NPR reports “Richard Armitage says he never said the United States would bomb Pakistan if the country didn't help in the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida”. Instead they report “Armitage says, he told Pakistan's top intelligence official on Sept. 12, 2001, that Pakistan would have to decide if it were "with us or against us" in the American effort to confront al-Qaida and the Taliban.”
Richard Armitage is probably factually correct. A Colin Powell deputy wouldn’t be so blunt; plus there was no military necessity to bomb Pakistan to the Stone Age. But I’m sure the State Department got Musharraf’s attention as Mark Steyn opined last month:
That must have been quite the phone call he'd got from Washington a day or two earlier. And all within a week of Sept. 11. You may remember during the 2000 campaign an enterprising journalist sprung on Gov. Bush a sudden pop quiz of world leaders. Bush, invited to name the leader of Pakistan, was unable to. But so what? In the third week of September 2001, the correct answer to "Who's General Musharraf?" was "Whoever I want him to be." And, if Musharraf didn't want to play ball, he'd wind up as the answer to "Who was leader of Pakistan until last week?"Just after 9/11, the resolve of America was never higher. Musharraf knew few here would have thought twice about going through Pakistan if they interfered in our pursuit of the Taliban. Perhaps after five years Musharraf thinks he may get some sympathy for being forced to turn his back on a murderous regime. I hope not.
We made the right call in 2001 but Mark Steyn wonders “Do you get the feeling Washington's not making phone calls like that anymore?”
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