Are they worth our money?

[anotheoldgit]

http://tinyurl.com/6xudgst

Is Pakistan still worth the £650m we hand out to them?

[Arti]

If people-in-need in this country were given a sum of money from another country, I don't think it would be fair to stop that money because our government had done something wrong.
In Pakistan, those at the top should be held to account, not the ordinary people.

[Coldicote]

Not easy to answer without knowing why we hand out £650m. Is Pakistan such a poor country that it genuinely needs help? Anyone been there to see for themselves? Its apparent intelligence failings re Osama are hard to accept and it's difficult to believe they didn't know something about him being there.

[CanisMajor]

I cannot understand why we are giving aid to a country that can afford nuclear weapons.

[anotheoldgit]

That is fair comment Arti, if the ordinary people benefited from the money.

[Arti]

Yes, anoth. My comments are based on the assumption that the money is for the needy.

[Davethedog]

There are 174million people in a country 375km2.

The bloke had money was in the last place you would think to find him, didn't do any form of electronic communication so how would you have found him?

Given that he has a lot of supporters, some in (probably) in the police and armed forces, to say that the government was duplicitous and/or deceitful is wrong. Not unfounded I grant you but it simply isn't provable.

I would point out that the Unabomber was subject to a manhunt in the US for 20 years

The Yorkshire ripper evaded capture for 5 years would you call either government either incompetant or duplicitous.

I am not saying the government of Pakistan didn't what I am saying is this another case of the West saying Jonny foriener is incompetent.

[Gromit]

There appears to be an element that part of the reason we give them aid is not due to Them being anymore needy, but they are strategically placed to help us fight our enemies. We are buying their favour as much as anything.

If that assessment is true, then it is difficult to assess whether we are getting enough bang for our bucks. My guess would be we probably are not.

Cameron's game seems very cynical. He was very anti Pakistan when he was electioneering last May, then done bugg erall about them for the last year. Election time, and he is doubting Pakistan again. Maybe such sabre rattling plays well with a Certain type of Tory voter.

[tamborine]

"......Tory Party chairman Baroness Warsi said: ‘I don’t think we can say that absolutely nobody, informally or formally, in Pakistan knew that Osama Bin Laden was there......"

Even Warsi doubts the Pakistanis integrity. Cameron's comments of 'looking both ways' now rings true. British Pakistanis need to show where their loyalty lies.

[Gromit]

// ‘I don’t think we can say that absolutely nobody, informally or formally, in Pakistan knew that Osama Bin Laden was there......" //

We cannot. The Khan family he lived in the compound with knew he was there. The people who did his shopping knew he was there. His visitors in the SUVs knew he was there. The quote from Wasi does not say the Government knew he was there, It just says there is a possibility he was helped by persons unknown.

Before we throw away a strategic ally, maybe we should get proof rather than Act on paranoid suspicions.

[Davethedog]

tamborine good luk with that.

[rov1100]

I'm sure Andrew Mitchell is a Pakistani in disguise.