Musharraf and Jon Stewart's 'Daily Show'
Posted by Frank James at 4:01 pm CDT
President Perez Musharraf, who appeared on Comedy Central’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart show last night, didn’t exactly do what visiting heads of state are supposed to, which is not add to the troubles of the hosting leader. President Bush spent a lot of yesterday trying to prove that what Democratic critics were saying about the National Intelligence Estimate was wrong, that the Iraq War had not worsened the terrorist threat. The president even ordered the release of a declassified summary of the NIE.
But the Pakistani president didn’t exactly help. Stewart asked Musharraf, in a mock serious way for irony’s sake, why he hadn’t included a discussion of Iraq in his new memoir, In the Line of Fire.
“Is that because you felt it was such a smart move, and has gone so well, that to mention it would be gloating?” Stewart asked.
“No, I think we were so overly concerned with our area,” Musharraf said. “I have mentioned about in a passing reference to Iraq. And I know that the situation, whatever the reasons of going there, I won’t get involved in a debate on that, but it has led certainly to more extremism and terrorism around the world."“So we’re safer?” Stewart asked.
“No we’re not. We’re not safer,” Musharraf said.
“But I believe in looking at the present and then trying to work out strategies for the future. That’s what we should concentrate on.”So here you had Mushurraf, who certainly must be counted as one of the world’s leaders with the greatest knowledge of terrorism, (al Qaeda has tried to kill him repeatedly) directly contradicting his U.S. ally on one of America’s most popular cable television shows.
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/09/musharraf_and_j.html