Ignore Muslim anger at your peril, Musharraf warns Bush

The Ottawa Citizen ^ | 09-27-03

[Brian S]

U.S. must quell hatred of the west through positive action, not invasion

Mike Blanchfield The Ottawa Citizen

The Muslim world is so full of hatred for the United States that President George W. Bush must do something positive in the region, such as capturing fugitive terrorist Osama bin Laden or restoring order to Afghanistan, warns Pakistan's president.

"There's so much hate, so much anti-western, anti-U.S. feelings, we have to show a positive," Gen. Pervez Musharraf told the Citizen in an interview.

"If we show one more negative, in the form of a military operation against another Muslim country, I think it's going to be disastrous."

Gen. Musharraf is Mr. Bush's No. 1 Muslim ally in the war on terror, and the on-going effort to capture Mr. bin Laden, the man held responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.

In a candid and expansive interview with the Citizen, Gen. Musharraf said the U.S. used up whatever good standing it had in the Muslim world by invading Iraq.

Now the Bush administration must do a good deed in the region to diffuse the hatred that has built up following the military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Gen. Musharraf said that's a message he has delivered to Bush personally.

"President Bush is trying his best. He knows what to do. The problem is, how to do it."

Gen. Musharraf said the U.S. must think again before it considers taking action against a second Muslim target such as Iran.

Mr. Bush has labelled Iran as part of the "axis of evil," and his administration has deep concerns about the country's ambitions to develop nuclear weapons.

Gen. Musharraf, whose country sparked outrage when it entered the nuclear age in 1998, said he has no proof Iran has nuclear weapons.

If the U.S. took pre-emptive military action against Iran -- the way it justified attacking Iraq to rid it of weapons of mass destruction -- it would lead to a backlash in the Muslim world, Gen. Musharraf warned.

"The Muslim world is in turmoil. There's a lot of opposition to the West and the United States in the Muslim mind because all the political disputes after the Cold War have involved Muslims. Muslims feel that maybe they are being targeted."

Mr. Bush could score a major public relations victory by capturing Mr. bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader who has inspired a generation of downtrodden Islamic youth to hate and fight the West, said Gen. Musharraf.

The longer Mr. bin Laden remains at large, the more his followers will be emboldened, he said.

Western intelligence has been certain for months that the al-Qaeda leader is hiding in Pakistan's tribal belt, a mountainous, lawless and largely backward region that borders Afghanistan.

Gen. Musharraf said the intelligence he has seen does not dissuade him from believing his country is host to the most wanted man in the United States.

The new intelligence has persuaded Gen. Musharraf that he was mistaken when he once said he believed that Mr. bin Laden had died of kidney failure.

Capturing Mr. bin Laden would create an initial backlash among Islamic extremists, but that would pass in the long term, said Gen. Musharraf.

Gen. Musharraf described in detail the difficulties in finding Mr. bin Laden and the limitations of the U.S. satellite technology in the mountainous region.

"We are using electronic means, high technology ... monitoring mobile telephones, internet," he said.

"You can see them walking, sitting, vehicles moving, people getting out. But you don't see their faces. You don't know if it's Mr. Osama bin Laden ... so you can only guess through activity if it's an important man.

"So how do you react? You react with force, of course."

And that, said Gen. Musharraf, is where the complication arises.

Too many innocent lives would be imperiled if the U.S. started firing rockets at every group of people it thought might contain Mr. bin Laden, he said.

Gen. Musharraf said he believes stability can be restored to Central Asia in the next 10 years.

Evoking his region's golden era of Silk Route trading, he spoke in glowing terms about how the reconstruction of Afghanistan could herald a new era of economic prosperity in Central Asia.

But the key, he said, is stabilizing Afghanistan.

Turkmenistan, Afghanistan's northwestern neighbour, is keen to run a gas pipeline across the unstable country to Pakistan, Gen. Musharraf said.

But that won't happen unless international peacekeepers expand their area of control outside Kabul, the capital.

Gen. Musharraf became emotional when asked about Pakistan's continued exclusion from the Commonwealth, a result of his seizure of power four years ago in a bloodless coup.

He said he has "a total disappointment with the Commonwealth" because of Pakistan's continued exclusion while dictators such as Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe are allowed access to the club.

Canada, he said, has been supportive of Pakistan's attempts to rejoin the Commonwealth, but Gen. Musharraf said he isn't losing any sleep over the issue.

He blamed India, who he labelled as an enemy of his country, for sowing opposition towards Pakistan.

"Why should I bother about the Commonwealth?" he asked.

[milemark]

So the wars in Afganistan and Iraq are the reason Muslims hate us. In other words, before those wars, they didn't hate us? In that case why 9/11, USS Cole bombing, Embassy bombings in Africa... ?

[boris]

We can make the Muslims stop hating us:

About the only reliable way...

--Boris

[touhy]

Muslims,

Ignore American anger at your peril.

[tiamat]

This sounds like a threat or a shake-down attempt to me.

What is he smoking?

Tia

[LibKill]

This is a clash of cultures. We are the future, they are stuck in the 9th century.

I have no doubt we will prevail, but I guess we'll take more unneccesary damage before we really get down to winnning.

Sometimes we're too nice.

[JackRyanCIA]

Interesting comments from a leader that can't even control his own country.

[expatguy]

What he really means to say ---

U.S. must quell hatred of the west through positive action APPEASEMENT, not invasion...[sic]

[caltrop]

Musharraf's a man in a very tough spot and someone we should be listening to. Two of Pakistan's four provinces have elected governments which openly support the Taliban and Pakistan has both nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them throughout the region. A pretty solid argument can be made that Musharraf's a big part of what keeps them out of the wrong hands.

[P.O.E.]

The Dems talk of "failure" in Iraq merely emboldens the jihadists.

[headsonpikes]

These folks are currently incapable of self-government.

We can handle this the easier way, or the harder way - it's their call, frankly.

[Bon mots]

Hearts and Minds ain't gonna work with Muslims.
Blood and guts is all they understand.
Lots of glowing, burned blood and guts is how it's going to end. Either ours or theirs. It's just a question of time.

I say, let's strike now. I've had enough of whiney violent muslims attacking everyone and crying about how they are the victims.

[TADSLOS]

"If we show one more negative, in the form of a military operation against another Muslim country, I think it's going to be disastrous."

Gen. Musharraf, whose country sparked outrage when it entered the nuclear age in 1998, said he has no proof Iran has nuclear weapons.

If the U.S. took pre-emptive military action against Iran -- the way it justified attacking Iraq to rid it of weapons of mass destruction -- it would lead to a backlash in the Muslim world, Gen. Musharraf warned.

Methinks Musharref doth protest too much.

[servantoftheservant]

The Muslim world is so full of hatred for the United States that President George W. Bush must do something positive in the region, such as capturing fugitive terrorist Osama bin Laden or restoring order to Afghanistan, warns Pakistan's president.

Huh?? Capturing Osama bin Laden will make the Muslim world happy with us?? The Muslim world hates us because:
1. we're not Muslim 2. every time we kick ass on the people they root for (Taliban, Iraq, rebels in Philippines, etc.), they have a hard time figuring out how Allah could want that

It's hilarious to me that Musharraf says capturing Osama bin Laden would make the Muslim world happy with us. I can just see spontaneous celebrations in the streets of Ramallah, Jakarta, Tehran...LOL

[Gritty]

Headline: Ignore Muslim anger at your peril, Musharraf warns Bush

Are you certain when you posted you didn't get the stories mixed up?

This just sounds like the standard Democrat talking points I see every day in the newspaper!

[Bombard]

They should be fearful of pushing us to far. I am talking WRATH OF GOD type stuff.

[Travis McGee]

They are Islemmings rushing to bite our ankles, who will end up tumbling off the edge to oblivion.

[servantoftheservant]

Musharraf's a man in a very tough spot and someone we should be listening to.

You're kidding, right? Do some research man. Musharraf presided over the installation of the Taliban gov't in Afghanistan. The Taliban are a creation of the ISI, and the Pakistani military openly supported the Taliban for years.

[AlbionGirl]

"Ignore US grit, ingenuity, moral supremacy, and SENSE OF VENGENCE, at your peril", Bush tells Musharraf, Mubarek, Hussein, Kadafi, and any other two-bit despot who wants to throw his balls in the ring.

[Travis McGee]

Pakistan had better attempt to join the modern world. If they anger US enough, their lights and water can be turned off with ease, and 100 million people will be too busy trying to stay alive to bother with the outside world.

IOW, these nations packed with insane murder cultists need the West a heck of a lot more than the West needs them. Ditto for Egypt, Saudi, etc.

[caltrop]

Are you too blind to see that Musharraf's got to step carefully or he's going to be history? Under those circumstances, what sort of government do you think would emerge? My guess is, without Musharraf, the Islamic bomb's deployment would suddenly be a real possibility. Maybe you ought to do some research.

[BenLurkin]

Here's a news flash for this guy. WE are the angry ones. THEY are the ones who better look out!

[caltrop]

Talk about getting it just backwards. Pakistan has nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them. I agree we can shut off their infrastructure, not all that big a deal in some parts of Pakistan, but they can drop a nuclear bomb on anything in the region. All they have to do is nuke a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and all shipping in the region will instantly stop. If they do it in the winter, keeping the Northern Hemishpere's cities (that's us) warm is going to be a challenge.

[yoe]

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/3150.htm
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1255

Early warnings should be heeded. Maybe it is time Gen. Musharraf made checking who and what is under all those veils should be made mandatory! Certainly here in the US, IDs must be compulsory/required regardless of ‘religion’ and that means pictures of faces matching the one under the veil – off with the veils! Militant Islam is out to do us in and made soooo easy with political correctness paving the way for terrorists to do just that.

[StriperSniper]

Mr. Bush could score a major public relations victory by capturing Mr. bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader

Western intelligence has been certain for months that the al-Qaeda leader is hiding in Pakistan's tribal belt, a mountainous, lawless and largely backward region that borders Afghanistan.

Gen. Musharraf said the intelligence he has seen does not dissuade him from believing his country is host to the most wanted man in the United States.

Gen. Musharraf described in detail the difficulties in finding Mr. bin Laden and the limitations of the U.S. satellite technology in the mountainous region.

"So how do you react? You react with force, of course."

And that, said Gen. Musharraf, is where the complication arises.

Too many innocent lives would be imperiled if the U.S. started firing rockets at every group of people it thought might contain Mr. bin Laden, he said.

To me, that sounds like tacit approval to operate covertly inside Pakistan and do what we have to when we are sure we have the right target. Not that I doubt that that has been the policy for a long time already, but it looks like an extra wink and nod from Gen. Musharraf.

[tkathy]

The religion of murder and hatred vs. the religion of love and peace.

[SandRat]

Bravo Boris!

brian s you are more than welcome to pass what is below on to "Mister Mike Blanchfield of The Ottawa Citizen."

Mike Blanchfield of The Ottawa Citizen, we were attacked on September 11th, 2001, not you, not anyone else, we were attacked.

Mike Blanchfield of The Ottawa Citizen you need to re-read the history of WWII.

Mike Blanchfield of The Ottawa Citizen you have it all wrong! Nations, entities, ignore US ANGER at their peril. Where terror exists or even a chance of an organizing/support terror cell exists nations, all nations must get with the program and root out the rats that are only endangering our world. Those nations who deny they exist and or do nothing or hide behind some self-righteous attitude and turn a blind eye are making a very bad mistake. Those nations are likely to find they have been left among the terrorists when the anger of the US reaches it's highest, as it did in August of 1945, and the fires of hell were let out.

Remember Adm. Yamamoto "I fear that all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with rage."

Avoid all of that by rooting out the rats.

Now Mister Mike Blanchfield of The Ottawa Citizen, get with the program and get your country with the program or shut your stinking KA-NUK moose-pie-hole!

[servantoftheservant]

My guess is, without Musharraf, the Islamic bomb's deployment would suddenly be a real possibility.

You think Pakistan's bomb is not an 'Islamic bomb'? Have you ever been to Pakistan? Their missiles are named after famed Islamic invaders of India, and there are shrines to their nuclear missiles in the center of cities, in roundabouts, etc. It's bizarre.

The bottom line is: if Pakistan acts up, they will do some damage in the short term, and then they will cease to exist as a country. Bush made this very clear to them before the Afghan war: Either disassociate yourself from your creation (the Taliban), or get erased. Musharraf chose wisely, but he shouldn't be lecturing the US on the danger of Muslim 'anger'. He should be lecturing Muslims on the danger of US anger.

[Great Dane]

Muslims has always hated the west, especially the US, that will never change, as they don't need a reason.

[caltrop]

My point is that, without Musharraf, Pakistan's WMD could fall into the hands of fundamentalists who'd be willing to use them. Those who seek a Moslem - US World War (the fundamentalists on the one hand and the neocons on the other) would, were Musharraf to fall, be much closer to their goal. IMHO, the entire region isn't worth an American sprained ankle except for the region's oil and the US would be far better off if we simply got out of the region and let the various religious factions cheerfully kill each other. If we refuse to take sides in their various wars they'll have no reason to involve us in their religious conflicts and that's where I'd happily leave it.

No, I've never been to Pakistan.

[tubavil]

I agree 1000%.

There's a problem with the Commander-in-Chief though. He still maintains islam is a religion of peace and one of the world's great religions.

[Great Dane]

This just sounds like the standard Democrat talking points I see every day in the newspaper!

Thats The Ottawa Citizen for you, it owned by a very lefty guy.

[FreedomCalls]

I suggest that we nuke Mecca.

[FreedomCalls]

If the U.S. took pre-emptive military action against Iran -- the way it justified attacking Iraq to rid it of weapons of mass destruction -- it would lead to a backlash in the Muslim world, Gen. Musharraf warned.

The U.S. is not going to take military action against Iran, Israel is.

[tubavil]

The U.S. is not going to take military action against Iran, Israel is.

Triggering event? Timeframe?

[Filibuster_60]

The bottom line is: if Pakistan acts up, they will do some damage in the short term, and then they will cease to exist as a country. Bush made this very clear to them before the Afghan war: Either disassociate yourself from your creation (the Taliban), or get erased. Musharraf chose wisely, but he shouldn't be lecturing the US on the danger of Muslim 'anger'. He should be lecturing Muslims on the danger of US anger.

Musharraf believes his cards against us are stronger than ours against him. Maybe he's right. Pakistan's plunge into chaos would hardly help the war on terror and regional stability, would it? With Mushy in charge Pakistan can be more part of the solution than part of the problem. If he goes, that'll probably change for the worse. It's the same Catch-22 we're in with respect to the Saudis and Egyptians - their leaders assume we need them since even their flawed stability is preferable to potential takeover by the fundamentalists. That's why they get away with all the anti-Semitism and even anti-Americanism that's deeply ingrained in their public institutions. This situation won't change unless we're ready to invade their countries the same way we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, but clearly we're not, and even if we were, what are the prospects for a cheap and speedy victory in a country where anti-Americanism has permeated so deeply into popular culture, where the people seem to hate the US more than their leaders? For this reason I'm far less concerned about Iran and even Iraq than Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

[sweetliberty]

"Muslims feel that maybe they are being targeted."

DUH!!!! Ya think???

[Sam Cree]

If the Muslim world is full of hatred toward us because we took out a monster like Saddam, then the Muslim world gives an indication of being contaminated with evil at a basic level.

[geedee]

Perhaps if Musharraf looked in his closet we would catch Osama-Mama.

[Travis McGee]

Where are they going to drop a nuke if their lights go out? That option makes no sense.

War can take many forms. We could engage in all out cyber war with China and never fire a shot, not a word would be said in admission by either side. Ditto power infrastructure. I don't see how blackouts lead to nukes being dropped.

[SunStar]

The Muslim world is so full of hatred for the United States that President George W. Bush must do something positive in the region, such as capturing fugitive terrorist Osama bin Laden or restoring order to Afghanistan, warns Pakistan's president.

Hey, jerkoff... That's what we're trying to do!

If this guy falls out of line, the real center of Islamist terrorism is Pakistan...

[caltrop]

I suspect they've equipped their missile systems with a generator. It wouldn't, after all, make a lot of sense to spend millions on a system which all depends on some power company.

I think Musharraf's right on Afghanistan. That war was entirely justified and should be the focus of our efforts. Iraq is, IMHO, a fool's errand which wasn't justified in the first place.

[Dolphy]

Interesting. Hamid Karzei was just here saying that Pakistan was not doing all it could to break the back of Muslim extremism. He did not give Musharraf the benefit of the doubt in understanding his less than aggressive approach.

[servantoftheservant]

Musharraf believes his cards against us are stronger than ours against him.

If he does, he is smoking crack. He is in a distinctly uncomfortable position. The new Afghan government are not fans of Pakistan, since Pakistan created the Taliban (it is not a coincidence the Afghanis were chanting 'Death to Pakistan' when Kabul was taken). On the other side, he has India, a giant antagonist that would not tolerate instability in Pakistan, and would surely invade if the control of nuclear weapons was in doubt. He can't even count on Iran for support, because the Shiites in Iran are not fans of the fanatical Sunni Islam practiced in Pakistan.

Musharraf should be on his knees begging the US for help in propping up his regime and preventing the rise to power of fundamentalists. Because preventing that rise is the only thing keeping the artificially created and utter failure of a nation-state, Pakistan, from being erased from the world map.

[SevenDaysInMay]

Mo'ham', peace be onto him, commands in his Mein Koran that once islam's always inslam's. Submit or die. Stay submitted or die.

Christian missionaries may die for being, killed by devout muslims obeying scriptures, the surahs. Mo'Ham' said to kill and steal and lie.

Once a nation or a person is enslaved according to penalty of death or ruinous taxation surahs in Mein Koran, no liberation from this death cult's belicose control can be tolerated. No changes of mind of the voluntary converts to islam is tolerated. Peaceful muslims are commanded to be killed before even the Jews. Mo'Ham' said so. It is scripture, chapter and verse as Christians might say.

Islam itself could collapse if any conquored muslim nation were enlightened in the Grace of liberty. Koran's surahs' mandates to murder are as clear as they are redundant.

To fight to defeat the islamic nations' governments funding and supplying this terror war against the USA requires our liberating enemy nations and offering them a form of democracy' promise.

Iraq is strategic - in the middle of this islamic transnational cess pool festering for a thousand years after arab invasion and serial exterminations. Afghanistan is also surrounded by orther muslim frontier nations.

The "Street" is by and large illiterate, told what to do by their clerics quoting Mo'ham's commands to murder infedels while submitting to their own totalitary governments and cult leaders.

Devout but otherwise nearly economicially worthless jihadies are getting ready to earn their promised access to some 6 dozen recycled virgins in a wine sodden pair o' dice.

As we finally march against our mortal enemies in the M.E., through northern Africa post-christian Europe is invaded by islamists just as we are invaded through routes from enabling Mexico and Canada.

Islam's outposts within America will always be muslim, commanded by scripture to be so. This 5th column plot is also within Mein Koran's surahs. The Haddith is their battle plan. Conquoring from within is written in islam's scriptures.

We ought not take warning from what the "Street" says, but take action to defeat Islamists wherever we find them. They are at war with us, since 1979 in Tehran. They nhow number in the hundreds of millions. This "Street" is breeding, and has been breeding new jihadies in astonishing numbers. Following scripture, chattle wives need not wait until 16 to personally contribute to the numbers of jihadies. The muslim womb is the islamic trebuchet hurling jihadies into battle to kill peaceful muslims, Jews, Christians, Americans so ISLAM can conquor the world, the dream of the one true prophet, Mo'ham, peace be onto him.

To survive as free thinking people, not subject to 8th Century murderous arab obsessions, we must not only be at war with our proclaimed mortal enemies, but also totally destroy those who follow what islam's scriptures command.

Our political/media elite mistakenly don't think that the Sharia will be "controlling legal authority" over them or their children. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone will no longer apply.

[ellery]

Ah yes, the racist myth of the raging Arab street (or in this case, Muslim) dusted off and trotted out yet again.

The only way to lessen anger at the US is to remove the governments who are deliberately and constantly inciting it.

[epow]

"The Muslim world is in turmoil. There's a lot of opposition to the West and the United States in the Muslim mind because all the political disputes after the Cold War have involved Muslims. Muslims feel that maybe they are being targeted."

BS. Muslims hate us because we have brefiended and aided litle Israel in it's 55-year war against fanatical mulsim terrorists. Fanatical muslims believe the ME and all the other lands once conquered by Islam are sacred to Allah and his followers, and the hated Jews are an intolerable abomination on "Allah's land."

This problem isn't going away in our lifetime, and we had better learn how to deal with it. And politically correct false "solutions" that try to please every liberal Democrat in congress and every gang of thugs in the UN won't get that done.

[LA Conservative]

"Muslims feel that maybe they are being targeted."

Perhaps Muslims should stop giving us so many reasons to target them. Oh but wait, then they wouldn't be the victims, and if they're not the victims, then the Left would throw them out of bed.

[SICSEMPERTYRANNUS]

F*$k em. They aren't doing a very good job making friends with us.

SIC

[joyful1]

Baad, bad, bad things are going to happen in our lifetime.

Deathly, destructive, unspeakable things, coutesy of the pieceful religion

In the end, only one will remain standing...America or Islam. The clue to who it will be...who wants it more.