OneJerusalem.com

Is the cat out of the bag, or is this something most people really knew all along? Only days after U.S. President Bush met with Pakistan’s president (or is it Dictator) Gen. Pervez Musharraf, in New York during the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly, the release of the General’s book, In the Line of Fire, some very revealing details concerning Pakistan’s “real relationship” with the United States. Musharraf, who himself is not lily-white when it comes to how he became the supreme ruler of the world’s only (so far) nuclear armed Islamic country, has now made a virtual confession concerning how he had no alternative other than to ‘change horses’ and give support to the U.S. led War on Terror following the Al Qaeda planned attacks against the U.S. in September, 2001.

After supporting the ultra-Islamic Taliban organization to oust the Russians from Afghanistan, in which the U.S. CIA also played a major part, Pakistan continued to give support to this group which turned Afghanistan into an ultra-religious Islamic state where even most kinds of music was considered blasphemy and women had virtually no rights – even concerning education and receiving basic health care. All of this changed, however, when the Pakistani President received telephone calls from both the U.S. President and his Secretary of State, Colin Powell, “inviting” Musharraf to join forces in defeating the Taliban, and it’s Al Qaeda ‘guests’, including Osama bin Laden.

Musharraf writes in his book that “America was sure to react violently, like a wounded bear”, and that “this wounded bear would come charging straight at us” unless Pakistan elected to join the anti-terror Coalition. As was related to him by Mr. Powell, and later said generally by President Bush: “you are either with us, or you are with the terrorists”, with the obvious consequences for those who chose not to ‘join the party’.

Many people are asking, why is this ‘revelation’ coming out now? Why is Musharraf, who still is technically aligned with the U.S. and other countries, now coming clean? The only answer can be is that the Pakistani president has sensed a change of direction in the winds of war, regarding the battle against the Great Jihad of World Islam. Recent news stories have mentioned that Pakistan is not doing enough to search for and find Taliban and Al Qaeda members reported to be hiding in the mountain wilderness of northwest Pakistan; terrain so rugged that it is almost impossible to detect people who may be hiding there, even with the most sophisticated surveillance equipment. Top Al Qaeda leaders as well as Taliban chiefs such as Muhammad Omar, the ousted Taliban leader, are still assumed to be holed up there somewhere, or in similar terrain in northeastern Afghanistan.

Musharraf also has had his neighboring country India in mind when making these strategic decisions, since India is also a nuclear power and very much aligned with the U.S. The two countries have fought several major wars since both gained independence from Great Britain in 1947. They still have occasional skirmishes in the disputed region of Kashmir, and blame the other for frequent terror attacks which occur in both countries.

“We put our national interest on the line for self-preservation, as the Americans threatened to ‘bomb us back to Stone Age’ if we didn’t comply” Musharraf relates. He also sadly notes, that instead of becoming a safer place following the initial stages of the terror war, “the world has actually become far more dangerous”.