Dick Armitage to Musharraf: "Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age"

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N21367355.htm

US threatened to bomb Pakistan after 9/11-Musharraf

NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) - President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan said that after the Sept. 11 attacks the United States threatened to bomb his country if it did not cooperate with America's war campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Musharraf, in an interview with CBS news magazine show "60 Minutes" that will air Sunday, said the threat came from Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage and was given to Musharraf's intelligence director.

"The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age,'" Musharraf said.

"I think it was a very rude remark."

The Pakistani leader, whose remarks were distributed to the media by CBS, said he reacted to the threat in a responsible way.

[Parche]

1. remark

And they are imploding about Chavez's remarks???

[KamaAina]

2. Armitage is the new Clinton.

First he supposedly was the Plame leaker. :eyes: Now this. Next week, they're gonna blame him for global warming. :puke:

[liberal N proud]

5. He does appear to be their scapegoat of the hour

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Gee, was Armitage the one who told the Taliban that we'd send them

a carpet of bombs too?

That man really can't keep his mouth shut.

[Blackhatjack]

4. He got Sensitivity Training later....which made him feel bad about Plame..

...he felt so bad about revealing her identity and covert status. He is just a cuddly bear after all.

[Straight Shooter]

6. "The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said ..."

It's hearsay. Armitage did not tell him directly. I don't doubt that Armitage used bullying language, but it was probably interpreted with greater emphasis than perhaps Armitage is guilty of using.

Stone Age. As if we could bomb Pakistan into the Stone Age without causing serious repercussions from such an act.

I'll take this with a grain of salt. Is Musharraf looking for sympathy, now that America is the dirty dog of the world? Relating this kind of incident will surely inflame anti-American sentiment among Muslims. Oh, well. What's done is done. :shrug:

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. LOL!

I find the thought that ANY statement by Musharref is taken at face value. This could very well be just another carefully crafted bit of psyops to feed the American public the subtle, but untrue, message that Bush was prepared to do what it took to get Osama.

[QuestionAll...]

8. My memory is sometimes failing, but...

during the setup for the Afghan home invasion, iirc, Pakistan had a definite 'no' to Bush's request of (either using their airfields or flyover permission,see, I forget).

then mush softened up suddenly.

so yeah, I could believe that someone threatened him. what' s so bizarre about that?

[DURHAM D]

9. I see some Armitage apologists on this thread. People who

have been buying the "he is not a partisan gunslinger" crap put out by the WH, RNC and Novak.

He is a PNACer and one of the biggest bullies in the bunch. I doubt that he and Powell actually got along very well. Armitage was there to keep Powell in line. And, he was successful.

He is not the fall guy - he is the guy.

[H2O Man]

10. Some of what

you say is true. The part about him and Powell is absolutely wrong. Still, he is one of the guys.

[Minstrel Boy]

11. "The intelligence director told me -" he was the paymaster of 9/11!

Mahmood Ahmed, who authorized Omar Saeed Sheik to wire $100,000 to Atta in the summer of 2001, and who was in high level meetings in DC during the attacks.

Mahmood Ahmed

[Junkdrawer]

12. Deflecting the obvious BushCo/Musharraf connections I see...

"No, really, we hate the guy. That's why we have him at the White House so often, and forgive billion dollar loans, and invite him to state dinners, and..."