In an interview to Pakistan Television on December 5, US ambassador Cameron Munter declared the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers as not deliberate and so has President Barack Obama as well as US Army Chief, General Martin Dempsey, and may other prominent Americans. With the outcome already determined, the enquiry will be a mere formality to confirm what the bosses say. With evidence already forged and the witnesses prepared, Pakistani participants would have been used as a mere rubber stamp to confirm the findings and that is why they refused to participate. Another reason for not participating is that Pakistani enquiry has already confirmed that there is no way this attack could have been anything but deliberate. Munters said that 'the loss of lives of Pakistani soldiers was as unfortunate and regrettable as the loss of Americans soldiers. In this particular incident, no American died so while talking about it, Munter could have confined himself to condoling the death of 24 Pakistanis instead of trying to dilute and diminish it by linking it with American deaths that occurred over the years. This is also a crude attempt to indirectly justify the killing by creating a sort of cause-and-effect scenario, as well as a veiled threat, which is very disgusting. After all, while talking of 3,000 deaths in 9/11, over which the United States turned our region upside down, the Americans never mention in the same breath the death of thousands of Arabs and Palestinians caused, encouraged and condoned by the US through its massive and ever-increasing military and economic aid, as well as moral (immoral) and diplomatic support to Israel, which caused 9/11 in the first place. US just established a military presence in Australia, has already announced formidable presence in the Pacific and has built huge military bases in Afghanistan to control oil and mineral resources in the region, including those of Central Asia. With Osama bin Laden already dead, and with al-Qaeda virtually finished as claimed by the US, talk of any other cause for US presence in the region is false and fabricated, just as the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Munter was technically right in claiming that aid under Kerry-Lugar-Bemin Bill was continuing; only he did not mention that its flow has been reduced down to a trickle, with the result that the amount received so far is in millions instead of billions that were promised. Also, reconstruction opportunity zones are long forgotten and coalition support fund reimbursement is also in arrear. So, even on the economic front, things are not going as well as Munter would like us to believe. S.R.H. HASHMI, Karachi, December 6.