11-13-2006, 09:19 AM
Should be in humor discussion forum. Review of Musharraf's book <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<b>Loyalties Of Our Pakistani 'Ally' Come Through Loud And Clear</b>
BY PERVEZ MUSHARRAF
It's highly unusual for a head of state to write a memoir while still in office. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says he penned his because "there has been intense curiosity about me" in the West.
<b>He's clearly flattered by what he thinks is personal interest in him and his "skills" as a "bold" and "inborn" leader. Musharraf sees himself as a historic "reformer" with wisdom to spare.</b>
Of course, Westerners are interested in this Third World Muslim dictator mainly because terrorists inside his country, under his rule, hatched two major attacks against Western capitals. The 9/11 plotters met in Karachi (Musharraf's hometown), while the 7/7 masterminds trained in Karachi and Lahore.
And mystery of mysteries, he happens to be the chap to whom we've outsourced the all-important task of hunting down the senior-most leaders of those attacks, who are holed up â still â in his country. <b>Musharraf interprets all the attention as an invitation to catalog every award and certificate he's earned going back to boarding school.</b>
We learn, for instance, that our front-line "ally" in the war on terror took third in a college bodybuilding contest, as if anybody cares. "All in all I earned the most certificates," he boasts. A judge "told me that I had a most muscular physique."
<!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Next, Gen. Musharraf regales readers with his feats at the military academy, where he was, among other things, a first-rate saluter. <b>"In fact," he says, "my physical bearing and drill were so good that I passed my 'saluting test' on the first try with a special commendation from the adjutant." Good for you, generalissimo.</b>
<!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Musharraf says that as an artillery officer in the 1960s, he was cited for heroism in a battle with India. His gun battery was hit by an enemy shell and caught fire. Most of his men ran for cover. Musharraf rushed in with a comrade and pulled ammo from the big gun before it could be blown to bits.
"I received an award for gallantry for saving lives and equipment," he recalls. <b>"The brave soldier who helped me was also decorated for gallantry. I can never forget that night." The name of the brave soldier, however, apparently eludes him</b>. At least, he's never identified. If anyone deserves a medal, it's Musharraf's wife, Sehba, for putting up with such an insufferable narcissist.
<!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Oddly, the leader of a country with more than 140 million people and nuclear weapons feels the need to tell us, <b>page after page, that he's an "exceptionally good shot" â "better than most of" his men â and a "good runner," as well as a good speller, speaker and instructor â "and quite a popular one." There is nothing that Musharraf has not received a commendation for.</b>
Missing from his trophy case are the heads of al-Qaida and the Taliban, subjects he seems far less passionate about. Musharraf tries to impress the West with tough terror-fighting rhetoric, but the keen reader observes he never condemns Osama bin Laden, a hero in Pakistan, as a murderer or even a terrorist. Nowhere in his 368-page tome does he have a harsh word to say about America's Enemy No. 1 (though India, which he describes as "our most dangerous enemy," comes in for all sorts of scorn).
Musharraf casts bin Laden as a kind of Robin Hood figure, attacking the allegedly corrupt West for what he says are "political injustices" against Muslims. "This accounts for the likes of Osama bin Laden," he contends.
The general also insists jihadists fighting India over Kashmir are not terrorists but "freedom-fighting mujahedeen."
"One man's terrorist can be another man's freedom fighter," he reveals.
<b>Since bin Laden helped train and fund Kashmiri militants, one wonders if Musharraf even considers him a terrorist.</b>
Musharraf claims he's done "everything possible" to track bin Laden down. Yet he offers no examples of operations he's launched to that end, while providing exquisite detail of his massive manhunts for the men who tried to assassinate Musharraf. In the end, we find out they weren't even al-Qaida, but members of his own military, including a former bodyguard.
You get the sense after reading Musharraf's breathless chapters on those assassination attempts (he even proudly displays a gruesome photo of the blown-off face of one of his attackers) that <b>the only terrorism he really cares about is the kind that threatens him and his regime, not the West</b>.
He brims with pride at bringing all the conspirators of the failed coups to justice. Searching for them was like "looking for a needle in a haystack," he says, but he set up a "special exclusive unit" within his intelligence services to find them. And they did it in short order. One wonders how fast he could find bin Laden and his deputies with a similar unit.
Musharraf in the media and press conferences makes a good show of cooperating with us. But in his book he makes it fairly clear he's been a reluctant partner from the start. <b>He admits the only reason he signed on to our war was for "self-interest and self-preservation." Turns out the CIA has even had to bribe him with millions in stipends to hand over terror suspects. </b>
It's in the topic of faith that the Pakistani leader's true agenda â and loyalties â come through loud and clear. Above all, "I am a Muslim," Musharraf asserts. Not just any Muslim, he says, but the head of "an Islamic state created for the Muslims of the subcontinent."
He wraps the cover of his book in green, the color of Islam and the Pakistani flag. He displays a picture of himself on pilgrimage to Mecca. <b>He makes a point of saying his father's side came from Saudi Arabia, and that his mother's mother wore a burqa. He recounts crying "Allahu Akbar!" with his artillery unit as they charged a village to kill Indian Hindus.</b>
He reprints a prayer he wrote to Allah on Page 80. And he forcefully defends Islam from critics, claiming it "is in fact a very progressive, moderate and tolerant religion."
Make no mistake: Our "trusted partner" in the war on Islamic terror is Muslim first â and so is his country. "The sooner the West accepts this reality, instead of thrusting on every country ideas that may be alien to people's aspirations, the better it will be for global harmony," he asserts.
It sounds as if our ally thinks we're the problem, not the terrorists, casting serious doubt on his commitment to our cause.
It's the "responsibility of the West in general and the United States in particular to put their full weight behind finding a just resolution of all political disputes afflicting Muslim societies," he says. "Justice for Muslims around the world must not only be done, but seen to be done." The 7/7 bombers attacked London because they saw "atrocities meted out to their co-religionists," he says, warning that even if we crush al-Qaida, the jihad will march on.
"The tree of terrorism will continue to flourish as long as the roots remain intact," he says. And "injustices" committed by Western infidels "are the roots of the terrorist tree."
Musharraf says we can't win the war on terror until we make right with aggrieved Muslims the world over. No justice, no peace. "Ultimate success will come only when the roots that cause terrorism are destroyed: that is, when injustices against Muslims are removed," he says. "This lies in the hands of the West, particularly America."
And here we thought the keys to victory were in his hands. Musharraf's memoir provides a valuable window into the mind-set of our supposed ally in the war on terror. What we see is a reluctant Muslim partner only temporarily on our side for tactical and selfish reasons, a picture that does not inspire confidence we'll see bin Laden and his deputies brought to justice soon.
â Sperry, formerly IBD's Washington bureau chief, is a Hoover Institution media fellow and author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington."
<b>Loyalties Of Our Pakistani 'Ally' Come Through Loud And Clear</b>
BY PERVEZ MUSHARRAF
It's highly unusual for a head of state to write a memoir while still in office. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf says he penned his because "there has been intense curiosity about me" in the West.
<b>He's clearly flattered by what he thinks is personal interest in him and his "skills" as a "bold" and "inborn" leader. Musharraf sees himself as a historic "reformer" with wisdom to spare.</b>
Of course, Westerners are interested in this Third World Muslim dictator mainly because terrorists inside his country, under his rule, hatched two major attacks against Western capitals. The 9/11 plotters met in Karachi (Musharraf's hometown), while the 7/7 masterminds trained in Karachi and Lahore.
And mystery of mysteries, he happens to be the chap to whom we've outsourced the all-important task of hunting down the senior-most leaders of those attacks, who are holed up â still â in his country. <b>Musharraf interprets all the attention as an invitation to catalog every award and certificate he's earned going back to boarding school.</b>
We learn, for instance, that our front-line "ally" in the war on terror took third in a college bodybuilding contest, as if anybody cares. "All in all I earned the most certificates," he boasts. A judge "told me that I had a most muscular physique."
<!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Next, Gen. Musharraf regales readers with his feats at the military academy, where he was, among other things, a first-rate saluter. <b>"In fact," he says, "my physical bearing and drill were so good that I passed my 'saluting test' on the first try with a special commendation from the adjutant." Good for you, generalissimo.</b>
<!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Musharraf says that as an artillery officer in the 1960s, he was cited for heroism in a battle with India. His gun battery was hit by an enemy shell and caught fire. Most of his men ran for cover. Musharraf rushed in with a comrade and pulled ammo from the big gun before it could be blown to bits.
"I received an award for gallantry for saving lives and equipment," he recalls. <b>"The brave soldier who helped me was also decorated for gallantry. I can never forget that night." The name of the brave soldier, however, apparently eludes him</b>. At least, he's never identified. If anyone deserves a medal, it's Musharraf's wife, Sehba, for putting up with such an insufferable narcissist.
<!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Oddly, the leader of a country with more than 140 million people and nuclear weapons feels the need to tell us, <b>page after page, that he's an "exceptionally good shot" â "better than most of" his men â and a "good runner," as well as a good speller, speaker and instructor â "and quite a popular one." There is nothing that Musharraf has not received a commendation for.</b>
Missing from his trophy case are the heads of al-Qaida and the Taliban, subjects he seems far less passionate about. Musharraf tries to impress the West with tough terror-fighting rhetoric, but the keen reader observes he never condemns Osama bin Laden, a hero in Pakistan, as a murderer or even a terrorist. Nowhere in his 368-page tome does he have a harsh word to say about America's Enemy No. 1 (though India, which he describes as "our most dangerous enemy," comes in for all sorts of scorn).
Musharraf casts bin Laden as a kind of Robin Hood figure, attacking the allegedly corrupt West for what he says are "political injustices" against Muslims. "This accounts for the likes of Osama bin Laden," he contends.
The general also insists jihadists fighting India over Kashmir are not terrorists but "freedom-fighting mujahedeen."
"One man's terrorist can be another man's freedom fighter," he reveals.
<b>Since bin Laden helped train and fund Kashmiri militants, one wonders if Musharraf even considers him a terrorist.</b>
Musharraf claims he's done "everything possible" to track bin Laden down. Yet he offers no examples of operations he's launched to that end, while providing exquisite detail of his massive manhunts for the men who tried to assassinate Musharraf. In the end, we find out they weren't even al-Qaida, but members of his own military, including a former bodyguard.
You get the sense after reading Musharraf's breathless chapters on those assassination attempts (he even proudly displays a gruesome photo of the blown-off face of one of his attackers) that <b>the only terrorism he really cares about is the kind that threatens him and his regime, not the West</b>.
He brims with pride at bringing all the conspirators of the failed coups to justice. Searching for them was like "looking for a needle in a haystack," he says, but he set up a "special exclusive unit" within his intelligence services to find them. And they did it in short order. One wonders how fast he could find bin Laden and his deputies with a similar unit.
Musharraf in the media and press conferences makes a good show of cooperating with us. But in his book he makes it fairly clear he's been a reluctant partner from the start. <b>He admits the only reason he signed on to our war was for "self-interest and self-preservation." Turns out the CIA has even had to bribe him with millions in stipends to hand over terror suspects. </b>
It's in the topic of faith that the Pakistani leader's true agenda â and loyalties â come through loud and clear. Above all, "I am a Muslim," Musharraf asserts. Not just any Muslim, he says, but the head of "an Islamic state created for the Muslims of the subcontinent."
He wraps the cover of his book in green, the color of Islam and the Pakistani flag. He displays a picture of himself on pilgrimage to Mecca. <b>He makes a point of saying his father's side came from Saudi Arabia, and that his mother's mother wore a burqa. He recounts crying "Allahu Akbar!" with his artillery unit as they charged a village to kill Indian Hindus.</b>
He reprints a prayer he wrote to Allah on Page 80. And he forcefully defends Islam from critics, claiming it "is in fact a very progressive, moderate and tolerant religion."
Make no mistake: Our "trusted partner" in the war on Islamic terror is Muslim first â and so is his country. "The sooner the West accepts this reality, instead of thrusting on every country ideas that may be alien to people's aspirations, the better it will be for global harmony," he asserts.
It sounds as if our ally thinks we're the problem, not the terrorists, casting serious doubt on his commitment to our cause.
It's the "responsibility of the West in general and the United States in particular to put their full weight behind finding a just resolution of all political disputes afflicting Muslim societies," he says. "Justice for Muslims around the world must not only be done, but seen to be done." The 7/7 bombers attacked London because they saw "atrocities meted out to their co-religionists," he says, warning that even if we crush al-Qaida, the jihad will march on.
"The tree of terrorism will continue to flourish as long as the roots remain intact," he says. And "injustices" committed by Western infidels "are the roots of the terrorist tree."
Musharraf says we can't win the war on terror until we make right with aggrieved Muslims the world over. No justice, no peace. "Ultimate success will come only when the roots that cause terrorism are destroyed: that is, when injustices against Muslims are removed," he says. "This lies in the hands of the West, particularly America."
And here we thought the keys to victory were in his hands. Musharraf's memoir provides a valuable window into the mind-set of our supposed ally in the war on terror. What we see is a reluctant Muslim partner only temporarily on our side for tactical and selfish reasons, a picture that does not inspire confidence we'll see bin Laden and his deputies brought to justice soon.
â Sperry, formerly IBD's Washington bureau chief, is a Hoover Institution media fellow and author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington."