Untold--Or Undertold--Stories

huffingtonpost.com
Untold--Or Undertold--Stories
Harry Shearer

My colleague Michelle tipped me to this list. These lists, of undercovered stories, have become a year-end staple, but I hadn't seen one from this source before. And one really does merit more attention: It involves our "ally", Pakistan. Why the quotes? At the time we invaded Iraq, one country in the most troubled part of the world really did (a) have weapons of mass destruction, (b) a history of armed conflict with its neighbor, and (c) a known record of supporting Al Qaeda and the Taliban, including supporters high in the country's intelligence apparatus--and that country was Pakistan.

So, this passage stands out:

...reports that terrorist camps are reopening in Pakistan received only scant attention in 2005. In July, the Herald, a Pakistani magazine, reported that previously abandoned terrorist training camps were open for business in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province. Islamabad denied that the camp in question existed, though the Herald’s reporter received a guided tour of a “fully rehabilitated” camp in Mansehra that was complete with office space, four residential halls, a volleyball court, and, of course, young men carrying AK-47s. Although there’s no sign that the camps have Islamabad’s backing, one militant told the Herald that they operated in a “regime of controlled freedom.”

Don't all human beings yearn to live in a regime of controlled freedom? Sorry, I was thinking of something else.