Obama On Musharraf
Barack Obama issued a statement this afternoon about President Pervez Musharraf’s announcement that he will resign from office immediately:
"President Musharraf has made the right decision to step down as President of Pakistan. It is in the interests of his country and the Pakistani people to end the political crisis that has immobilized the coalition government for too long. I have long said that the central terrorist threat to the United States lies in northwest Pakistan and Afghanistan, and not Iraq. US policy must focus on assuring that all elements of Pakistan's government are resolute in shutting down the safe havens for al Qaeda and the Taliban. There can be no safehaven for terrorists who threaten the American people.
“A year ago, I advocated that the US move from a 'Musharraf policy' to a 'Pakistan policy.' I hope all of Pakistan's friends will now seize the opportunity created by Musharraf's exit to focus on the urgent issues of today: confronting the threat of extremist violence, dealing with food and energy shortages, and helping the Pakistani people build a stable, secure, democratic future."
the freeper connection:
The blogosphere is also lighting up with questions about the story Mr. McCain told at the forum — and many times previously — about a moment when a guard in his prison camp in Hanoi etched a cross in the dirt in front of him on a Christmas day. Mr. McCain related the story movingly at the forum, almost choking up, and added a line that he had not used before publicly: "For a minute there, there was just two Christians, worshiping together.
But some in the blogosphere are noting that this scene is strikingly similar to one painted by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, writing about his days in the gulag, and are questioning whether it actually happened to Mr. McCain. Mark Nicholas, a Democrat from Montana, has this. And over at the liberal DailyKos, they are noting that conservatives at Free Republic first raised doubts about the story in 2005.
NY Times, The Caucus