The hoopla about the Iraq invasion, occupation, chaos, and now the WMD non-finds, has served to distract from the central issue in the war on terror. What is the main threat to the United States and where is it? Of course it wasn't Saddam. Even considering the now maligned "intelligence", the WMD threat and the Al Qaeda threat from Iraq was nothing compared to that in so-called ally Pakistan.
Pakistan, as the prime intersection of Al Qaeda, Taliban, functioning terrorist camps, active jihadi groups and 10s of thousands of madrassas, as well as the world's nuclear WalMart, should have been the prime focus of the war on terror. But President Bush considers its devious dictator Pervez Musharraf a tight ally, and conveniently neglects to mention repeated Pakistani actions that endanger the US.
Musharraf makes tall speeches about fighting extremism and about confidence in control over his nuclear weapons. But terrorist leaders operate with impunity in his country. The HQ of one of such leaders is within eyesight of a Pakistani military base in its capital. And Musharraf has not allowed investigation into leaking of nuclear secrets to America's worst enemies to touch the Pakistani military. Meanwhile the Taliban continue to regroup from bases in Pakistan. In addition, Pakistan has also supported warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whose militia is harassing US-led forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's intelligence chief resigned a few weeks after 9/11, suspected of having funded the attacks. Has his role in the attacks been thoroughly investigated by the US? Pakistan's air force chief also was suspected of connections to 9/11. According to Gerald Posner's book, "Why America Slept", the air chief died in a mysterious crash not long after the suspicions came to light. Many in the nuclear establishment (which is now being made a scapegoat in the nuclear trade scandal) are known to be jihad sympathizers.
Not surprisingly, foreign journalists have been banned from traveling outside three main Pakistani cities. Barry Bearak of NY Times magazine recently called Pakistan a "hub of duplicity", with Bernard Henri-Levy's book last year going into extensive detail about the goings-on inside that nation.
What was that about "with friends like these...". It would be enlightening to see a debate about Pakistan policy between the president and the eventual Democratic nominee.
Subodh