Posted on 07/19/2007 9:32:19 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, July 19 — Saying he still believes that the United States is safer than it was on Sept. 11, Rudolph W. Giuliani on Thursday nevertheless criticized the way the Bush Administration pursued Al Qaeda and suggested that the United States failed to put enough pressure on Pakistan to pursue terrorists.
In two interviews while campaigning in Iowa, Mr. Giuliani discussed the National Intelligence Estimate released Tuesday by the White House, which found that a hands-off approach by Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, toward Pakistan’s tribal areas had set the stage for Al Qaeda’s resurgence.
“Did we not put enough pressure on Musharraf as we should have to clean up the Taliban and Al Qaeda?” asked Mr. Giuliani, who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination. “I think that is more a political judgment or a political mistake or a diplomatic mistake.”
“I think the goal has to be, we have to destroy Al Qaeda and the Taliban,” he said. “If the best way to do that is to push the Pakistan government to do that, then fine. If we have to do a little bit more, fine. The president has to make that determination. That is a delicate balance.”
He said he sympathized with General Musharraf as he tried to deal simultaneously with the threat of Islamic extremism and tribal chieftains who control areas along the border with Afghanistan.
“I think there is no question he is better than the alternative,” Mr. Giuliani said of the Pakistani leader.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
In a wide-ranging discussion in a small room by the gymnasium at North Middle School in Sioux City, Mr. Giuliani consistently sought to justify the actions of the Bush administration, citing the new nature of the fight it had to confront and the need for urgent action to combat terrorism.
But, in contrast to the approach taken by the administration over the past five years, he also said the next president should work with Congress to formulate guidelines to govern the use of tools in fighting terrorism, like interrogation techniques, surveillance and detention policies.
Just like the pundits said...you have to be pro-offense in the WOT, but distance yourself from Bush just a little.
btt with no comment.
Pakistan is far more dangerous now than Iraq ever was.
He is bloody ignorant. I'm no fan of Musharraf, but anyone who has paid any attention to the news from Pakistan over the past five years knows that Musharraf's forces are riddled with al Qaeda supporters. In no way does he have enough trustworthy forces to invade an essentially lawless area of Pakistan, impose control over it and round up al Qaeda.
Dubya has made many, many errors -- notably his unwillingness to appropriately loosen rules of engagement and wage total war. It's arguable that we should have simply invaded the border regions of Pakistan if possible. But that's not what Giuliani said -- he's just falling back on the old leftist saw that we haven't done enough diplomatically and politically. What a fraud he is.
ping to Giuliani using the leftist argument that we took our eye off the ball in Afghanistan/Pakinstan and focused too much on Iraq. His solution: the leftist argument, of course — more diplomatic and political pressure on Musharraf.
I see this as simply a transparent effort by Giuliani to insert himself into the current news related to the trouble in Pakistan and the report that al Qaeda is as powerful as effort. He seems to constantly be in reactive-mode on foreign policy issues, which does not bode well for his ability to put us on the foreign policy offense as president.
I have never doubted Giuliani’s desire to eliminate Osama and al Qaeda. My point is that Giuliani doesn’t have a clue about how to do that beyond micro crime-fighting tactics such as interrogation and surveillance. This to me is simply more proof of his cluelessness, for the reason I described above.
Frankly, if we wiped out all of Afghanistan and the border regions of Pakistan, we would still have an Islamofascist problem. I keep hearing leftists say that we let al Qaeda go in Tora Bora, and that they have subsequently spread their tentacles all over the world. Giuliani seems to be awfully close to supporting this view. This, of course, is rubbish — the cells that planned 9/11 were already spread all over the world, in Germany, and here in the US. We have to get bin Laden, but we also have to remove state sponsors globally.
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