New Worst Enemy

Influential U.S. politicians are now warning Americans about the Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) organization they claim is at least as dangerous as al-Qaeda.

Important governmental circles in the United States are preparing to replace al-Qaeda as “world enemy number one.” At the same time, they are increasing pressure on the Pakistani government and its army to expand military operations beyond their current emphasis on the civil war in the northwest region of the country. A sub-committee meeting of the House Foreign Affairs Committee was held on Thursday to discuss the Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) organization. As is usually the case with these meetings, it was designed to determine what sort of propaganda spin to put on the organization as far as the media were concerned. The meeting participants consisted exclusively of representatives from right wing think tanks, among them the Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation is especially close to the neo-conservatives and played an important role in producing propaganda in the run up to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Democrat Gary L. Ackerman, Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, and the invited guests were in agreement with their concern that LeT was already “at least as dangerous as al-Qaeda.” The Islamic organization, illegal in Pakistan since 2001, had been protected, tolerated and supported by Pakistan’s military and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) organization, they concluded. Therefore, they said, pressure should be increased on Pakistan to take a more active role in combating the organization with every means necessary. Should the Pakistani government not be in a position to do so, they concluded, then the United States should take unilateral action.

In his opening remarks, Ackerman leveled a strong attack against Pakistani military forces. He simultaneously aimed barbs at the Obama administration’s continued financial and military support to Pakistan, sarcastically referring to Pakistan as “our ally in the war on terrorism” and said of LeT, “[t]his group of savages needs to be crushed. Not in a month. Not in a year. Not when the situation stabilizes in Afghanistan. Not when things are under control in Pakistan. Now. Today and everyday going forward.” Ackerman was especially critical of Islamic charitable organizations, accusing them of operating as front organizations for the LeT terrorist group. He warned that LeT would provide “extremely useful charitable and social services to millions of impoverished people of Pakistan,” a concern he apparently thinks shows just how dangerous the group really is. In that respect, Ackerman referred to some “2,000 offices in towns and villages throughout Pakistan” that needed to be closed down.

A few days prior to the subcommittee meeting, Newsweek magazine ran an unusually long article entitled “The Next al-Qaeda?” that was connected directly to the hearing. The article’s main theme was the unproven assertion that the LeT sends members out globally to commit terrorist acts. The LeT, the article said, was already far more dangerous than the weakened al-Qaeda organization with which it had been previously allied.

The barrage against LeT is taking place against a backdrop of current events: within the next few weeks, high-ranking Pakistani guests are expected to be on the receiving end of massive pressure in Washington for them to initiate nation-wide military and other repressive measures back home. First up on March 18th will be the heads of the Pakistani armed forces and the ISI intelligence service.