So There!
by James Glaser
December 5, 2011

So, we killed a couple of dozen Pakistanis. What's the big deal? We seem to be doing that every other week now. Well, there is one big difference this time. This time we killed Pakistani soldiers. Usually we are killing women and children and once in a while a terrorist suspect.

You might wonder with all this killing if we are at war with Pakistan. Actually, the answer is no. We claim they are our ally. Of course for a few years now we have been flying drones in Pakistan, and like in any war, we end up killing way more innocent civilians than we do enemy terrorists.

So if Pakistan is our ally, what are we doing killing their women and children and now their soldiers? You might think that some how even Washington would figure out that we should apologize for these killings if we really didn't mean to kill all of these people.

Here is how the New York Times reports what President Obama has done to make amends with the Pakistani government:

WASHINGTON — President Obama phoned the president of Pakistan on Sunday to offer "condolences" for the deaths of two dozen soldiers killed in NATO airstrikes along the Afghan border, the White House said.

The conversation, eight days after the attack, overcame the reservations of some Defense Department officials and favored an approach suggested by diplomats who had urged a conciliatory gesture to try to repair the strained alliance between the two countries.

But the president's comments to President Asif Ali Zardari stopped short of a formal apology or a videotaped statement to ease the public anger in Pakistan.

Because we are the most powerful nation on earth, or because we believe we are, Barack Obama is not about to come right out and say we made a mistake in our killing of those troops. For some crazy reason we cannot admit a mistake or even take full responsibility for our actions.

We are the United States of America, and if we kill your children, or if we kill your soldiers, we will give you some money, but don't count on us to make a real apology, because we don't do things like that.

Why? Because if we did, we might appear weak, and because we don't have to, and because we believe nobody can make us. So there! Pfffttt!

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