By Yatindra Bhatnagar

What India and some other sane countries were warning the American and the British governments for decades has coming out in the open by the admission of those who have been hit hard by an ungrateful and perfidious Pakistani war machine.

India leaders and people have been crying hoarse that sophisticated and most modern American and British weapons have always been used against India. No body listened or cared. But now that these two countries have seen and experienced right on the Pakistani soil they should be convinced that American and British weapons are also being used to kill Yankees and Brits.

The reports have been frankly and bluntly confirmed by an American marine, the highest living Medal of Honor recipient, Dakota Meyer. He said that for years the two western countries with sophisticated weapon technology, have been sending highly advanced and lethal weapon systems to Pakistan. Islamabad has been equipping its army and other radical Islamic militants, including Taliban, to wage a war against those who have been helping, arming, financing and training Pakistani military.

Meyer has also gone to court in a lawsuit against his recent employers, weapon-maker company BAE Systems, that also is a ‘partner in crime' so to say, along with the United States government of supplying sophisticated arms to Pakistan. Meyer exposed that and was defamed by BAE and so he sued.

Meyer re-iterated that BAE retaliated against him after he objected to the sale of high-tech sniper scope to Pakistan. Meyer had argued that the company was endangering American soldiers by selling the weapon system to "the same people who are killing our guys."

Yes, as long as the Pakistanis were killing Indians and waging a clandestine and proxy war against India the Americans and the British looked the other way or protested only mildly. Now things have somewhat changed when The US-Pakistan relations are not so cozy. The "dependable ally on the war on terror" has unleashed a war of words and has given an ultimatum to the US military to vacate the air base from where the attacks were launched that allegedly killed some two dozen Pakistani troops.

The truth is that the United States has been sending most modern weapons to countries and groups, some of which not yet given to its own military. The US equipped and encouraged Afghan fighters against the Russians and now these weapons have fallen into the hands of the Talibans and other militant groups and the role of Pakistan is questionable and condemnable in this regard.

It is just like "providing fangs to snakes in your own backyard," as the headline of the report said bluntly, accurately, and yes, sarcastically. The Times of India report said the gnawing and growing misgivings that the US and other western governments have endangered their own men and mission by arming an extremist Pakistan to the teeth have burst into public domain with an American war hero questioning the policy in a legal scrap.

According to a report in the Houston Chronicle observers familiar with the Pentagon's procurement process say that Meyer's concerns are valid and aren't new. As the world's largest arms exporter, the US has sold weapons to many countries that were once allies but later became enemies.

The truth is that the United States has been selling/gifting weapons to countries and groups, some of which have not yet been given to its own military. The US equipped and encouraged Afghan fighters against the Russians and later these weapons fell into the hands of the Talibans and other militant groups; the role of Pakistan is also questionable and condemnable in this regard.

The Times story added that Dakota Meyer is the first living marine to receive the nation's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, since the Vietnam War for his role in repulsing an attack and saving the lives of many of colleagues in Afghanistan. Following his stint in the US forces, Meyer began working for armament maker BAE Systems in the US in March this year and straightaway ran into issues that evidently conflicted with his ground experience in Afghanistan of essentially fighting Pakistan and its proxies.

In an email to his supervisor earlier this year, Meyer complained that it was "disturbing" how Pakistan was being supplied with advanced thermal optic scopes made by BAE Systems when US troops were being issued outdated equipment. He argued that the firm was endangering US troops selling the scope to "the same people who are killing our guys."

"We are simply taking the best gear, the best technology on the market to date and giving to guys that are known to stab us in the back," Meyer was quoted saying in an email cited in a lawsuit he has filed against BAE Systems and his supervisors there. The lawsuit also refers to his fighting "Pakistani insurgents" in Afghanistan, and points to the growing resentment on the ground of US and NATO troops who see Pakistan as an enemy but are constrained by the political and diplomatic exigencies of their governments in coddling Pakistan.

The case is particularly relevant after the recent NATO/US attack on two Pakistani posts that killed 24 Pakistani troops and injured 12 in what Islamabad claims was a deliberate and unprovoked attack. But US ground commanders and troops have long complained in private that Pakistan supports terrorist proxies who attack and kill western and Afghan troops in Afghanistan and head back to Pakistan under covering fire - a charge echoed by Meyer in his lawsuit.

In the past, Pakistani ISI personnel have been killed in Afghanistan while training Taliban and al-Qaida elements, most notably in Khost in 1998 during the Clinton Presidency. The Bush administration also allowed Pakistan to airlift its terrorist assets from Afghanistan in the aftermath of the US invasion following 9/11. Successive US governments have continued to supply lethal arms to Pakistan under ‘spurious excuses' about fighting terrorists, when, according to the US government's own account, the arms are being stacked up for use against India.

But even as Washington has complained about Pakistan keeping "snakes in its backyard," to paraphrase Hillary Clinton's complaint, it turns out that US and UK (BAE is a British firm) are providing the fangs.

That military equipment, not to speak of huge civilian aid, is coming back to bite US forces, a sentiment that is common among troops returning from the combat zone. The supplies include F-16 fighter jets, which Washington gave to Pakistan despite objections from India that it was not useful in the war on terror, and which Pakistan is now threatening to use against its patron and supplier.

[In the latest clash between Pakistani and American/NATO authorities there is now another twist that exposes the perfidy and double face of Pakistani army and civilian authorities. A report from Afghanistan has clearly alleged that the US/NATO attack followed a provocative attack by Pakistan-based Taliban and other militants against the western allies. It was only after the attack by the enemies that US/NATO took action, and not before that.]