Ugly American redux: U.S. in Pakistan: Globe and Mail

Saeed Shah

After Pakistani television broadcast image of the homes of so-called U.S. “spies,” bloggers called on people to kill the occupants. The TV programs insisted they were CIA, FBI or private-security operatives – and the Pakistani media's separate outing of a U.S. aid worker as a secret agent took the rising vilification of the United States to a new level. According to the U.S. embassy, American lives are now being put at risk.
For weeks, the lively Pakistani media have overflowed with dark stories of undercover American agents operating in the country, tales of a huge contingent of U.S. Marines planned for the embassy and private security personnel running amok. Armed Americans have supposedly harassed and terrified residents and police officers in Islamabad and Peshawar.
The country is reacting to what many see as an “imperial” American presence, echoing Iraq and Afghanistan, with Washington dictating to the Pakistani military and the government, analysts say. Polls show that Pakistanis regard the United States, formally a close ally and the country's biggest donor, as a hostile power. Even the Pakistani government has joined the criticism.
Much of the hysteria was based on a near $1-billion (U.S.) plan to massively expand the embassy in Islamabad, signalling to Pakistanis that the United States plans an extensive and long-term presence in the country.
The U.S. mission put on three briefings for Pakistani journalists last month to try to dampen the highly charged stories, which could undermine U.S.-Pakistani relations just as Washington is preparing to triple civilian aid to Islamabad, to $1.5-billion a year. During this past weekend, an embassy spokesman had to deny suddenly renewed stories that the United States was behind the mysterious death of former military dictator General Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq in 1988.

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