'Bomb Pakistan Back to the Stone Age?'
Did America threaten to bomb Pakistan if it didn't join in the fight against al-Qa'ida or other terrorists? That's what Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf says happened; but President George W. Bush says it's "The first I've heard of this." Do you think the U.S. threatened Pakistan to get it to cooperate?
In advance of an upcoming "60 Minutes" episode on CBS, it's been widely reported that General Musharraf tells his interviewer that he and his country were threatened by the former second-in-command at the U.S. State Department.
According to pre-broadcast accounts of General Musharraf's interview, he supposedly charges that for State Department official Richard Armitage threatened to blow Pakistan into the stone age unless its government cooperated with U.S. efforts to get fugitive terrorist Osama bin Laden.
Richard Armitage Deputy Secretary of State White Hous photo
The Seattle Times recalls another news organization, CNN, as reporting that Mr. Armitage warned Pakistan that it was "either with us or against us."
According to the Seattle Times' pre-broadcast report, Mr. "Armitage's message in 2001 was delivered with demands that he turn over Pakistan's border posts and bases for the U.S. military to use in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan."
Beyond that, General Musharraf is said to have described some of the U.S. demands as "ludicrous," including one that he clamp down on expression of views in his country which were supportive of terrorism.
President Musharraf's reported reply was that, "If somebody is expressing views, we cannot curb the expression of views."
For his part, Mr. Armitage said on CNN that "I didn't say it," with respect to the reported threats; but he says he did make it clear that "Pakistan was either with us or it was not."
Do you think the U.S. threatened Pakistan to get it to cooperate in the war on terrorism? Why do you think Pakistan's president appears to have a different recollection of events than the U.S.' former second-in-command at the State Department?
[Views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of CompuServe, Netscape, any government, agency, or news organization.]
why should we believe them, now?
If you're asking about CBS News, don't you think their network has a pretty good reputation, irrespective of what anyone may think of their former anchor?
Very best wishes,
- John
“Bomb Pakistan Back to the Stone Age?”
No matter who said what, it certainly would meet with your approval. To quote you directly:-
“we should nuke them and the rest of Islam back to tribal status because we can, and anyone who doesn't like it. Don't care about the morality.”
Excellent question-honestly, no. I had a lot of respect for Mr. Cronkite and CBS when they empolyed him, but I have yet to find a reason to change hat opinion yet; Miss Couric hasn't given me any reason to believe she'll be anything other than another left-leaning reporter with more looks than qualifications; I am, however hoping she changes my mind.
Did the broadcast network news -- and our view of it -- change when it became a "news and features" program?
Probably more like when they started mixing up features for news and news for features. :)
Think this is related to the high ratings which satirical/comedy news show like The Daily Show receive versus traditional network news programs?
“Uh-yeah??!! What part of "Bomb Pakistan Back to Stone Age?" did you THINK I was responding to, and how complicated do you think my answer was? DUH!”
I don’t think you were responding to the question at all. You were having "a dig" at certain people in the media, people saying what you don’t want them to say.
The “twisted humour” is that your response can be summed up by using your own words –
“Uh-yeah??!! - DUH!”
"You love Al_Qaida.."
"You want to kiss them..."
"You want to marry them..."
:)
Lighten up, dude; it's a forum discussion (and often just a forum to mouth off)...lots of people, including both of us, tend to "dig" at one another and people in the media, in politics, and jeez, in just about everything else...often for no more reason than to get a rise out of each other. Despite what I have said, I was a Marine; I don't want anyone to die, anywhere, if it can be helped-civilians, or for that matter, Al-Quaida or Saddam Hussein-I just want people to stop trying to kill Americans and innocent people out of some misguided attempt to justify their own ends. Including Bush; I might think his motives are honorable, which you may not, but I think he's been responsible, through his policies and actions, for too many people's deaths, too. Personally, I wish he'd pay more attention to what he's saying he's trying to do rather than responding knee-jerk fashion to every psycho out there who proclaims himself against Israel or America-I just think it'd be easier if he stopped getting such digs from people that are ostensibly against terrorism, too. Can't slow a bull down by ticking it off all the time (see, I didn't even have to curse, though I'm quite fond of it). Have a nice day, and a wonderful Thanksgiving (or Turkey Day, or whatever you feel like celebrating, if anything at all).
Jim
...and by the way, I generally think the French are pretty cool, too-which is why I learned to speak French; I just thnk they can often be a bit snooty. But for that matter, so can Americans, and anyone else. Humans are by definition snooty, sometimes. :)
À bientôt!
That and the way that comedians have turned their "comedy" into thinly veiled (if veiled at all) political rhetoric and political "analysts" have turned their "analyses" into some sort of twisted humor. Not so much Jimmy Kimmel and John Stewart, but from there the list goes on ad nauseum, e.g., Al Franken, Janine Garofalo, Bill O'Reilly (I like the guy, but come on-it's getting retarded), Rush Limbaugh, etc.
Thanks for your comments :) Remember when we were taught, as kids, to be respectful of others' beliefs? Do you think some "comedians" have lost sight of some of the basic principles which have guided our society for a very long time?
