Eyes on the Ball

Before we spend too much time getting all wound up about Iran's responses on nuclear enrichment, it might be a good time to pay a little bit of attention to what's going on in the Muslim nation that actual does have nuclear weapons.

The leader of a nationalist movement in Pakistan's vast Baluchistan province was killed Saturday in a Pakistani air force raid. His death has sparked several days of rioting in the province. There are fears that his killing may have an impact on both President Pervez Musharraf and the war on terror.

Many analysts say the death of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was a major blunder by the Musharraf government that may not only fan the flames of Baluch nationalism, but may also siphon precious military resources away from the fight against terror.

Resentment against the central government of Pakistan has long simmered in Baluchistan over what many Baluchis see as exploitation of the province's rich natural resources by the government.

Until recently, armed actions such as attacks on gas pipelines, have been confined to small-scale actions by the small, shadowy Baluchistan Liberation Army. But last year, the alleged rape of a female doctor by Pakistani security forces in the Sui gas field sparked fresh attacks by angry tribal groups on pipelines and other targets in the province. Islamabad blamed Bugti for spearheading the attacks, and he was forced into hiding. Alex Bigham, an analyst at the Foreign Policy Center in London, says President Musharraf decided to open a military front against the tribal insurgents.

"There have been negotiations with the Baluch, which had broken down. And it seems to be that Musharraf decided that military force was his only option," he noted.

Farzana Shaikh, director of the Pakistan Program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, says that after Bugti's death, even senior members of the ruling party are questioning the wisdom of the military offensive.

"There is considerably anxiety within senior echelons of the ruling party that Musharraf may have seriously miscalculated the implications of military operations in Baluchistan," he explained.

Hmm, civil unrest, angry crowds, insurgency, and a government engaged in a military response that may be making things worse. Sadly familiar, only this country actually has WMDs, and, by the way, probably Osama too.

That's the sort of thing that might be keeping our Secretary of Defense up at night, but instead he's busy worrying about the fact that the terrorists have better media people than he does.

On Monday, Rumsfeld had said he is deeply troubled by the success of terrorist groups in "manipulating the media" to influence Westerners. "That's the thing that keeps me up at night," he said during a question-and-answer session with about 200 naval aviators and other Navy personnel at this flight training base for Navy and Marine pilots.

Pay no attention to the instability near the Muslim Bomb. Appeasers and a manipulated press, that's what Rumsfeld thinks we need to be worried about. How is it that the Republicans are the ones who are supposed to be 'serious' about national security?