This is brilliant. One minute he is claiming that the Dems in Congress are al Qaeda's wet dream. The next minute he is showing up in Pakistan using the Democratic congress as leverage. Take a look:
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 — Vice President Dick Cheney made an unannounced trip to Pakistan on Monday to deliver what officials in Washington described as an unusually tough message Gen. Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, warning him that the newly Democratic Congress could cut aid to his country unless his forces become far more aggressive in hunting down operatives with Al Qaeda[...]
The decision to send Mr. Cheney secretly to Pakistan came after the White House concluded that General Musharraf is failing to live up to commitments he made to Mr. Bush during a visit here in September. General Musharraf insisted then, both in private and public, that a peace deal he struck with tribal leaders in one of the country’s most lawless border areas would not diminish the hunt for the leaders of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.Now, American intelligence officials have concluded that the terrorist infrastructure is being rebuilt, and that while Pakistan has attacked some camps, its overall effort has flagged[...]
Democrats, who took control of Congress last month, have urged the White House to put greater pressure on Pakistan because of statements from American commanders that units based in Pakistan that are linked to the Taliban, Afghanistan’s ousted rulers, are increasing their attacks into Afghanistan.
For the time being, officials say, the White House has ruled out unilateral strikes against the training camps that American spy satellites are monitoring in North Waziristan, in Pakistan’s tribal areas on the border. The fear is that such strikes would result in what one administration official referred to as a “shock to the stability” of General Musharraf’s government.
General Musharraf, a savvy survivor in the brutal world of Pakistani politics, knows that the administration is hesitant to push him too far. If his government collapses, it is not clear who would succeed him or who would gain control over Pakistan’s arsenal of nuclear weapons.
But the spread of Al Qaeda in the tribal areas threatens to undermine a central element of Mr. Bush’s argument that he is succeeding in the administration’s effort to curb terrorism. The bomb plot disrupted in Britain last summer, involving plans to hijack airplanes, has been linked by British and American intelligence agencies to camps in the Pakistan-Afghan border areas.
Think this one through with me.
For nearly 6 years the Bush Administration has let Pakistan slide, going so far as to allow the Pakistani's to sign a cease fire a few months back with pro-Taliban / al Qaeda tribal leaders along their border with Afghanistan. Things have gotten so bad, in fact, that last week we heard several reports claiming that al Qaeda's strength was nearing pre-9/11 levels. This report seems to once again confirm that.
But now, after 6 years, Cheney shows up to warn the Pakistanis, and when he does, what does he use as leverage? The Democrats! If he doesn't crack down on al Qaeda, the Democrats will cut off funding. Not the Bush White House, but the Democrats.
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