Former Pakistan PM Benazir Bhutto writes: "Assassinations and suicide bombings have also been increasing domestically in Pakistan." But, "None of the assassins has been arrested. Instead, public attention has been focused on five apparent assassination attempts against high-profile targets [including 2 on Musharraf]. While the regime insists these were genuine attempts, their pattern suggests something different. At most, they seem to have been attempts to frighten the targets. At worst...the attacks were stage-managed for external consumption. For example, in each case, the bombers used low intensity explosives. None of the people hurt or killed was of 'political value. It is difficult to believe that bombers would repeatedly use low-intensity explosives so that only one occupant of the car being attacked - or a person outside the car - would die. A public commission into these attacks is needed. "

What do you get when you mix a corrupt US president (sic) who dispenses huge rewards to anyone willing to help him further his agenda with one of the world's most corrupt police departments, notorious for taking bribes (among other things)? Basically, anything the corrupt president (sic) wants. So this week, the Pakistani police miraculously turned up "new information" that enabled Bush to raise a highly politically expedient terrorist alert. Meanwhile, the same Pakistani police, described by their fellow Pakistanis as "thugs in uniform," continue to commit crimes, unchecked, such as the kidnapping, rape and murder of young girsl from Karachi ghettos. As the Pak Tribune recently observed: "The whole law enforcement system in Pakistan smells. It is so rotten, that it cannot be brought back to life. " Gee, sounds like JUST the sort of folks who would work hand in glove with Bush.

In his recent sham of a speech, Bush again bragged about how he was bringing "freedom and democracy" to countries he has "liberated." But the Amnesty International 2004 report reveals that in "democratic" Pakistan, wholeheartedly supported by Bush, human rights hardly exist. The report states that women and girls, specially from poor and religious minority sections of society, continued to be abused at homes and in state custody.At least 631 women and six girls died in "honour killings" in the first eight months of the year. On child abuse, it said children continued to be brought to court in chains and tried before judges not empowered to hear their cases. Children were also sentenced to death in violation of both Pakistan's own juvenile justice code and international law." All in the name of fighting terror, of course.

Just as he did with the nuke scandal, Musharaff is again proclaiming ignorance as the best defense. This time, Pakistan's Auditor General has revealed that several people in the Musharraf regime have been using govt. funds to speculate -- selling and purchasing dollars from middlemen and money-changers at exorbitantly high rates. The scheme has resulted in a massive loss of about $6.2 billion to the State Bank of Pakistan An estimated $10 billion had been purchased by financial experts of the Musharraf government to boost foreign exchange reserves during the last four years, The report quoted an unnamed source in Pakistan's National Audit Bureau as saying that if just two extra rupees were paid for each dollar to favourites, "the total purchase of $5 billion would mean a whopping sum going out to unknown middlemen and agents of the big and powerful, including many serving and retired generals."

The two-week push by US and Pakistani troops the media called the "Spring Offensive" has proven to be yet another costly and bloody Bush failure. For days, Bush officials were telling the media it had "good information" that they were closing in on 'high value targets,' specifically high-ranking Al Qaida operatives, possibly even bin Laden himself. But now, Pakistani officials have admitted that the only "target" they nabbed - "Mr Abdullah" - was merely a local militant. But now observers in Pakistan say Bush's ill-conceived offensive, which left scores of locals dead, may create a new problem - angry tribal reprisals and, without doubt, new recruits to Al Qaida.

Bush's "get Bin Laden" nightly news extravaganza is not playing well in Pakistan. "Dawn" reports: "The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) leaders blasted Musharraf for what they described as 'complete capitulation' to the American dictates and the massacre of tribesmen by pitting the Pakistan army personnel against its own people... They blasted what they termed the American designs to rule the world in the garb of its self-styled doctrine of pre-emptive military intervention in any country which resists its dictation. The MMA leader said no Muslim could support terrorism but the American-led European imperialists hiding behind the excuse of 9/11 'have slapped a war on terrorism but this war itself has turned into the main source of worst terrorism.' He slammed the US double standards of democracy as on the one hand it boasts of ridding Iraq of a dictator while on the other hand it was patting the back of a dictator in Pakistan."

Here is an article by the Richard Mellon Scaife-funded Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank: "Iraq was the villain; Pakistan was the good guy. Any news that couldn't be integrated into this neo-conservative narrative was downplayed... Some media outlets and think tanks have argued that while Americans have been searching in vain for WMD and for Al Qaeda agents in Iraq, they could have discovered those same threats in Pakistan, with its legions of bin Laden followers... and nuclear weapons that could fall into the hands of anti-American terrorists... At the same time, these experts further warned that Pakistan under Musharraf, [who] before 9/11 [was] the leading backer of the Taliban harboring Islamic militants, was playing an active role in the proliferation of nuclear weapons. " Here we go again... Is another ally of the Bush Crime Family going to one day become an 'evildoer'? Will Bush Jr. follow in Daddy's footsteps with a Pakistangate, just like Daddy had his Iraqgate?

Seymour Hersh writes: "A Bush Administration intelligence officer with years of experience in nonproliferation issues told me last month, 'One thing we do know is that this was not a rogue operation. Suppose Edward Teller had suddenly decided to spread nuclear technology and equipment around the world. Do you really think he could do that without the government knowing? How do you get missiles from North Korea to Pakistan? Do you think A.Q. shipped all the centrifuges by Federal Express? The military has to be involved, at high levels... We had every opportunity to put a stop to the A. Q. Khan network fifteen years ago. Some of those involved today in the smuggling are the children of those we knew about in the eighties. It's the second generation now.' In public, the Bush Administration accepted the pardon at face value. Within hours of Musharraf's television appearance, Richard Armitage, the Deputy Secretary of State, praised him as 'the right man at the right time.'"

ExpressIndia reports: "Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday the architect of the country's atomic bomb Abdul Qadeer Khan was 'covering up' for President Pervez Musharraf by publicly confessing to transferring nuclear technology to other countries. 'We believe that he's covering up for Musharraf,' Bhutto, the Pakistan People's Party leader, told BBC television's Breakfast with Frost current affairs programme. 'And we think that if Musharraf has endangered our nuclear assets and endangered our country's reputation by involving himself in the export of nuclear technology he has no business to remain in power." So what is Musharraf's response? He's taking a page from Bush: launch a new highly publicized "Hunt for Osama Bin Laden."

So, Dubya, when do you plan to start mobilizing the invasion? "Pakistan would in no circumstances permit foreign inspectors to enter the country and monitor its nuclear weapons or civil nuclear facilities, General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's military president, said on Tuesday," reports Saalam. "The comments came less than two weeks after he pardoned A. Q. Khan, the 'father of Islamic bomb', following the scientist's public confession that he had passed on nuclear technology to other countries, believed by western officials to be Libya, North Korea and Iran. 'We are not hiding anything . . . what is the need of any inspection? What for?' said Musharaff. 'We will co-operate with any organisation, the International Atomic Energy Agency, or anybody. But don't treat us as if we do not know what we are doing. We are doing everything according to international standards.'" But Bush and his NeoCons would rather we worry that Saddam's illusory WMD's are in Syria...or Iran...

The Irish Times reports: "Pakistan's President has vowed never to allow the UN nuclear inspections agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, into the country despite admitting that the man behind its nuclear weapons programme sold nuclear know-how and equipment to three of President Bush's so-called axis of evil states - Libya, Iran and North Korea. President Pervez Musharaff yesterday pardoned the scientist, Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, the man credited with giving Pakistan a nuclear capability to mirror that of India's. And in a robust note of defiance, the military dictator rejected any suggestion of independent monitoring of Pakistan's nuclear programme. 'This is a sovereign country. No document will be given. No independent investigation will take place here.'"

AP: "India and Pakistan held their first peace talks in 2 1/2 years Monday, praising a 'new momentum' and working on a timetable to resolve decades of conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors over Kashmir, terrorism and other issues. As the two countries back down from the brink of their fourth war in 2002, the three-day talks are to lay the groundwork for ending a half-century of tension since their 1947 partition. 'There is realization in India and Pakistan that war is not an option, that you have to look at ways to find a peaceful resolution of the outstanding disputes between the two countries,' Pakistani spokesman Masood Khan said after a meeting between Foreign Ministry officials of the two countries. 'There's new momentum; this momentum must be maintained,' he said."

"Cape Town businessman Asher Karni imported high-tech triggers from the [US] supposedly to be used in 'lithotripter' machines to break up kidney stones at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto. Instead he diverted them to a Pakistani businessman, to be used to detonate nuclear bombs in Pakistan's controversial nuclear weapons programme, US agents charge. Israeli-born Karni, 50, is now in Washington DC facing charges under America's tough laws restricting the export of 'dual-use' items, like the 'triggered spark gaps' which can be used both for civilian and military purposes. He could face up to 10 years in prison... They also suspect Karni has diverted other military technology to Pakistan, including nuclear weapons technology, forming part of an international network supplying the country with the means to build nuclear bombs... The US this week also exposed a Malaysian link in the network. The US agents suspect Karni might also have sold nuclear weapons technology to India."

"How could it be that this man, long suspected, in spite of President Musharraf's denials, had not been kept under surveillance by the CIA...? The issue that this huge scandal calls into question is the Pakistan army, the ultimate instrument in American hands to keep this country, undermined by Islamist contagion and always on the edge of explosion, within their orbit. That's why Dr. Khan, a national hero in his country, was immediately pardoned by the Pakistani president. This man knows too much about Pakistani Army General Staff and Secret Services' involvement in the dissemination networks he was asked to supply. In fact, the American government recently having obtained proof from Libya of Islamabad's responsibilities, has arranged things so that all the responsibility falls on Dr. Khan, transforming him into a sort of Islamist Dr. Strangelove. This fable was immediately confirmed by Washington, which declared, 'the Pakistani government is not involved in proliferation activities.'"

"This powerful conflict within the Pakistan government could be seen in Musharraf's handling of the government's corrupt nuclear program. Just three weeks ago, after it was revealed that Pakistan had given nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea - a story that Danny had been pursuing - Musharraf called the scientists involved 'enemies of the state'. But then, last Wednesday, Musharraf seemed to cave, pardoning Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear programme who had taken responsibility for the leaked information. By doing so, Musharraf avoided a battle with government hard-liners, who deified Khan for turning Pakistan into a nuclear power. It illustrates how rough the justice in this part of the world can be, and why it helps to have as many witnesses as possible... In May 2002, a lawyer for Dow Jones (the parent company of the Wall Street Journal) levelled with me... "It is your case, not ours,' the lawyer eventually told me. I hung up."

Greg Palast writes: "On November 7, 2001, BBC TV and the Guardian of London reported that the Bush administration thwarted investigations of Dr. A.Q. Khan who this week confessed selling atomic secrets to Libya, North Korea, and Iran. The Bush Administration has expressed shock at the disclosures that Pakistan, our ally in the war on terror, has been running a nuclear secrets bazaar. In fact, according to the British News Team's sources', Bush did not know of these facts because, shortly after his inauguration, his National Security Agency (NSA) defectively stymied the probe of Khan Research Laboratories. CIA and other agents could not investigate the spread of 'Islamic Bombs' through Pakistan because funding appeared to originate in Saudi Arabia... According to both sources and documents obtained by the BBC, the Bush Administration 'Spike' of the investigation of Dr. Khan's Lab followed from a wider policy of protecting key Saudi Arabians including the bin Laden Family."

"President Pervez Musharraf has pledged that the disgraced founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program can keep the vast wealth he accumulated selling bomb-making technology to rogue states around the world. Just days after Musharraf provoked worldwide consternation by pardoning Abdul Qadeer Khan for supplying nuclear expertise to Libya, Iran and North Korea, he told the Sunday Telegraph he would also spare the scientist's property or assets. 'He can keep his money,' Musharraf said, adding there had been good reason not to investigate the origin of Khan's suspicious wealth before 1998, when Pakistan successfully tested its first nuclear weapon. '...you have to ask yourself whether you act against the person who enabled you to get the bomb.' Khan is thought to have earned millions of dollars from his sale of nuclear know-how, beginning in the late 1980s. Much of the money was funneled through bank accounts in the Middle East." Which bank? The Saudi-CIA laundromat, BCCI?

A WashPost editorial: "On Wednesday Abdul Qadeer Khan, the chief designer of Pakistan's atomic weapons, confessed on television to selling his work through an international black market and claimed he acted alone -- contradicting his previous implication of Mr. Musharraf and other top generals. Yesterday Mr. Musharraf duly pardoned him, called him a hero and declared that Pakistan would not supply documentation to the International Atomic Energy Agency or admit its investigators... What's hard to believe is the Bush administration's reaction to it. Rather than moving to impose sanctions on Pakistan -- action that might be expected for a government that has been caught providing the technology for nuclear weapons to such countries as Iran, Libya and North Korea -- it has swallowed his coverup and even congratulated him on it." It's just a family tradition -- when Hussein was Bush Sr.'s ally -- he could do whatever he wanted. Bush Sr. even loaned him billions and helped him get arms.

Daily Telegraph reports: "Pakistan faced embarrassment yesterday with the publication of a sales brochure from its top-secret nuclear facility, apparently hawking technology and components to would-be nuclear powers. The brochure from the AQ Khan Research Laboratories, the centre of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, has an official-looking seal on the cover saying 'Government of Pakistan'. Its publication in The New York Times yesterday undercuts Islamabad's claims that any transfer of its nuclear technology to rogue states has been the work of individuals. It also highlights the dilemma of George W Bush's administration over how to tackle a country that is an ally in the fight against global terrorism and yet also increasingly appears to be at the centre of the murky world of nuclear proliferation."

"Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf agreed yesterday to step down as chief of army staff by the end of 2004, resolving a row with an opposition Islamic alliance that had virtually paralyzed Parliament," reports Arab News. "The announcement came as a fine gift to the people of Pakistan on the eve of the birthday of the father of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah...The religious coalition, which counts supporters of Afghanistan's ousted Taleban regime among its leaders, has virtually paralyzed parliamentary proceedings with stormy protests and organized popular rallies against the president." There have been two recent assassination attempts against Musharraf in recent weeks, as Bush's lack of a constructive policy continues to alienate both Afghans and Pakistanis.

"Afghanistan's erstwhile Taliban militia, ousted from power by the US two years ago, is regaining strength with the help of the Pakistani establishment and Islamic groups, says a reputed newsmagazine. The Far Eastern Economic Review said in its latest issue that Afghan leaders had complained to the US about the overt and covert assistance being extended to the Taliban from Pakistan. The report came as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wrapped up a week-long visit of Indonesia and Thailand during which he accused Pakistan of continuing to encourage terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. In places such as Quetta, capital of the Baluchistan province where a hardline Pakistani Islamist group is in power, Taliban fighters and supporters can be seen on the streets without any fear of the Pakistani authorities, the Review said in a report by its veteran correspondent Ahmed Rashid."

"Violent reaction to the assassination of Maulana Azam Tariq, a parliamentarian and head of an anti-Shi'ite group in Pakistan, could provide the government with the opportunity it needs to launch a crackdown on extremist organizations, and round up some of its 'most wanted' suspects in the process. Tariq, a member of the National Assembly and chief of the Millat-i-Islamia (MII) party, which emerged from the ashes of the defunct Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), an anti-Shi'ite movement, was gunned down in a hail of bullets in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, on October 6 by as yet unidentified killers. The circumstances of the well-orchestrated attack have raised suspicions that it might not be a cut-and-dried sectarian killing."

Matthew Riemer writes for PINR: "Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and his populous Muslim country will play a vital role in the Bush administration's plans for Central and South Asia. But Pakistan's storied and rich past along with its volatile religio-political situation serve to complicate the development of Washington's long-term agenda."

Vilani Peiris writes, "Large antiwar protests in Pakistani cities over the past two weekends have further undermined the increasingly shaky position of military strongman President Pervez Musharraf. His administration is caught between pressure from Washington for Pakistan to support a resolution in the UN Security Council giving the go ahead for military action, on the one hand, and the popular sentiment against any war, on the other. Over the past two Sundays - March 2 and 9 - tens of thousands have gathered in Karachi and Rawalpindi to demonstrate against the war and demand that Musharraf oppose the Bush administration's plans. While the rallies were organised by Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six Islamic fundamentalist parties, hostility to war is far broader...Qazi Hussein Ahmad, head of Jamaat-e Islami, one of the MMA partners, warned Musharraf at the time that 'the fury and anger of the people will turn on the government if they back the US war'."

WashPost reports, "A year after Gen. Musharraf announced a ban on Muslim extremist groups, a move hailed in Washington as a turning point for Pakistan, several of the organizations have reconstituted under different names and are once again raising money and proselytizing for jihad against India and the West. Over the past few months, leaders of four groups banned by Musharraf have been released from house arrest or jail. One of them, Hafiz Sayeed of Lashkar-i-Taiba, has been traveling around the country to meet with supporters and whip up enthusiasm for renewed attacks on Indian forces in Kashmir... Pakistani authorities have released almost all of the hundreds of militants detained after Musharraf pledged on Jan. 12, 2002, to dismantle extremist groups that he said were 'bringing a bad name to our faith'... No effort has been made to disarm the groups and donation boxes for the supposedly outlawed organizations have reappeared in stores, mosques and other public places."

Reuters reports, "Pakistan strongly refuted U.S. claims that American troops had the right to enter Pakistan territory in pursuit of suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fighters crossing from Afghanistan. A U.S. warplane dropped a large bomb on disputed land near the Afghan-Pakistan frontier last weekend after a man dressed as a Pakistani border guard opened fire on U.S. troops inside Afghanistan, wounding one. The U.S. military in Afghanistan said it had the right to cross into Pakistan in pursuit of suspected al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives, adding that Pakistan had been aware of the 'long-standing policy.' But Pakistan Foreign Minister Mian Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said on Saturday: 'Operations within Pakistani territory would be conducted solely and exclusively by our own forces and in response to decisions taken by Pakistan... The incident has become a diplomatic headache both for Washington and [Pakistan], and has fueled already strong anti-U.S. sentiment in Pakistan."

AP reports, "Thousands of demonstrators marched in cities throughout Pakistan on Friday to protest a potential US-led war against Iraq, prompting tight security around the U.S. Embassy and other sensitive sites. About 7,000 people gathered outside the Madni Masjid mosque - the largest mosque in the Western city of Peshawar - chanting 'Down with America,' and 'Long Live Saddam Hussein .' In the central city of Multan, some 1,500 demonstrators gathered, some burning an effigy of Bush and chanting slogans against Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who has thrown his nation's support behind the US war on terror in neighboring Afghanistan . 'We will destroy America if it attacks Iraq,' said Salim Chohan, a local cleric in Multan. Another cleric, Qari Abdul Ghafoor, accused Musharraf of being 'an agent of Jews and America.' While the rhetoric was heavy, there was no immediate word of violence, and the numbers of protesters nationwide were not especially high, especially in a country of 145 million."

AP reports, "Pakistani politicians voiced outrage Wednesday after a weekend border clash that prompted a U.S. warplane to bomb a site near or inside the Pakistani border. The retaliation airstrike came after a U.S. soldier was shot in the head by a man dressed as a Pakistani border guard... The injured American, who has not been identified, was grazed in the head Sunday... near the Afghan town of Shkhin along the border with Pakistan, but military spokesmen only revealed details about the shooting days later. A U.S. F-16 fighter jet was called in to attack a building that the assailant had run into... U.S. bombs fell on the compound of an abandoned religious school in Burmol village, about 220 miles southwest of Peshawar. There were no reports of injuries. A resolution condemning the US was adopted Wednesday by the North West Frontier legislature in northwest Pakistan, a stronghold of anti-American Islamic groups. The measure demanded that Pakistan protest to Washington."

A pro-Taliban alliance of six religious parties won an important election in Pakistan's key Northwest Frontier on Nov. 29. The Alliance's candidate, Mohammad Akram Durrani, won the post by securing 78 out of the 119 votes cast. His rival, Qalandar Khan Lodhi, who was supported by the party that controls the central government and by the mainstream opposition groups, received 41 votes. It is an irony to come full circle so rapidly - from Bush's phony scheme of "freeing" the region from the Taliban (the same group he was wheeling and dealing with until August 2001) - to the region freely electing pro-Taliban candidates. It usually takes a rotten leader at least a few years to alienate people enough to make them want to turn back the clock.

Child labor in Pakistan continues to be rampant - at least 2,400 children in Khaipur alone work like adults, often in dreadful situations, despite the Bush-supported government claims to the contrary. Despite efforts by Non-Government Organizations (NGO's), no progress is seen. Advocate Manzoor Hussain Larik, member Amnesty International, said "the attitude of the moneyed class towards the poor children was callous and those working in the houses of the elite and the workshops were abused physically. He said social and economic injustice compelled the children to adopt a life of crime like pocket picking and stealing while others were engaged in begging and shoe shining." Yep, with rigged elections and child labor, we can tell, Bush has made a real difference in Pakistan!

Arrested on the basis of an apparently false and malicious anonymous allegation via a Pakistani "TIPS" type program, regionally renowned orthopaedic surgeon and philanthropist Dr Amir Aziz spent 29 days as a prisoner of the FBI and CIA. He was returned to his home in Pakistan on Tuesday. Azis said agents questioned him about his rumored links with Osama Bin Laden and Taliban. Amir said the FBI agents interrogated him in groups of two on rotating shifts in the presence of Pakistani officials. He said usually he was interrogated from 8 to 12 hours a day, sometimes it went on for 19 hours. They did not allow him to sleep and rest, he said. Why were the agents suspicious of Dr. Aziz? Because Dr. Aziz treats poor people for free...wow! That WOULD be a suspicious character in the Bushcroft book!

Times of India reports: "A US official said...that Washington is moving forward with an agreement reached earlier this year to write off $1 billion of Pakistan's debt, saying it was part of an effort to foster long-term improved ties with Islamabad.... 'The cancellation of $1 billion debt is on track,' Larson said after talks with Pakistani finance officials. 'We want (a) long-term and durable relationship with Pakistan.' President Pervez Musharraf has made Pakistan a key supporter of the US-led war on terrorism, a position that has earned Pakistan dividends in the form of Western aid packages and the lifting of US sanctions. But Musharraf's stance has angered Islamic fundamentalists. The United States and Pakistan signed an agreement in August for rescheduling $3 billion of Pakistan's debt. Another $1 billion is to be forgiven...Mussharraf, an army general who seized power in a bloodless 1999 coup, held parliamentary elections to transfer power to an elected civilian government."

Asia Times reports from Pakistan that there is a "furor surrounding the detention in Lahore of renowned Dr Amir Aziz on Monday by Pakistani and FBI officials. Amir is said to be wanted by the US in connection with allegations that he supplied anthrax spores and biochemical weapons formulae to Islamist terrorists. He has also openly admitted to treating Osama bin Laden, as well as wounded Taliban, al-Qaeda and militant fighters in Kashmir. Over the past few days since Amir's arrest, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the alliance [of Muslim religious parties], has been at the forefront of a campaign to have Amir released, and to block moves to transfer him to the US. The MMA's nominee for the slot of Speaker in the national assembly... warned that if Amir was not released in a short period of time, the government 'would have to face serious consequences'. The MMA is fiercely opposed to the presence of US troops on Pakistan's soil, and has called for their withdrawal."

"The man chosen to provide the local muscle in America's campaign against terrorism is finding himself with hardly a friend at home. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's dictator, who bet his future on a post-Sept. 11 alliance with the West, has lost considerable popular support as he has forced a series of dramatic changes on this Islamic country at the behest of his foreign allies... Nine months after joining the Western coalition against terrorism, General Musharraf, 58, is isolated in his own land, increasingly a figure of ridicule and the focus of a growing anti-Western fury that is shared by Islamic militants and the middle class alike." In the '99 interview in which he didn't know Musharraf's name, Bush still invoked that classic CIA line to describe the outcome of Musharraf's coup, "He's restoring stability." (Hmmm...) Musharraf can't find Bin Laden - who is most likely hiding in his country - and can't protect Americans like Daniel Pearl from Muslim extremists.

While the US routinely tests the nonworking missile defense program despite worldwide (and US) criticisms, the Bush administration is now trying to stop Pakistan from testing their own missiles from their missile program. Pakistan's information secretary, Anwar Mahmood, said in Islamabad his government had informed India "these tests have nothing to do with the current situation." Let us ask you King George: How is this any different from what you are doing?

On 9/01/01, Pakistan signed a $180,000 contract with a prominent Republican public relations firm based in Texas. "Gary Polland, who chairs the Harris County GOP Party, is 37.5 percent owner of a joint-venture known as 'Team Barakat' that is registered as lobbyist for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan... The firm reports to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Polland organized the Texas Inaugural Breakfast in Washington, D.C., last Jan. 19 to honor George Bush. Texas Senators Phil Gramm/Kay Bailey Hutchison and Majority Whip Rep. Tom Delay attended the event, which included a media panel consisting of John Fund (The Wall Street Journal), Grover Norquist (Americans for Tax Reform), John Gizzi (Human Events) and Glen Bolger (Public Opinion Strategies)." Did the White House tell Musharraf he needed a P/R firm for a planned US war against Afghanistan???