Monday, August 02, 2004
Bush and Musharraf
It seems that the latest terrorism warning was a result of intelligence provided by Pakistan, after Pakistan's arrest of a connected Al Qaeda engineer.
A U.S. intelligence official said the previously unannounced arrest of a 25-year-old computer expert July 13 in Pakistan yielded a "treasure trove" of evidence that detailed potential attacks against financial targets in New York; Newark, New Jersey; and Washington.CNN also reports this intelligence has already led to 7 additional arrests, and hopefully this will preempt this possible attack against the US.
Remember that none of this would have been possible without the overarching, global strategy of the Bush Adminstration to win the war on terror -- The cultivation of the relationship with Pakistan and Musharraf began with Bush.
Dr. Rice's testimony before the 9/11 Commission:
Integrating our counterterrorism and regional strategies was the most difficult and the most important aspect of the new strategy to get right. Al-Qaida was both client of and patron to the Taliban, which in turn was supported by Pakistan. Those relationships provided al-Qaida with a powerful umbrella of protection, and we had to sever them. This was not easy.
Not that we hadn’t tried. Within a month of taking office, President Bush sent a strong, private message to President Musharraf urging him to use his influence with the Taliban to bring Bin Laden to justice and to close down al-Qaida training camps. Secretary Powell actively urged the Pakistanis, including Musharraf himself, to abandon support for the Taliban. I met with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister in my office in June of 2001. I delivered a very tough message, which was met with a rote, expressionless response.
America’s al-Qaida policy wasn’t working because our Afghanistan policy wasn’t working. And our Afghanistan policy wasn’t working because our Pakistan policy wasn’t working. We recognized that America’s counterterrorism policy had to be connected to our regional strategies and to our overall foreign policy.
