I spent about a week in that hotel, hanging out every night in the popular reception area sipping mint tea, the closest thing to an aphrodisiac to take your mind of the madness outside in the city and country. I remember fondly the people who worked at the hotel, the attendants behind the travel desk who helped me book my plane tickets out of the country and advised me wisely about how to travel up to the notorious Northwest Frontier, well known as the "wild wild east" of that part of the world and a dangerous zone for any foreigner who dared to venture in. Back then, there was a popular Chinese restaurant in the hotel. You could get great hot and sour soup and General Tso's chicken. There was one waiter I remember, an older guy who reminisced with me about the way things were before partition, when India and Pakistan were one and he and my grandfather were probably friends, not pre-determined enemies.

There's no way to know for sure, but it may be safe assumption that some of those same helpful folks behind the travel desk and in the restaurant were victims of the bombing. It's crudely ironic that terrorists perpetrate crimes like these on their own, presumably to send messages to their own leadership about collaborating with American politicos. In this instance, one American seems to be amongst the dead, and yet all the intelligence suggests that this was a clear message from Al Qaida/The Taliban toward the newly minted Pakistani Prime Minister and the Americans (current administration and future one) that they have a very pissed-off adversary in that part of the world that remains armed, dangerous, and very eager to make their violent and disruptive presence felt.

Here's the thing: Pakistan is the new Iraq. In fact, it's the old Iraq before Iraq was Iraq. Or perhaps simply put, it's the same old Pakistan that it's been for the last two decades, a hotzone for militancy and fundamentalism, the more organized brains behind Afghanistan, the nation that tends to get all the press because of A-List operators like Osama B. There's been strong, conclusive evidence all along - before 9/11 and certainly since then - that Pakistan's intelligence agency the ISI has links to Al Qaida and the Taliban. It's well established on the ground in that part of the world that while in the surface the US and Pakistan are supposedly allies, their greatest resistance and obstacle to accomplish the mission in Afghanistan for the US comes at the hands of Pakistan. Somehow the Bush administration managed a magnificent bate and switch on this one, distracting Americans and focusing them in Iraq, a war that never had any clear connection to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism (but surely does now!) and continues to costs us $10 billion/month and that still, all these years later, shows no real signs of resolution.

I wish there was a simple solution that I could really believe that my Obama/Biden team could sweep in, provide, and would solve this predicament. Alas, this situation- which is rapidly deteriorating along with the catastrophic collapse of the American economy that we are witnessing - clearly promises whatever administration inherits the White House a gargantuan and perhaps impossible scenario. Playing politics for a minute, I do think that for this reason it is more relevant than ever to question the chops of each candidate and their foreign policy experience and/or basic familiarity with geo-politics. To that end, conversing about Palin's in this regard is a non-starter. Her responses that she can see Russia from Alaska and that that qualifies as some measure of experience is more insulting than it is funny. Alternatively with Obama, we may all want to familiarize ourselves with his past academic experience which largely makes up what he brings to the table. Theory and practice are often widely apart but it's a good start. And the fact the rest of the world - our allies in particular - seem to overwhelmingly support Obama, I look at as a benefit not a detraction as the GOP has attempted to make it out to be. We need all the help we can get on this one, I am afraid.

The consequences of not bringing some sort of creative approach to the Oval Office on these issues this January will be catastrophic. Personally, I don't think the same old same old, "we'll hunt down these killers to the gates of hell" policy is a winning one. And sadly, it's that sort of rhetoric that both candidates tend to rely on the appeal to the American tribe these days, as if anything less or more cerebral reveals weakness or irresoluteness. I'm sure we'll see a lot of it this Friday during the first presidential debate that is supposed to focus on the issue of Foreign Policy. It'll be a male-fest more akin to Cowboys-Packers than an intelligent conversation to the world and it's many geo-political politics.

After this weekend, the rise of fundamentalism is evermore present. Sadly it's all to clear to the workers and guests of the Islamabad Marriot, fleeting friends, agents of nostalgia, collateral damage in a conflict that won't end.

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)