http://select.nytimes.com/gst/tsc.html?URI=http://select.nytimes.com/2006/09/23/opinion/23dowd.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26thQ26emcQ3Dth&OP=6ec259fcQ2F1i0V1_3!((_1Q2Amm41m71Q2AQ271(fhQ23h(Q231Q2AQ27l(ileo_Q3BJ
> Friday, September 22, 2006
>
> Axis of Sketchy Allies
>
> By MAUREEN DOWD
>
> WASHINGTON
>
> It helps to plug your book at the White House.
>
> After Pervez Musharraf coyly sidestepped a question at a news conference with President Bush about his claim on “60 Minutes” that Richard Armitage threatened to bomb Pakistan back to the Stone Age if it did not cooperate in routing the Taliban in Afghanistan, noting that he had to save such juicy tidbits for his book’s publication next week, he shot up over 1,000 spots on Amazon.com.
>
> General Musharraf told Steve Kroft he found the Stone Age crack “very rude,’’ and Mr. Armitage was on the defensive yesterday, explaining that he had been tough with Pakistan just after 9/11 but had not made any Flintstones threats.
>
> The former deputy to Colin Powell needn’t apologize. That was the last time our foreign policy was on track, when we were pursuing the real enemy. It’s all been downhill from there.
>
> The Pakistan president is a smooth operator, a military dictator cruising around the capital with his elegant wife and enormous security contingent, talking about how much he likes democracy, which he won’t yet allow.
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