Bush admin grilled over support for Musharraf

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2007/July/theworld_July318.xml§ion=theworld

WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush’s administration came under intense grilling in Congress Thursday over its unconditional support for Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf.

Just days after the military strongman ordered troops into an Islamabad mosque to flush out Islamic militants in a daring assault that left 86 people dead, lawmakers doubted his ability to take strong action to reign in the problem and called for a reevaluation of US policy towards Pakistan.

They accused him of thwarting democracy, turning a blind eye towards the growing ranks of the Taleban and Al Qaeda militant groups and lacking the ability or will to crack down on terrorist training camps in his country.

A lawmaker cited reports which he said confidently spoke of Osama bin Laden hiding in a training camp near the Pakistan-Afghan border, not far from Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province and a base of support for the Red Mosque stormed into by military commandos this week.

“Yet somehow President Musharraf has not been able to find it,” remarked Christopher Shays, a ranking lawmaker from Bush’s Republican party.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. He's got the nukes

Musharraf is quite literally the only force standing between "Islamic" militancy and approximately 20 atomic bombs.

He's a bastard. But he himself is caught between a rock and a hard place -- and he's got US by the balls.

--p!