Posted on 09/22/2006 9:50:56 AM PDT by 60Gunner
[Snip]In an interview to air Sunday on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" program, [Pakistani President Gen. Pervez] Musharraf said that after the [September 11, 2001] attacks, Richard Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, told Pakistan's intelligence director that the United States would bomb his country if it didn't help fight terrorists.
He said that Armitage had told him, "Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age."
Armitage has disputed the language attributed to him but did not deny the message was a strong one.
Asked about the report, Bush said, "The first I heard of this is when I read it in the newspaper. I guess I was taken aback by the harshness of the words."
For his part, Musharraf declined to comment and cited a contract agreement with a publisher on an upcoming book. However, he told CBS the Stone Age warning "was a very rude remark."
Bush has repeatedly praised Pakistan for arresting hundreds of al-Qaida operatives inside its borders. Pakistan is the world's second-biggest Islamic country, with a population of 160 million.
But the United States has also urged Pakistan to do more to stop militants from crossing from its tribal regions into Afghanistan, where Taliban-fanned violence has reached its deadliest proportions since the American-led invasion that toppled the hard-line regime.
Pakistan earlier this month signed a truce with tribal figures. Afghanistan has protested that the militants are linked to the Taliban, the militant Islamic group that once ruled Afghanistan until driven from power in 2001.
But Both Bush and Musharraf shrugged off such links and said they were united in pursuing terrorists, especially Osama bin Laden.
"When we find Osama bin Laden, he will be brought to justice. We are on the hunt together," Bush said.
Musharraf echoed him. "We are in the hunt together against these people," the Pakistani leader said.
Bush will have talks Tuesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Then, he'll have a three-way sitdown with both leaders at the White House on Wednesday.
Bush must work to placate the concerns of Pakistan, a chief ally in the war on terror, as well as the struggling democratic government in Afghanistan, which is suffering its heaviest insurgent attacks since U.S.-led troops toppled the Taliban in late 2001.
[Snip]
Earlier Friday, White House counselor Dan Bartlett said he didn't know the specifics of what Armitage might have said to the Pakistanis.
"But we have made very clear that we went straight to President Musharraf in the days after 9/11 and said it's time to make a choice: Are you going to side with the civilized world or are you going to side with the Taliban and al-Qaida," Bartlett told CBS' "The Early Show."
White House press secretary Tony Snow that he didn't know what Armitage said. Armitage no longer is in the administration.
"Mr. Armitage has said that he made no such representations," Snow said. "I don't know. This could have been a classic failure to communicate. I just don't know."
"U.S. policy was not to issue bombing threats," Snow said. "U.S. policy was to say to President Musharraf, `We need you to make a choice'."
In his meeting with Musharraf, Bush played middle man in a thorny foreign policy problem that has bubbled up between Islamabad and Afghanistan _ two U.S. allies in the war on terrorism who accuse each other of not doing enough to crack down on extremists.
Bush must work to placate the concerns of Pakistan, which is helping the United States track Osama bin Laden and restrain bin Laden's al-Qaida organization, as well as the struggling democratic government in Afghanistan, which is suffering its heaviest insurgent attacks since U.S.-led troops toppled the Taliban in late 2001.
Afghan officials have alleged repeatedly that Taliban militants are hiding out in neighboring Pakistan and launching attacks across the border into Afghanistan. Pakistan, which has deployed 80,000 troops along the border, rejects the accusation and says it's doing all it can to battle extremists. [Snip]
America does not have to placate Pakistan's concerns; however, Pakistan had better work harder to placate our concerns, because they are starting to look more and more like an enemy. If Pakistan was a friend, the Afghanistan/Pakistan border would not have a revolving foor for the Taliban.
If 80,000 Pakistani troops are guarding their border, why are the Taliban still coming and going at will? Those aren't guards, Mr. Musharraf. Those are doormen. If you want to convince us that you are on our side, let's see some piles of dead Taliban start to rise on the Afghanistan side of your border. Until we do, Pakistan should live under the perpetual shadow of hot American steel. If that's what it takes to get a country full of Muslims to cooperate with us, it works for me.
I'm not sure how some parts of Pakistan could have been knocked any further into the dark ages?
Probably a simple "where do you stand?" and Musharraf knew what that meant.
Armitage again?
This is great!
Let's ram it down the throats of the appeasers.
Negotiating from a position of stregth WORKS.
What Bush said at the time was, "Either you are with us or against us," and I'm sure he said it to Musharraf.
So, that was the choice.
President Bush isn't the smartest man on this earth by any means. If Pakistan arrests hundreds of al-Qaida, but pumps out tens of thousands of jihadists, (which it does), then who is being duped by whom? Perhaps the best way to deal with Pakistan is to arm India to the teeth, including giving them the best anti-missile defense there is, and then let them deal with Pakistan. I'm sure they'd love the opportunity.
Musharraf is a true believer in the war on terror, primarily because he knows that he's a target to the terrorists. However, the sympathies of many in the Pakistani military lie with the terrorists.
if mullah omar and binnie have been in Pakistan for the last 5 yrs, it's gotta to be understood that pakis ARE NOT co-operating all out-ask Rummie for an 'off the record' opinion on this.
Armitage again?? And out of the clear blue sky just like the Wilson thing? And back to back...
A diplomatic way to say it, but we all know the U.S. intent to take out the Taliban was serious and this was conveyed to Pakistan.
No use being a superpower if you don't throw your weight around once and a while.
Perchance Colin and Dickie got together and felt the Gen. need to be told in more specific terms what that evil George W. Bush, Cheney, Rummy and the neo-cons meant by that statement and since the good Colin and Dickie define Bush's gunslinger intentions really mean "we'll bomb you back to the Stone Age (which is where most of them live anyway so the trip wouldn't be much of a culture shock, except in the palaces of the capital.)
Maybe. He has access to the smartest minds on earth. His biggest problem is deciding which to listen to.
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