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Politics

Bush: Musharraf is an ally against extremists

Rice calls emergency decree "a bad decision."

By Michael Abramowitz, Washington Post
Published November 11, 2007

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush and his senior advisers offered perhaps their most extensive defense Saturday of Gen. Pervez Musharraf as an ally in the battle against Islamic extremists a week after the Pakistani president declared emergency powers and began a crackdown on human rights activists, lawyers, and journalists.

Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made clear their continuing desire for Musharraf to hold elections and resign from the Pakistani army, with Rice bluntly calling his seizure of emergency powers a "bad decision."

But they mixed criticism with sympathy for what they termed his past efforts to cultivate democracy and help the United States go after al-Qaida leaders in the border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"President Musharraf, right after the attacks on September the 11th, made a decision, and the decision was to stand with the United States against the extremists inside Pakistan," Bush told reporters here after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"In other words, he was given an option: Are you with us, or are you not with us? And he made a clear decision to be with us, and he's acted on that advice."

Bush noted that several senior al-Qaida leaders "have been brought to justice" and "that would not have happened without President Musharraf honoring his word."

Bush spent Friday night and Saturday morning at his ranch here in intensive consultations with Merkel on a variety of issues, especially his continuing drive to tighten the diplomatic and financial pressure on Iran over its nuclear activities. U.S. officials have considered Germany something of a weak link in this effort, but Merkel made clear she is open both to a new round of international sanctions and possibly further reducing Germany's extensive commercial ties with Iran.

Bush, for his part, was forceful in repeating several times his desire to solve the problem diplomatically, a nod to Merkel's evident distaste for any talk of military action.

"I'm deeply convinced that the diplomatic possibilities have not yet been exhausted," Merkel said through a translator.

[Last modified November 11, 2007, 02:26:29]