Bush "taken aback" by Musharraf remarks
General Musharaff claims US envoy threatened to take Pakistan "back to the Stone Age"
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Friday, 22, Sep 2006 06:16
George Bush has admitted he was "taken aback" by president Pervez Musharraf's claims that the US had threatened to bomb Pakistan unless it co-operated with the White House's war on terror.
Speaking at a joint news conference in Washington after talks with the Pakistan leader, the US president admitted that he was surprised by General Musharraf's remarks and could not shed any further light on the issue.
"The first I heard of this was when I read it in the newspaper today. You know, I was taken aback by the harshness of the words," he told reporters.
"All I can tell you is, is that shortly after 9/11, [then secretary of state] Colin Powell came in and said, president Musharraf understands the stakes and he wants to join and help root out an enemy that has come and killed 3,000 of our citizens," Mr Bush added.
Ahead of today's talks with his opposite number, General Musharraf told CBS show 60 Minutes, in an interview due to be aired on Sunday, that the then US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage had delivered the threat to Pakistan's director of intelligence in the aftermath of the September 11th terror attacks.
The Pakistan president said: "The intelligence director told me that Mr Armitage said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age.'"
"I think it was a very rude remark," he added.
Following the September 11th attacks, Pakistan severed its relations with the Taliban regime in neighbouring Afghanistan, thought to be harbouring al-Qaida leader and mastermind of the attacks, Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan, whose support was considered crucial in helping the US to topple Taliban rulers in Afghanistan following America's invasion of the country later in 2001, also agreed to co-operate with US efforts to hunt out al-Qaida and Taliban militants seeking refuge within its borders.
General Musharraf insisted that he had agreed to assist the US based upon the best interests of his own country.
"One has to think and take actions in the interest of the nation, and that's what I did," he said, in comments distributed by CBS.
But speaking today, Mr Bush enthused that General Musharraf was "a strong defender of freedom and the people of Pakistan".
"As a matter of fact, my recollection was that one of the first leaders to step up and say that the stakes have changed, that attack on America that killed 3,000 of the citizens needs to be dealt with firmly, was the president [Musharraf]. And if I'm not mistaken, Colin [Powell] told us that, if not the night of September the 11th, shortly thereafter," the US president added.
General Musharraf himself explained that he could not divulge any further information on the 9/11 bombing claims due to the fact that: "I am launching my book on the 25th, and I am honour-bound to [publishers] Simon and Schuster not to comment on the book before that day."