Tit for tat

In reading Emptywheel's post on the NYT article on the loss of WMD evidence, one aside really jumped out at me.

Back in 2004 - the Pakistanis are in hot water over the A.Q. Kahn mess - (Kahn helps other countries build nuclear bomb technology, is publicly arrested, and privately given his freedom). The US makes numerous statements defending Pakistan.

The US puts those statements on then-Pakistani President Musharraf's account. You owe us.

And what are they asking in return?

But the Bush administration apparently conveyed to the Pakistani military after that episode that it now expected the Musharraf regime to deliver high-ranking al Qaeda officials — and to do so at a particularly advantageous moment for the administration. The New Republic magazine reported Jul. 15, 2004 that a White House aide had told the visiting head of ISI, Ehsan ul-Haq, that “it would be best if the arrest or killing of any HVT [high value target] were announced on 26, 27 or 28 July.” Those were the last three days of the Democratic National Convention.

[snip]

Just hours before Democratic candidate John Kerry’s acceptance speech, Pakistan announced the capture of an alleged al Qaeda leader.

Obviously not a new story, but a vivid illustration of how power can be misused in an election year.

We are fortunate that this is not a re-election year for the president, or we might see some other flavor of this nonsense.