Good Morning, Pakistan; Hamas Hearts Bin Laden

Regarding the death of bin Laden, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh can’t keep his mouth shut. From Reuters:

“We ask God to offer him [BL] mercy with the true believers and the martyrs,” Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, told reporters. … Haniyeh accused the United States of pursuing a policy based on “oppression and the shedding of Arab and Muslim blood.”

“We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior,” he said.

Holy warrior? These remarks by the Islamist were probably not well received by his new friends at Fatah who, whatever their true feelings, expressed immediate support for the killing of the al-Qaeda mass murderer.

Meanwhile, a sigh of relief must have come from the Israeli government that had to be concerned by the new alliance of Fatah and Hamas, even though such things have tended to be temporary in the past. Nevertheless, the two usually warring factions, under the the “helpful” guidance of the new Egyptian government, had come together this time evidently to push a United Nations-induced Palestinian state. Haniyeh’s Islamo-insanity may have set back that cause with what few semi-rational minds still exist in the West. Let’s hope so. (Perhaps they should remember the delicate war cry “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas!” shouted by members and backers of the organization at demonstrations over the last many years.)

Of course, Hamas has its own spin doctors. This is the modern media world after all, even for Neanderthal ideologies. Further down in the Reuters article it is noted:

Political analysts in the Gaza Strip said Haniyeh was attempting through his remarks to cool tensions in the territory with al Qaeda-inspired Salafi groups. They consider Hamas too moderate and waged gun battles recently with its forces.

“Haniyeh took in his consideration the situation in Gaza and the strong presence of Salafi groups. It was an attempt to reconcile with them after the fighting,” said analyst Hani Habib.

Oh, well, that explains it, I guess. Sort of like Hitler went into Poland to cool tensions in his military.

So what next? Perhaps some kind words for bin Laden from Bashar al-Assad or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

Actually, the real question is Whither Obama? Has he crossed his own Rubicon here or will he go back to business-as-usual? The first order of real business would seem to be Pakistan. What in the Sam Hill was bin Laden doing living minutes from their version of West Point, as Bryan Preston points out?

These folks have nuclear weapons. AQ Khan and all that. If they are willing to protect America’s greatest enemy, should they be trusted with nukes? From the FAS website:

The terrorist attacks on September 11th raised concerns about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. According to press reports, within two days of the attacks, Pakistan’s military began relocating nuclear weapons components to six new secret locations. Shortly thereafter, Gen. Pervez Musharraf fired his intelligence chief and other officers and detained several suspected retired nuclear weapons scientists, in an attempt to root out extremist elements that posed a potential threat to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.

Concerns have also been raised about Pakistan as a proliferant of nuclear materials and expertise. In November, 2002, shortly after North Korea admitted to pursuing a nuclear weapons program, the press reported allegations that Pakistan had provided assistance in the development of its uranium enrichment program in exchange for North Korean missile technologies.

Time for a little review of the situation, don’t you think?

Regarding Gaza, what of the new “humanitarian” flotilla supposedly headed for Gaza later this month? Given Haniyeh’s outrageous comments, what will be the U.S. position on that? Perhaps we should all discuss it in poor, impoverished Gaza. (I’ll have the chicken kabob, by the way… and some of that terrific humus.)