US "Democracy" - Do What We Say or Be Bombed Back to Stone
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US "Democracy" - Do What We Say or Be Bombed Back to Stone
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
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The Independent - 22 September 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1696179.ece
Musharraf: US threatened to bomb Pakistan
By David Usborne in New York
The President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, reveals in an
interview to be aired at the weekend that, soon after the terror attacks
of 11 September 2001, the United States threatened to bomb his country
"back into the Stone Age" if he didn't offer its co-operation in
fighting terrorism and the Taliban.
The revelation was made by General Musharraf during his visit to New
York for the annual General Assembly of the United Nations. It comes
after a week in which the US has been criticised by a number of foreign
leaders for trying to impose its will on other nations.
Talking to a correspondent of the CBS news magazine 60 Minutes to be
shown on Sunday evening, General Musharraf claims that the warning was
delivered to his own director of intelligence by the US Assistant
Secretary of State, Richard Armitage. "The intelligence director told me
that [Armitage] said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back
to the Stone Age'," General Musharraf said, according to excerpts of the
interview released by CBS last night.
President George Bush has been battered at the UN this week, notably
from President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who bluntly called him the
"devil", and by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Shortly after 9/11, Pakistan indeed ended its support of the Taliban and
became a frontline ally of America in the "war on terror". However,
General Musharraf makes no secret of his distaste for the strong-arm
tactics he faced from Mr Armitage. "I think it was a very rude remark,"
he says in the interview. "One has to think and take actions in the
interests of the nation, and that's what I did."
In a press conference yesterday, meanwhile, Mr Ahmadinjad tempered his
repeated outbursts this week against the US and also Britain with the
suggestion that contacts between his government and European officials
on resolving their nuclear stand-off are "moving down the right path".
Even so, Mr Ahmadinejad could not resist the chance once more to pour
scorn on countries, which, he said, "believe they have more right to
rule world affairs than anyone else". His success in taking the media
limelight in New York - in the General Assembly, in television
interviews and at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations on
Wednesday - has clearly got under the skin of American officials.
The Iranian President repeatedly refused yesterday to say whether Iran
would abide by a UN resolution forbidding the delivery of arms to
Hizbollah fighters in southern Lebanon. Nor was he prepared to withdraw
the remark attributed to him earlier this year that Israel should be
"wiped off the map". Skirting the question, he did say: "I am not
anti-Jewish. I respect all Jews."
He several times took rhetorical flight when asked about the contention
made by the West that Iran is enriching uranium as a step towards
developing a nuclear bomb. He asked why the US was not destroying its
arsenals and said that the issue was a "pretext" taken by Washington to
impede Iran. "They are not interested in the bomb, they want to stop the
development of our country," he said.
Tellingly, however, the President did not seek to undermine the
negotiations themselves. A European official said talks between the EU
foreign affairs commissioner, Xavier Solana, and his Iranian
counterpart, Ali Larajani, which were meant to take place in New York,
were now expected to happen next week. Those contacts aim to coax Iran
into engaging in longer-term talks on condition that it agrees to
suspend its enrichment activities first.
"We will tell you when the time arrives" for Iran to enact such a
suspension, Mr Ahmadenijad said, suggesting he does not rule out meeting
the condition. While the EU and the US publicly insist that no formal
talks will begin until after that suspension, there are signs of
flexibility on timing, particularly from Paris.
Mr Ahmadinejad said the success of any long-term talks would depend on
Western nations offering certain guarantees to Tehran. He said he was
looking for "guarantees of the enforcement of provisions that are agreed
upon".
*
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