What we really need is to have half-witted bankbenchers from Texas setting our foreign policy. So, if Rep. Ted Poe wants to withhold foreign aid from Pakistan until they can prove they weren’t harboring bin-Laden, then we should probably pass a law to that effect.
Poe took the House floor Wednesday to announce his bill and said he doubts Pakistan’s government could have been unaware of bin Laden’s location given that it was so close to a Pakistani military camp.
“It seems like Pakistan might be playing both sides, and they have a lot of explaining to do,” Poe said, noting that bin Laden was found “in a million-dollar compound just yards away from a Pakistani military base.”
“Pakistan claims no knowledge of Osama bin Laden’s whereabouts,” Poe added. “I just don’t buy it.”Under Poe’s bill, the State Department would have to certify to Congress that Pakistan was not harboring bin Laden before more aid could be given to Pakistan. Poe said Congress has already appropriated $3 billion to Pakistan so far this year.
I understand the sentiment. I don’t even disagree with Poe about Pakistan playing both sides. But we have reasons to deal with Pakistan that are too complicated for Poe’s simple brain. Part of it is that old line about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Part of it about helping Pakistan and India avoid a hot war. Part of it is about preventing lunatics from getting their hands on Pakistan’s nukes. Part of it is getting supplies to our troops in Afghanistan.
Maybe we should change some of these policies, but it’s not wise for Congress to go off half-cocked every time Pakistan does something hostile. It’s irresponsible to even have a vote on cutting off aid to Pakistan at a time when we rely on them for access to our troops.
Were they harboring bin-Laden? Yeah, almost certainly. At the very least, high-level members of the ISI have been playing us for fools. But there’s not much we can do about it. U.S.-Pakistani relations are the most complex bilateral relations we have, and they must be handled with nuance and dexterity. Ted Poe doesn’t know what ‘nuance’ and ‘dexterity’ mean.