Yesterday, the NY Times ran an article detailing the fractured relationship between the Bush Administration and Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf. As al Qaeda has slowly and surely rebuilt in the snowy mountains of the country's warlord region, the US has yet to force action on Musharraf's part.
That's not to say there is no plan-- the Pentagon drafted a way for Special Ops to infiltrate the region believed to harbor most of al Qaeda's leaders more than six months ago, but President Bush has not implemented it. This has caused much consternation and in-fighting as the administration winds up.
From the article:
In order to keep pressure on the Pakistanis about the tribal areas, officials decided to have Mr. Bush raise the issue in personal phone calls with Mr. Musharraf.
The conversations backfired. Two former United States government officials say they were surprised and frustrated when instead of demanding action from Mr. Musharraf, Mr. Bush instead repeatedly thanked him for his contributions to the war on terrorism. “He never pounded his fist on the table and said, ‘Pervez you have to do this,’ ” said a former senior intelligence official who saw transcripts of the phone conversations. But another senior administration official defended the president, saying that Mr. Bush had not gone easy on the Pakistani leader.
