Secretary of State Condi Rice met with Indian officials in New Delhi and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Admiral Mike Mullen met in Islamabad, Pakistan with president Asif Ali Zardari. The occasion was in response to the Mumbai terror attack that took place recently.
Rice and Mullen are looking for ways to have India and Pakistan act in a responsible manner in tracking down the terrorists and have Pakistan crack down on a Kashmir based terror group leading the list in the Mumbai attack. Rice has asked both countries to cooperate and to do so transparently. She also warned Indian officials against a hasty reaction to the attacks and not create other unintended consequences.
The Bush administration and Rice have no creditability with either country on the terror problem and especially with Pakistan. The administration has backed former Pakistan leader Musharraf with billions of dollars in aid, said he was an ally in the war on terror even though the Bush administration knew he let terror groups operate and train in Pakistan. Rice and this administration have a real problem when they talk about being transparent and hasty reactions. There was no transparency by Bush in the run up to war in Iraq and the consequences that followed are still acting out.
The U.S. is less safe now under Bush and the U.S. has lost its moral mantle of world leadership under Bush. V.P. elect Joe Biden said long ago Bush had a Musharraf policy but no Pakistan policy and if the American people want to be honest with themselves, could make a good case that Bush has never had a foreign policy. January 20th can not arrive soon enough.
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