"Some believe" Musharraf is playing us for fools

The wit and wisdom of President Bush.

There was apparently no direct discussion of Mr. Musharraf's decision not to give up his role as leader of the Pakistani military, as he had promised more than a year ago. Mr. Bush used the visit, in fact, to praise the expansion of democracy in the country.

"There are some in the world who do not believe that a Muslim society can self-govern," Mr. Bush said. "Some believe that the only solution for government in parts of the world is for there to be tyranny or despotism. I don't believe that. The Pakistan people have proven that those cynics are wrong."

"There are some in the world" who might also add that "President" Musharraf took control of Pakistan during a military coup on Oct. 12, 1999.

It dosn't seem that Bush got many concessions from his good friend, General Musharraf, whether it be keeping the pressure up in tribal areas in western Pakistan where al Qaeda is still operating, or in getting more U.S. access to information from Abdul Qadeer Khan, the "father" of the Pakistani nuclear program and an active dealer of nuclear secrets around the globe.

Many American officials believe that is a way of filtering both the questions and the answers, perhaps to make sure that no current government or military officials are implicated in an investigation into the network's role in arming Iran, North Korea and Libya.

"Everyone knows that this reaches well into the Pakistani leadership," a European diplomat involved in the investigation said this week, "and the Pakistanis are being very careful."

But a senior administration official said Saturday that Mr. Bush had raised the issue only obliquely, asking Mr. Musharraf to assure that there is continued cooperation. The official said Mr. Musharraf "didn't seem aware that there was any problem," and promised to look into it.