Violence Won't Deter Pakistan Visit, Bush Says
Officials note security will be intense in light of a bombing that
killed a U.S. consular officer.
By Peter Wallsten, Times Staff Writer
March 3, 2006
NEW DELHI - President Bush said Thursday that he had no intention of
canceling his long-planned visit to Pakistan, despite a suicide bombing
that killed a U.S. consular officer in Karachi and intense gun battles
between the military and pro-Taliban forces near the Afghan border.
After his expected arrival today, Bush is to spend Saturday in talks
with President Pervez Musharraf, considered a key ally in the
U.S.-declared war on terrorism.
Bush administration officials said security provided by the military
and the Secret Service would be intense, but they acknowledged that the
journey bore some risk.
"Pakistan is both an ally in the war on terror and, in some sense, a
site where the war" is being carried out, said Stephen Hadley, Bush's
national security advisor. "At this point, people are comfortable that
the necessary precautions are in place. But this is not a risk-free
undertaking."
The president, Hadley said, was visiting Pakistan to express
"solidarity" with that nation's fight against terrorism. Bush is not
expected to visit Karachi, Pakistan's largest city.
Unlike his unannounced visit Wednesday to war-torn Afghanistan en route
to a summit in India, Bush and his aides have been openly discussing
the president's plans for Pakistan - including his intention to
attend a cricket match.
When President Clinton visited in 2000, officials were so concerned
about security that they flew him in aboard an unmarked military jet,
with the rest of his entourage on Air Force One.
Also unlike the Afghanistan trip, which involved a scaled-down
complement of staff and reporters aboard Air Force One, Bush will
arrive in Pakistan with a more typical entourage - a cast of hundreds
that includes security agents, White House staff, and reporters and
crews representing newspapers, magazines, wire services and television
networks from around the world.
"Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to
Pakistan," Bush said.
The rising violence in Pakistan underscored the challenges facing the
president as he attempts to keep Musharraf as an ally in the war on
terrorism.
On Wednesday, the Pakistani military struck at what it said was a
militant camp in the northwestern tribal area of Waziristan, killing as
many as 40 people. The army said many of them, including a Chechen
identified as a leader, were foreigners believed to be carrying out
attacks in Afghanistan. Residents, however, have said all the dead were
villagers, and accused Musharraf of staging the attack as a show for
his U.S. visitors.
Musharraf on Thursday expressed condolences for the death of U.S.
consular officer David Foy and three others in an explosion earlier in
the day near the U.S. Consulate in the city of Karachi. No one claimed
responsibility for the blast, which also injured at least 50 people.
Hadley said there was evidence that Foy had been the intended target.
Authorities in Karachi said they believed a suicide bomber rammed his
car into Foy's vehicle.
"This senseless act will not deter our strong resolve to pursue the
relentless fight against the evil of terrorism," Musharraf said. "We
all must continue to work together to eliminate this threat."
A general who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, Musharraf is
under pressure at home to stop cooperating with the U.S. in efforts to
root out Al Qaeda and Taliban militants hiding in the mountainous
tribal areas of Pakistan.
During his visit to Afghanistan, Bush reiterated his prediction that Al
Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and former Taliban ruler Mullah Mohammed
Omar, who are believed to be hiding in Pakistan, would eventually be
captured.
"It's important to talk with President Musharraf about continuing our
fight against terrorists," Bush said. "After all, he has had a direct
stake in this fight - four times the terrorists have tried to kill
him."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Times special correspondent Mubashir Zaidi in Islamabad, Pakistan,
contributed to this report.
from the LA Times.
"Terrorists and killers are not going to prevent me from going to
Pakistan," Bush said. --
This is hilariously hypocritical! A Predator drone's missiles killed 18
innocent Pakistanis only weeks ago, which sparked widespread rioting
and protests in Pakistan. The terrorist and killer, Little Bush, flies
in, arrogantly declaring killers and terrorists won't stop him. It's
hard to imagine Pakistanis mustering a remote controlled robot plane to
go after the Bush, but maybe they have something else in mind?
rayban
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