And, she’s proud of it…
Hillary Clinton told the Pakistanis today that the democrats tax everything that moves.
The Daily Times reported:
“The percentage of taxes on GDP (in Pakistan) is among the lowest in the world… We (the United States) tax everything that moves and doesn’t move, and that’s not what we see in Pakistan,” she said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gestures as she speaks with Pakistani elders in Islamabad on October 30, 2009. – AFP
Later the Pakistanis blasted Hillary Clinton over the drone attacks on “innocent civilians” in the tribal areas.
DAWN reported:
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton came face-to-face Friday with Pakistani anger over US aerial drone attacks in tribal areas along the Afghan border, a strategy that US officials say has succeeded in killing key terrorist leaders.
In a series of public appearances on the final day of a three-day visit marked by blunt talk, Clinton refused to discuss the subject, which involves highly classified CIA operations. She would say only that ‘there is a war going on,’ and the Obama administration is committed to helping Pakistan defeat the insurgents and terrorists who threaten the stability of a nuclear-armed nation.
Clinton said she could not comment on ‘any particular tactic or technology’ used in the war against extremist groups in the area.
The use of Predator drone aircraft, armed with guided missiles, is credited by US officials with eliminating a growing number of senior terrorist group leaders this year who had used the tribal lands of Pakistan as a haven beyond the reach of US ground forces in Afghanistan.
During an interview broadcast live in Pakistan with several prominent female TV anchors, before a predominantly female audience of several hundred, one member of the audience said the Predator attacks amount to ‘executions without trial’ for those killed.
Another asked Clinton how she would define terrorism.
‘Is it the killing of people in drone attacks?’ she asked. That woman then asked if Clinton considers drone attacks and bombings like the one that killed more than 100 civilians in the city of Peshawar earlier this week to both be acts of terrorism.
‘No, I do not,’ Clinton replied.
Earlier, in a give-and-take with about a dozen residents of the tribal region, one man alluded obliquely to the drone attacks, saying he had heard that in the United States, aircraft are not allowed to take off after 11 pm, to avoid irritating the population.