Musharraf’s comments show a blind spot in terrorism war

Just 10 days after Osama bin Laden issued a warning on an audiotape to Sunni Arabs in Iraq who have joined forces with Arab Shiites and others, the leader of a key U.S.-backed Sunni group was killed Monday in a suicide bombing.

Yet, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, America’s leading ally in the war on global terrorism, said Sunday that his government is not looking for bin Laden.

That, despite the fact, that the world’s leading terrorist and the brains behind the 9/11 attacks on America’s homeland is said to be hiding in the mountain areas on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

In a CBS’ 60 Minutes interview, the president was asked a series of questions about bin Laden within the larger context of the war on terrorism. Asked what he was doing to find the most famous terrorist who has eluded capture, Musharraf replied, “We are ... fighting terrorism. And we are fighting extremism.”

But pressed by the reporter on the issue of bin Laden, he replied, “Okay. We are fighting first of all al-Qaida. Let’s take al-Qaida. We have arrested or eliminated about 700 al-Qaida leaders. Only Pakistan has done it. And lately also whoever has been killed or arrested. I challenge — who else, which other country has done this?”

Questioned by the reporter which other country has bin Laden, the Pakistani rejected the idea that the terrorist is in Pakistan.

“But are you looking for him?” he was asked.

“No, again, the same answer. We are not particularly looking for him but we are operating against terrorists and al-Qaida and militant Taliban.”

Major goal

That certainly must come as news to President Bush and the White House, which have made the capture or death of bin Laden a major goal in the terror war.

For years the administration has been urging Musharraf to launch an aggressive, sustained campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Pakistan and has funneled more than $10 billion to the country, most of it for its military operations.

With his comments on 60 Minutes, the president of Pakistan seemed to be distancing himself the America’s view of the terrorist world.

But Musharraf didn’t cause a stir just with his public admission that finding bin Laden is not a priority. He also said his political opponent, Benazir Bhutto, was killed because she took an unnecessary risk. In effect, he blamed Bhutto for her own death.

Given the violence that followed her assassination and the charges by her supporters that Musharraf was responsible, the president’s comments about her death are bound the re-ignite passions.

President Bush needs to get on the phone with his ally and remind him that Americans will not rest easy until bin Laden is captured or killed. The reason: Even though he has been in hiding for so many years, he still exerts a lot of influence over his followers — as evidence by the suicide bombings in Iraq on Monday.

In addition to the murder of Riyadh al-Samarrai, 11 others were killed in a parallel suicide bombing.

The message from the al-Qaida leader was clear: Arab Sunnis who join with other groups will “suffer life and in the afterlife.”