Abbottabad

Finding facts on Abbottabad is interesting.  In the US media, its being portrayed as a small wealthy town that's mainly a military town.

When writing yesterday, I found a link somewhere that gave the population as over a million.  Wished I'd saved that link.

Today, as I read different accounts, I found this link ... CITY OF ABBOTTABAD (from the Ayub Medical College in Abbottabad) which says

Abbottabad, the headquarters of Hazara Division, situated at an altitude of 1,225 m (4002 ft) above sea level and surrounded by refreshing green hills of Sarban, is one of the best-known hill resorts of Pakistan. It is situated on the Karakoram Highway (Silk Route) to China, 120 Km from Rawalpindi/Islamabad and 205 Km from Peshawar. The climate is temperate with 4 distinct seasons-spring, summer, autumn and winter. The summer is pleasant while the winter is moderately cold with occasional snowfall. The city is non-industrial, situated in the green Orash valley and is free from environmental pollution. It has a population of over 300,000.

and ...

Abbottabad boasts the highest number of educational institutions in the country per population or area. The literacy rate is also among the highest in the country. Two other medical colleges in private sectors are already established with one in the pipeline. Besides PMA, Abbottabad Public School, Army Burn Hall, Beacon House and some other very famous educational institutions are situated here.

In the US media, I hear about it being a military town. When I search other sides, its referred to as an educational town. Of course, the two overlap, as the "PMA" in the list above is the Pakistani Military Academy, and Army Burn Hall sure sounds like a military institution as well.

Still, we seem to be hearing an amazing amount of BS in the American media about how Bin Laden was killed in a small town that's home to military bases, therefore, the Pakistanis must have been helping him.

First, 300,000 is not a 'small town'. Could you go to a city of 300,000 and know everyone by name, know where they come from, and notice that the old man who rarely leaves his house is a most wanted criminal?

And, in any country, people go underground and the government can't find them. Its happened in the US. The members of the Weather Underground and people like Abbie Hoffman went underground for years. The US Government could never find them. Generally, they only surfaced when they wanted to surface. And, quite likely during their underground years, they might well have lived in towns that also hosted US military bases .... since its damn hard to find anywhere in the US that isn't a host to a US military base.

Does this mean the US Government was secretly sheltering and supporting the Weather Underground and the Yippies? Hardly. But that's the logic that the people who want to kill, kill, kill and kill some more are applying to Pakistan.

Eric Rudolph, the guy who bombed the '96 Olympics in Atlanta, as well as abortion clinics across the south was underground and in hiding for several years. Does this mean the US government was secretly supporting Eric Rudolph?  Remember, he was hiding in the 'south', which is the region of the US that's home to many military bases.  So, is it obvious that if Mr. Rudolph was hiding in the south, that the US military must have been helping and supporting him?

In propaganda, there are always these strange leaps of logic. The propagandist will present some facts ... like OBL being found in Abbottabad. And that Abbottabad is the home to the Pakistani version of West Point. But, then there's this strange leap of logic that says because OBL was found hiding in Abbottabad, therefore the Pakistani military was helping him to hide. That jump always happens quickly. There's usually a lot of noise and shouting that follows quickly afterwards, both to stop one from thinking that no one knows everyone who lives in a city of 300,000, and to promote the next wave of wars and killings that are supposed to follow because of this strange leap of logic.

I went to a university of 12,000 students. Whenever Iwould tell someone I went there, I'd often hear "my brother went to that school .... do you know Billy?" I'd always smile and say no, but inside I was thinking ...."hey, there were 12,000 students there, and maybe we didn't even go at the same time ... how the heck do you expect me to know your brother?"

Same reaction to this bs about Abbottabad. Its a city of 300,000 people, in a district that seems to have a population of somewhere between 800,000 and a million. Guess what, that means most likely most of the people who were there didn't know the old guy who kept mainly to his house and who let others go out and do his shopping and such.

Pretty flimsy excuse for trying to inflame even further the US war in Pakistan. But then again, we pretty much fight all of our wars on pretty flimsy excuses these days.