Bush, Musharraf and Osama

I watched the press conference by Presidents Bush and Musharraf this morning (my DSL is out again, by the way) and the revelation that the Pakistani President made a statement to CBS that Richard Armitage told him to cooperate or be bombed back to the stone age. Lots of news there so let's take a look.

How is it news that right after 9/11 our Department of State told this guy this? We'd just been attacked and his country was implicit. They supported the Taliban and Al Qaeda and parts of Pakistan were, and are, being used as hideouts for Osama and his cronies. I'd have told him the same thing. What's more, if he hadn't cooperated they would be back in the stone age today.

Of course Bush said something very stupid on CNN the other day. He said we'd invade Pakistan if it meant killing or capturing Osama bin Forgotten. You don't say something like that in public. This was as bad a violation of diplomacy and protocol as what Chavez said. Some things are only meant to be spoken in confidence and behind closed doors, as Armitage did. Bush's statement greatly undermines Musharraf in his country and makes it more difficult to get Osama.

George Bush keeps making these huge mistakes when it comes to getting the Al qaeda leader. It makes one wonder....

If we must enter Pakistan to capture Osama we should. Any country, for that matter. I sincerely doubt any country would really challenge us if/when we do. They have to bluster and shout publicly for appearances sake but no one would challenge our right to get this monster. You just don't say so publicly and undermine the authority of their leader and, essentially, say you have no respect for their sovereignty. That was stupid and led to this morning's press conference.

Interestingly Musharraf used the event to push his new book. I'm sure our readers at Simon and Shuster were excited to see all the free publicity. Heck, no one has said Pervez is stupid.