Upon rereading the text of his interview with CNN, he did not say that the US was helping him secure his atomic weapons program...my mistake. He did say:
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<br>AMANPOUR: There's talk of support within some of your own ranks in the army, some of your own intelligence services for the Taliban. You yourself, in your speech to the nation, spoke about the security of your strategic assets.
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<br>Have you taken special precautions to protect your nuclear facilities? And would you and could you self-destruct them, destroy them, if you were afraid they would fall into the hands of the wrong people, fanatics?
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<br>MUSHARRAF: No, I'm very, very sure that the command and control set-up that we have evolved for ourselves is very, very secure, is extremely secure, and there is no chance of these assets falling in the hands of extremists.
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<br>The army is certainly is the most disciplined army in the world, and there is no chance of any extremism coming into the army. We have an excellent command system, we have excellent traditions. And I don't see this doomsday scenario ever appearing.
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<br>Of course, the best statment he made, and we'll have to wait and see if he carries through on this was:
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<br>AMANPOUR: Well, you sound very confident, Mr. President.
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<br>Just one last question: Despite this crisis, are you committed to returning this country to full democracy next year?
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<br>MUSHARRAF: Yes, I still remain committed because that is in our national interest. It's not for any other country of the world or any world opinion that I'm doing it. I'm doing it because it's in our national interest. And I will do it. The time schedule and the road map that I've given, I will still go forward on it.
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<br>The compete text of her excellent interview with him is at:
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<br>http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/09/30/ret.musharraf.transcript/index.html
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<br>What I think must have happened is that the US gave Pakistan in private the same ultimatim they gave Afghanistan and he was smart enough to do a 180 degree turn and try to distance himself from the terrorists...very smart.
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<br>I can't really answer to this notion of "innocents" being killed in a war any more than I already have - I think the whole notion is baseless and the continual propogation by our government that we can somehow antesptically remove the Taliban from power and capture the Evil Doers without harm to "innocents" is rediculous and can only lead to another Vietnam-type situation.
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<br>I think you have to give the military the objective, let them carry it out in the most efficient manner - and then afterwards if you want to privately step in with your bucks or back and rebuild that nation, luckily as a US citizen - nobody will stop you.
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<br>While doing some research on this notion of "innocents" during wartime, I came across this prophetic article by Dr. Piekoff of the Ayn Rand Institute, written in 1998!
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<br>http://www.aynrand.org/medialink/terrorism.html
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<br>Although I don't agree with a few of the statements that Dr. Piekoff has made during this time, overall I find his comments right on the money.
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<br>Peace,
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<br>ScaredyCat<br><br>