Posted on 12/27/2007 11:14:53 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
HARRIS FAULKNER : Senator, your reaction, first, to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
FRED THOMPSON : It is a tragedy, of course. It reminds us that things can happen in faraway places of the world that can affect the United States. I think this should be of great concern to us. It is almost a perfect storm in a very bad sense because two forces are operating against each other that are both desirable. One is democracy: they were making progress in that regard in that country. Former prime minister Bhutto was an important part of that process. But the other is stability. Pakistan is a nuclear country, and we cannot afford to let nukes fall into the hands of dangerous Muslim radicals. We are hoping those two things can be balanced out. We can see the continued progress toward a democratic society but also maintain stability in the country, which seems to be very much in doubt right now.
FAULKNER: I know you are running for the White House, so I don't want to put you in a position to second guess the president. But I'm interested in your opinion. President Bush is due to talk with Pervez Musharraf shortly. What do you anticipate that conversation should be like?
THOMPSON: Those two things that I mention probably would be high on the agenda. What could be done to not impose martial law, to not crack down, but be mindful of the fact that there are radical elements in that country, and perhaps even within the government, that would like to see instability and chaos and see those weapons fall into the wrong hands. This is part of a bigger problem. We need to understand that this is not a criminal investigation any more - so we find the bad guys and bring them to justice - it's a war.
This proves again the mindset of the radical elements that we are dealing with. We are seeing this all across Northern Africa and various places. We're seeing it across the Middle East and in parts of Asia including Indonesia and other places. We have to come to terms with that and do the things necessary to prevail. One of the things we need to be talking about is what Musharraf can do, additionally, to crack down on the Taliban. I think they have been insufficient in that respect.
FAULKNER : Taliban also supporters of al Qaeda in that country. Pakistan has been an important ally in the war on terror, so have do you walk that line?
THOMPSON: You just walk it. No one said it has been easy and simple. Pakistan has never been easy or simple. I had a chance a few years ago to talk to Musharraf before things got quite as complex as they are now. But it has always been an important part of the world. They're next door to India. They've had a crisis after crisis with regard to them. They're next door to Afghanistan, and they're important to us. They've been helpful to us. But we' re going to have to walk that line between democracy on the one hand and stability on the other. But I think it's possible.
I don’t think he’s as inactive as we are told by the national punditry, who all have written him off since the start. This is no conspiracy, rather a smug “Why haven’t you been running since we’ve been interested?” kind of thing. I think most voters in the country are just beginning to take note, and frankly think it disgusting the way we are forced to make early choices for the candidates. That’s how we got Bob Dole, and why we no longer have him in the Senate.
Musharraf may not be the ideal statesman in Pakistan, but he is at least a secular leader. The very nature of Pakistan demands that our next President has a good understanding of cause and envent in the diplomatic world. We cannot afford a neophyte in the White House, and that is what we would have with any of the Democrats including Mike Huckabee.
Huckabee scares me to death. Nearly any of the Republican candidates (save Ron Paul) would be better, and Ron Paul would only be equally as bad.
I think most voters in the country are just beginning to take note, and frankly think it disgusting the way we are forced to make early choices for the candidates.I agree there. It also goes to show how stupid Iowans are that they set their caucus date so that their campaign season would peak from Christmas to New Years. Dolts.
AMEN!
I sent a note to someone this morning in light of the Bhutto assassination, telling them that we had better pray that Fred Thompson is elected POTUS, because we are going to need someone leading this country who knows more than how to be a slick politician.
How will Huck insure that Islamists will take over Pakistan by bombing them to smithereens and killing them? We threatened to bomb Pakistan into the stone age if they didn’t help us destroy al-qaeda. It’s well past time to face the fact that they are not helping us get the job done. Are the threats of the USA hollow, or do we really mean it when we say “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”
We're all trying to figure out what he meant. And English his native tongue too.
You should apply for the Secretary of Defense position within Huckabee’s campaign. It couldn’t be any worse than he has right now.
Kinda reminds me of Jamie Gorelick!!! (Warfare vs Lawfare)
Hitlery would have coined it Lawfair... Phhhhhhhht!!!
"Our country is in a global war of historic proportions,
and not enough people realize that yet..."Fred
I didn’t invent it - it is literally inconcievable to me. I think I picked it up on the Strategy Page.
In a sane society, lawyers waging lawfare on the behalf of terrorists would be arrested, tried before a military tribunal, convicted, and hanged for treason the next morning.
Just shows that Huckabee is totally and absolutly clues on figthting this war.
Has it ever occurred to you there is a tactical reason the the mightiest military in the world has not captured some thug in a cave?
Of course not, you support that Bush bashing gitmo closing idiot...
This is a war and until all of America realizes it the worse it is going to be. AQ wants to destroy the west and especially America.
Pray for W and Our Troops
OK...I'll say it. KILL THE BASTARDS
Yew cain’t say theyat, ewwwwwwwwww!!! That’s terribly mean spirited yew mean NAILERMAN!!! Confess yer sin ta Saint Huckabeensuckedin... den go an sin no mo!!! (/dripin slovenly sarcasm wif a suthern baptistan acceyent)
Yas I cain. Thas not raght yew a compairin' me to Mr. Huckleberry. That makes me thank o' that moovie about Tombstone, whar that feller ol'Doc Holiday said to de guy raght for' he kilt him, "I'm yer Huckleberry"
Then he done went an' shot I'm in de haid.
An' thas whut I thank we needs ta dew, Shewt 'em in de haid.
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