Senior Pentagon official Mark Lippert has testified to the US Senate Armed Services Committee that the Pentagon would consider a range of options if Pakistan did not cooperate against terrorism. Mr Lippert appeared before the committee for his confirmation hearing as US Assistant Secretary of Defence for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs. Mr Lippert also said that the USA saw Pakistans cooperation as 'best. During his testimony, Mr Lippert exposed how far he is prey to the American biases against Pakistan. For one thing, he said that it was Pakistans responsibility to ensure that attacks did not emanate from its territory, once again raising the bogey of the Haqqani network, which according to intelligence reports is based out of Afghanistan, not Pakistan. For another, he claimed the ability of militant groups to find safe haven in Pakistan posed a significant threat to US forces. This ignores the reality that the great mass of attacks on US forces comes from Afghanistan itseld, and is rooted in that peoples resistance to foreign invasion and occupation. The implication of Mr Lipperts remarks are that the USA is contemplating military action against Pakistan, something which the ruling elite should consider in a thorough review of foreign policy, which should include a clear decision to get out of an unfortunate and onesided alliance. It seems that the USA, after the Abbottabad raid, has got the wrong ideas about Pakistan and thinks that it can use military means to impose its will. The USA may not be aware of it, but it should know that the Pakistani nation would resist any such attempt fiercely. The ruling dispensation should also keep in mind that Pakistan is the source of its ability to rule, and its dependence on the USA means that it is going against the current of opinion within the Pakistani people, in return for a presumed ability to keep it in power. It should remember that lack of power in their own country is better than not having a country at all. The fate of all those who acted as US lackeys should be kept in mind, and there would be a swift realisation that the USA is an ungrateful master. The USA is trying to prop up India as its regional counterweight to China, and thus is apparently falling in with its wishes for regional hegemony. These wishes also include a number of prejudices against Pakistan, which India wishes the USA to share. It appears that it has succeeded. This should be the new reality to which the ruling elite must accommodate itself. It is only after breaking the alliance presently existing that the USA can be convinced that accepting Indian prejudices in place of policy was a bad idea, and it must restore balance to the relationship that must proceed as that between two equal states.