Bush met at the White House with Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who assured the U.S. president of his desire to root out the Taliban and other extremists. The visit came amid controversy and a bizarre scenario during a press conference over Musharraf's claims in a forthcoming book that the Bush administration threatened to bomb Pakistan "to the Stone Age" if it failed to cooperate with the United States. Bush refuses to engage in direct dialogue with Iran so what better way is there to get a message across than to have a neighbor like Musharraf describe the consequences of uncooperation. The Bush Administration is hoping Iran abandons its pursuit of nuclear technology.
"The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the stone age'," Musharraf said.
"I think it was a very rude remark," Musharraf says in the interview. "One has to think and take actions in the interests of the nation, and that's what I did."
Shortly after, Pakistan abandoned its support for the Taliban, which was sheltering Al-Qaeda leaders, and became a front-line ally in the US-led "war on terror."
At the press conference, both presidents were asked about Musharraf's claim that former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage had issued a "Stone Age" bombing threat in the days after Sept. 11, 2001. Bush said he was "taken aback by the harshness of the words" attributed to Armitage but had no knowledge of such a threat. He said the first he heard of it was in the newspaper Friday.
Armitage categorically denied it. "I've never made a threat in my life that I couldn't back up," he told CNN, "and since I wasn't authorized to say such a thing and hence couldn't back up that threat, I never said it."
In other words according to Armitage, Musharraf is a liar. Asked separately to comment on the report, Armitage's then-boss, former secretary of state Colin L. Powell, said there was "no such bombing threat."
Make no mistake, whether it’s about outing CIA agents during wartime or threatening other countries, Richard Armitage takes his orders from Bush.
Musharraf said at the news conference that he could reveal no more because he was "honor-bound" to his publisher, Simon & Schuster, to keep the book under wraps until next week -- an assertion that seemed to amuse President Bush.
As he shook hands with Musharraf after the news conference, Bush smiled and told reporters, "Buy the book."
Timing is everything, and this entire “stone age” episode appeared staged and coordinated with the ongoing exchange with Iran. Bush knows Ahmadinejad’s only chance to hear what he has to say is by watching and listening to television news reports.
But regarding the comments, it appears Bush is okay with Musharrafs false claims. Which then only figures that Bush is content with the way the world perceives the United States – as an overbearing oppressive bully ready to “bomb into the stone age” those who disagree. Though the administration claims Musharrafs statements are not true, Bush nonchalantly allows this to go unchallenged and smears America’s reputation by allowing a so-called ally to profit from this lie. Why would he do this? This bizarre episode is confusing to say the least, everything is deniable while nothing is clearly understood. But that is Bush style diplomacy – it is based on fear. That is our current foreign policy.
No comments:
Post a Comment