Concord Monitor - Biden raps Bush over Pakistan

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Concord Monitor - Biden raps Bush over Pakistan

By Ethan Wilensky-Lanford

While most presidential candidates have been talking tough about Iran lately, Joe Biden, a Democratic senator from Delaware, refocused his foreign policy agenda on Pakistan at a Saint Anselm College forum yesterday. He criticized President Bush's handling of that country's current constitutional crisis, and outlining a comprehensive alternative, he took the country as a case study of how the administration has squandered America's moral standing in the world.

Over the weekend, Paskistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf imposed de facto martial law in Pakistan, which he has ruled since staging a bloodless coup in 1999. Last week, he suspended the constitution, arrested supreme court justices who opposed his rule and cracked down on several thousand political opponents. The country has been the beneficiary of $10 billion in U.S. aid, mostly to the military, since Sept. 11., 2001, according to The New York Times.

"We've spent billions of dollars on a bet that Pakistan's government would take the fight to the Taliban and al-Qaida while putting the country back on the path to democracy," Biden said. "It has done neither."

Instead of unconditionally supporting Musharraf, Biden said, the U.S. should triple its nonmilitary support of Pakistan to total $1.5 billion annually, as much as the United States spends in Iraq each week. The aid could pay for schools, clinics and roads; foster educational exchanges and public diplomacy; and demonstrate that America is not simply paying the country for its leader's allegiance.

"Many Pakistanis believe that the moment Osama bin Laden is gone, America will disappear as well," Biden said.

Biden faulted Bush for tasking Condoleezza Rice and other diplomats to deal with Musharraf for four days, after the general suspended the constitution Saturday. He said that he spoke with Musharraf before Bush did, and told him how important it was for him to restore the rule of law to his country. Bush finally spoke with Musharraf Wednesday, Biden said. (Thursday, Musharraf announced that he would step down as military leader before starting his next term as president. He also said that he would hold parliamentary elections on February 15 - a month after they had been previously scheduled.)

"The next American will have no margin of error," said Biden. "He or she should know more than their secretary of state."

He said that the average Pakistani would not think of America's use of torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay and the Bush administration's refusal to denounce waterboarding as mere issues.

"They see these things as a moral stain on the fabric of our nation," he said. "And so do I."

His first step as president, he said, would be to rearticulate American principles. In his inauguration speech, he said, he would promise to abide by international treaties, "jettison the Orwellian notion of what is meant by torture, meaning only organ failure or death," and close the base at Guantanamo Bay.

He would get out of Iraq as fast as he could, he said.

"It's the boulder in the road," he said. "We have no credibility in the world if we continue our war in Iraq. Nobody wants to play with us."

He said that he had little doubt that foreign policy was the top concern for most voters, and he presented himself as the candidate with the most experience and the best informed perspective to lead.

"I expect to do very well," he said, in remarks to journalists after the policy address. "I think you all are going to be very surprised."

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