Shot by both sides

Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari cannot easily please his US paymasters and his anti-American electorate

Dilip Hiro
guardian.co.uk, Monday September 22 2008

"The message of the suicide bombers responsible for the devastating assault on the Marriott hotel in the heart of Islamabad on Saturday, which reduced the 290-room hotel to a skeleton and left 53 people dead, was simple and chilling. "We are powerful enough to attack any target we choose, and will do so until the Pakistani government stops its military strikes in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and elsewhere.".......

Anxious to catch or capture Bin Laden, widely believed to be ensconced in Fata, before he leaves the White House in January 2009, Bush will pressurise Zardari to intensify military attacks in Fata while keeping intact his secret authorisation to the Pentagon's Special Operations Forces, stationed in Afghanistan, to enter Fata without even informing Pakistan to kill or capture the "bad guys".

Such acts will undermine the legitimacy of the Zardari government, alienate Pakistan's military high command, and feed anti-American feelings among ordinary Pakistanis. But by then a retired Bush will be busily cutting brush at his ranch in Crawford, Texas."