Six Paks

by digby

So Blitzer interviews the codpiece today and actually makes some news.

But before that, here’s what we heard:

Blitzer: Osama bin laden is still at large. Ayman al Zawahiri is still at large. What went wrong?

Bush: (agitated) A lot went right. Khalid Sheik Mohammed, if we can get a good bill out of the senate and the house is gonna go on trial. Ramzi bin al-Sibh. Abu Zubaydah

Blitzer: The main guys are still at large

Bush: (more agitated) Well, no question Osama bin Laden is at large, but the men who ordered the attack ann about 75-85% of the Al Qaeda that was involved in the planning and operating the attacks are in jus…

Blitzer: But the United States is the most powerful country in the world

Bush: (pissed) … can I just finish?

Blitzer: Why can’t we find these guys?

Bush: (red-faced) Wolf, Wolf. Thank you. Give me a chance to finish… Uuuh…

Osama bin Laden is in hiding.

And we’re still spending a lot of time trying to find him. But the key thing the American people have gotta know is that security comes not only with getting him which I’m convinced we will, but also doing other things to protect ’em. One is to dismantle Al Waeda. Two is to listen to phone calls of Al Qaeda calling the United States and responding to that. Three is to get information so we can prevent attack.

Getting bin Laden is important but doing, putting thins in place, putting procedures in place that protect you is equally important and we’re doin’ both.

Did everyone get that? Bin laden is in hiding which is why we can’t find him. And we’ll put “KSM” on trial if Bush can get a “good bill” out of the senate. Otherwise … he’ll have to keep him at Gitmo forever without a trial

It’s becoming more and more evident that Bush’s war on terrorism consists of getting the country sucked into middle east quagmires and institutionalizing random torture, endless detention and warrentless wiretapping of Americans. I feel so safe.

Meanwhile, Bush went on to say that he think Musharref is a good guy who wants to bring Al Qaeda to justice because they tried to kill him. Several times. (This is how the decider thinks of all global politics — it’s all about the leaders’ personal feelings.) Blitzer asked if there were others in Pakistan who might not have the same committment. Bush answered:

Eeeeee…maybe. Maybe. There no queastion there’s a kind of hostile territory, the remote regions of Pakistan that makes it, uh, easier for somebody to hide. But we’re on the hunt. We’ll get him.

Blitzer asked if he would give the order to kill or capture bin Laden if they had actionable intelligence that he was in Pakistan. Steely-eyed rocket man looked in the camera and said “absolutely.”

Musharref was not amused, apparently. He was asked about this at a press conference and said:

We would not like to allow that at all. We will do it ourselves. We would like to do it ourselves.

Bush knew he wasn’t supposed to say that but he couldn’t help himself. This was the correct talking point, from his press conference last week:

Q Thank you, Mr. President. Earlier this week, you told a group of journalists that you thought the idea of sending special forces to Pakistan to hunt down bin Laden was a strategy that would not work.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q Now, recently you’ve also —

THE PRESIDENT: Because, first of all, Pakistan is a sovereign nation.

Let’s all get the laughter out of our system, ok? Ok.

Continue:

Q Well, recently you’ve also described bin Laden as a sort of modern day Hitler or Mussolini. And I’m wondering why, if you can explain why you think it’s a bad idea to send more resources to hunt down bin Laden, wherever he is?

THE PRESIDENT: We are, Richard. Thank you. Thanks for asking the question. They were asking me about somebody’s report, well, special forces here — Pakistan — if he is in Pakistan, as this person thought he might be, who is asking the question — Pakistan is a sovereign nation. In order for us to send thousands of troops into a sovereign nation, we’ve got to be invited by the government of Pakistan.

Secondly, the best way to find somebody who is hiding is to enhance your intelligence and to spend the resources necessary to do that; then when you find him, you bring him to justice. And there is a kind of an urban myth here in Washington about how this administration hasn’t stayed focused on Osama bin Laden. Forget it. It’s convenient throw-away lines when people say that. We have been on the hunt, and we’ll stay on the hunt until we bring him to justice, and we’re doing it in a smart fashion, Richard. We are. And I look forward to talking to President Musharraf.

Look, he doesn’t like al Qaeda. They tried to kill him. And we’ve had a good record of bringing people to justice inside of Pakistan, because the Paks are in the lead. They know the stakes about dealing with a violent form of ideological extremists. And so we will continue on the hunt. And we’ve been effective about bringing to justice most of those who planned and plotted the 9/11 attacks, and we’ve still got a lot of pressure on them. The best way to protect the homeland is to stay on the offense and keep pressure on them.

See, “the Paks” are supposed to be in the lead. Bush just couldn’t force himself to say that again when Blitzer cornered him on the issue. And Blitzer cornered him on the issue because this weird stuff about Waziristan and Pakistan’s deal with al Qaeda is very hard to square with our alleged committment to fighting the next Hitlerstalinfascists.

How Bush is able to get away with playing the Codpiece card when he’s obviously completely stymied with Afghanistan, Pakistan and al Qaeda is beyond me. It takes guts to do it, you have to give him that. And in the six weeks before an election in the United States of the 21st century, guts are the only thing that matters.

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