the Bush administration and place the world in a better standing....