Ignore Muslim anger at your peril, Musharraf warns Bush

The Ottawa Citizen ^ | 09-27-03

[caltrop]

Are you too blind to see that Musharraf's got to step carefully or he's going to be history? Under those circumstances, what sort of government do you think would emerge? My guess is, without Musharraf, the Islamic bomb's deployment would suddenly be a real possibility. Maybe you ought to do some research.

[BenLurkin]

Here's a news flash for this guy. WE are the angry ones. THEY are the ones who better look out!

[caltrop]

Talk about getting it just backwards. Pakistan has nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. I agree we can shut off their infrastructure, not all that big a deal in some parts of Pakistan, but they can drop a nuclear bomb on anything in the region. All they have to do is nuke a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and all shipping in the region will instantly stop. If they do it in the winter, keeping the Northern Hemishpere's cities (that's us) warm is going to be a challenge.

[yoe]

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/3150.htm
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1255

Early warnings should be heeded. Maybe it is time Gen. Musharraf made checking who and what is under all those veils should be made mandatory! Certainly here in the US, IDs must be compulsory/required regardless of ‘religion’ and that means pictures of faces matching the one under the veil – off with the veils! Militant Islam is out to do us in and made soooo easy with political correctness paving the way for terrorists to do just that.

[StriperSniper]

Mr. Bush could score a major public relations victory by capturing Mr. bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader

Western intelligence has been certain for months that the al-Qaeda leader is hiding in Pakistan's tribal belt, a mountainous, lawless and largely backward region that borders Afghanistan.

Gen. Musharraf said the intelligence he has seen does not dissuade him from believing his country is host to the most wanted man in the United States.

Gen. Musharraf described in detail the difficulties in finding Mr. bin Laden and the limitations of the U.S. satellite technology in the mountainous region.

"So how do you react? You react with force, of course."

And that, said Gen. Musharraf, is where the complication arises.

Too many innocent lives would be imperiled if the U.S. started firing rockets at every group of people it thought might contain Mr. bin Laden, he said.

To me, that sounds like tacit approval to operate covertly inside Pakistan and do what we have to when we are sure we have the right target. Not that I doubt that that has been the policy for a long time already, but it looks like an extra wink and nod from Gen. Musharraf.

[tkathy]

The religion of murder and hatred vs. the religion of love and peace.

[SandRat]

Bravo Boris!

brian s you are more than welcome to pass what is below on to "Mister Mike Blanchfield of The Ottawa Citizen."

Mike Blanchfield of The Ottawa Citizen, we were attacked on September 11th, 2001, not you, not anyone else, we were attacked.

Mike Blanchfield of The Ottawa Citizen you need to re-read the history of WWII.

Mike Blanchfield of The Ottawa Citizen you have it all wrong! Nations, entities, ignore US ANGER at their peril. Where terror exists or even a chance of an organizing/support terror cell exists nations, all nations must get with the program and root out the rats that are only endangering our world. Those nations who deny they exist and or do nothing or hide behind some self-righteous attitude and turn a blind eye are making a very bad mistake. Those nations are likely to find they have been left among the terrorists when the anger of the US reaches it's highest, as it did in August of 1945, and the fires of hell were let out.

Remember Adm. Yamamoto "I fear that all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with rage."

Avoid all of that by rooting out the rats.

Now Mister Mike Blanchfield of The Ottawa Citizen, get with the program and get your country with the program or shut your stinking KA-NUK moose-pie-hole!

[servantoftheservant]

My guess is, without Musharraf, the Islamic bomb's deployment would suddenly be a real possibility.

You think Pakistan's bomb is not an 'Islamic bomb'? Have you ever been to Pakistan? Their missiles are named after famed Islamic invaders of India, and there are shrines to their nuclear missiles in the center of cities, in roundabouts, etc. It's bizarre.

The bottom line is: if Pakistan acts up, they will do some damage in the short term, and then they will cease to exist as a country. Bush made this very clear to them before the Afghan war: Either disassociate yourself from your creation (the Taliban), or get erased. Musharraf chose wisely, but he shouldn't be lecturing the US on the danger of Muslim 'anger'. He should be lecturing Muslims on the danger of US anger.

[Great Dane]

Muslims has always hated the west, especially the US, that will never change, as they don't need a reason.

[caltrop]

My point is that, without Musharraf, Pakistan's WMD could fall into the hands of fundamentalists who'd be willing to use them. Those who seek a Moslem - US World War (the fundamentalists on the one hand and the neocons on the other) would, were Musharraf to fall, be much closer to their goal. IMHO, the entire region isn't worth an American sprained ankle except for the region's oil and the US would be far better off if we simply got out of the region and let the various religious factions cheerfully kill each other. If we refuse to take sides in their various wars they'll have no reason to involve us in their religious conflicts and that's where I'd happily leave it.

No, I've never been to Pakistan.

[tubavil]

I agree 1000%.

There's a problem with the Commander-in-Chief though. He still maintains islam is a religion of peace and one of the world's great religions.

[Great Dane]

This just sounds like the standard Democrat talking points I see every day in the newspaper!

Thats The Ottawa Citizen for you, it owned by a very lefty guy.

[FreedomCalls]

I suggest that we nuke Mecca.

[FreedomCalls]

If the U.S. took pre-emptive military action against Iran -- the way it justified attacking Iraq to rid it of weapons of mass destruction -- it would lead to a backlash in the Muslim world, Gen. Musharraf warned.

The U.S. is not going to take military action against Iran, Israel is.

[tubavil]

The U.S. is not going to take military action against Iran, Israel is.

Triggering event? Timeframe?

[Filibuster_60]

The bottom line is: if Pakistan acts up, they will do some damage in the short term, and then they will cease to exist as a country. Bush made this very clear to them before the Afghan war: Either disassociate yourself from your creation (the Taliban), or get erased. Musharraf chose wisely, but he shouldn't be lecturing the US on the danger of Muslim 'anger'. He should be lecturing Muslims on the danger of US anger.

Musharraf believes his cards against us are stronger than ours against him. Maybe he's right. Pakistan's plunge into chaos would hardly help the war on terror and regional stability, would it? With Mushy in charge Pakistan can be more part of the solution than part of the problem. If he goes, that'll probably change for the worse. It's the same Catch-22 we're in with respect to the Saudis and Egyptians - their leaders assume we need them since even their flawed stability is preferable to potential takeover by the fundamentalists. That's why they get away with all the anti-Semitism and even anti-Americanism that's deeply ingrained in their public institutions. This situation won't change unless we're ready to invade their countries the same way we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, but clearly we're not, and even if we were, what are the prospects for a cheap and speedy victory in a country where anti-Americanism has permeated so deeply into popular culture, where the people seem to hate the US more than their leaders? For this reason I'm far less concerned about Iran and even Iraq than Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

[sweetliberty]

"Muslims feel that maybe they are being targeted."

DUH!!!! Ya think???

[Sam Cree]

If the Muslim world is full of hatred toward us because we took out a monster like Saddam, then the Muslim world gives an indication of being contaminated with evil at a basic level.

[geedee]

Perhaps if Musharraf looked in his closet we would catch Osama-Mama.

[Travis McGee]

Where are they going to drop a nuke if their lights go out? That option makes no sense.

War can take many forms. We could engage in all out cyber war with China and never fire a shot, not a word would be said in admission by either side. Ditto power infrastructure. I don't see how blackouts lead to nukes being dropped.