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The phoney war on terror
By Christina LambSo President Musharraf is military dictator turned tease, making us wait for his book launch in New York tomorrow for more details of the Bush administrations crudely worded threat against Pakistan if it did not support the war on terror. Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age, was the graphic warning from deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage, though admittedly it came one day after September 11. Armitage has disputed the wording but the fact that such a threat had to be made (followed by a nice little package of $5 billion of aid) raises the question of whose side Pakistan is really on. Pakistans chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Lieutenant-General Ehsan-ul-Haq, was in London last week talking about how no other nation has suffered so much in the service of the war on terror. His forces deployed in the badlands that border Afghanistan have lost more than 500 soldiers more than the whole of the coalition combined. Musharraf himself has narrowly escaped three assassination attempts. Posted by: john 2006-09-24 |
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