ABC: Pakistan To Give OBL A Break
According to ABC, US ally Pakistan has negotiated a "peace deal" with Afghanistan that includes amnesty for Osama bin Laden if he "agrees to lead a 'peaceful life.'" According to ABC News consultant Richard Clarke, former White House counter-terrorism director and Bush Administration critic, "the Taliban and al Qaeda leadership have effectively carved out a sanctuary inside Pakistan."
Subsequently, Pakistan denied the report, even though Major General Shaukat Sultan was "recorded in a telephone interview with ABC News."
AP reports that "[s]enior army officers and militants hugged and congratulated each other after signing the agreement," which contains "'implicit amnesty' for Pakistani and foreign militants involved in the North Waziristan insurgency."
Perhaps it was no surprise, then, that CNN's Wolf Blitzer couldn't get Administration spokesman Gonzales "to say that public enemy number one was their primary focus in the war on terror," according to the All Spin Zone.
Nevertheless, earlier on Tuesday, President Bush "vowed to prevent al Qaeda from establishing a violent 'totalitarian Islamic empire' in Iraq, which he called the ultimate goal of Osama bin Laden." However, on 13 March 2002, President Bush said (transcript)
I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority... I am truly not that concerned about him.
I don't know where [bin Laden] is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him... I truly am not that concerned about him.
On Friday, McClatchy Papers (formerly, Knight-Ridder) reported that the "Pakistani military is striking truces with Islamic separatists along the country's border with Afghanistan, freeing Pakistani militants and al-Qaida fighters to join Taliban insurgents battling U.S.-led troops and government forces in Afghanistan."