President Pinnochio Of Pakistan

Want a laugh, even if it's of the slightly sad and ironic kind?

According to the BBC:

Pakistan has destroyed al-Qaeda's ability to operate on its soil, President Pervez Musharraf has said.
He said the network could not have orchestrated deadly bombings in London, Egypt or elsewhere from his country.

"Al-Qaeda does not exist in Pakistan any more," he told reporters in Lahore.

Yeah. This bit of blatant lying is so unbelievable I don't think even the graspers-at-straws in the Great War on Terror would give it credence. Even Murdoch's newspapers are saying this "Mission Accomplished" will be viewed with scepticism.

There is what has been described as a "war without an end" against extremists in Waziristan - the region of Pakistan where Osama binLaden is rumored to be hiding. There's another war rapidly gaining pace in Baluchistan where the Pakistani air force is bombing it's own population.

And let's not forget the 25,000 Al Qaida trained militants in Karachi or Pakistani government complicity in spreading nucler bomb technology.

Or for that matter the Pakistani intelligence and military communities complicity in islamist attacks on India or cross-border Al Qaida traffic into Afghanistan.

Yes, I understand that Musharaff is trying to tread a tricky ground between keeping the West complacent and keeping his own homegrown extremists happy too. I even understand that his dictatorship may be preferable by the West over an Islamic extremist elected government. But why is the US still selling his regime advanced weapons like F-16s to use either on India or it's own people? Far more than Iraq, Pakistan was a great candidate for the follow-up to Afghanistan's invasion. Oh but....they had nukes too, just like North Korea.

It's time the governments of the West faced facts. Two-faced Musharaff is such a liar that if he were Pinnochio I could reach out of my bedroom window here in Texas and tweak his nose. Can we at least stop selling him weaponry?