Maureen Dowd: Axis of 'sketchy' allies
From RawStory.com
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd has slammed the Bush Administration for cozying up to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, "a dictator who appears to be harboring terrorists, including the one we want most."
"The Pakistan president is a smooth operator, a military dictator
cruising around the capital with his elegant wife and enormous security contingent, talking about how much he likes democracy, which he won't yet allow," writes Dowd.
"He may have more respect for checks and balances than Dick Cheney, but
that's not saying much," adds Dowd.
"General General, as W. called him in that famous campaign pop quiz,
tried to persuade Bush that the shabby truce he recently made with tribal
leaders, agreeing that the Pakistani army would stay out of the wild border area
next to Afghanistan -- where Osama and other al-Qaida and Taliban members are
believed to be hiding -- was really "against" the militants,"
writes Dowd.
Excerpts from Dowd's column:
#
After Pervez Musharraf coyly sidestepped a question at a news conference with
President Bush about his claim on "60 Minutes" that Richard Armitage
threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if it did not cooperate in
routing the Taliban in Afghanistan, noting that he had to save such juicy
tidbits for his book's publication next week, he shot up over 1,000 spots on
Amazon.com.
....
The Paks, as W. and Vice like to call them, are at the heart of the Faustian
deal the Bush administration has made. The justification for invading Iraq was
that they couldn't allow a dictator who might be harboring terrorists to stay in
power. But their great ally in the war on terror is Musharraf, a dictator who
appears to be harboring terrorists, including the one we want most.
....
We may not have Osama, but at least W. helped General General with his Amazon
ranking. "Buy the book," the president recommended as the two allies
wrapped up.
#
TIMES SELECT SUBSCRIBERS CAN READ FULL DOWD COLUMN AT THIS LINK
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