Musharraf just told the world that right after 9/11 Richard Armitage called him and threated that the US would bomb his country into the stone age if Pakistan didn't join forces with the US in the war on terror (which probably included confirming to the world that the US's evidence against bin Laden was real - though that probably was understood and left unsaid).
I think Pervez Musharraf is playing poker.
Pakistan is a Muslim country. The people that run Pakistan, despite their pressed shirts and shaved chins, are basically Islamic Fundamentalists. Pakistan (and/or the Pakistan ISI - their version of the CIA), was an ally of the Talban. Actually, they picked them to invade Afganistan at the behest of the US, secretely of course, to get rid of Rabbani, who had signed a contract to let an Argentinian company, the Bridas Group, build a pipeline though the country. Big oil wanted to build it themselves, they didn't want Argentina to have control.
However, there are two Pakistani governments - Musharraf's administration, and the ISI. The ISI has been called a "state within a state". They are very powerful, they got that way in the 80's when the US depended on them to run guns and money into Afghanistan for us during the Soviet/Afghan war ... not to mention all the money the ISI skimmed off of the heroin trade that was used to pad the war chest - some estimate that far more money used for the war came from heroin than from the US Congress or Saudi Arabia (who matched our funds), and that was billions.
The ISI and Musharraf's government do not see eye to eye on everything (Masharraf came to power by killing his predecessor), and I think there is a battle for power raging in Pakistan at the moment. I think it because I can't imagine any other reason why Musharraf would spill the beans about Richard Armitage's phone call. This is pure speculation.
The ISI recruited and coordinated payment of the "hijackers" on 9/11. They got caught, the Times of India printed an article about the wire and the FBI confirmed it. The news was quashed, Musharraf forced then ISI chief Amhed onto retirement, the 9/11 Congressional Intelligence Investigating Committee (who's co-chairmen had met with Amhed prior to and on 9/11) ignored the story, and all was forgiven.
Well, first there was the phone call. Actually two - first from Armitage's boss, Colin Powell.
Here's how I think it went down. The ISI did our dirty work in preparation for 9/11 without involving Musharraf. He probably knew though. After 9/11, Powell called Musharraf and gave him a list of conditions he wanted Pakistan to sign off on (detailed in Bob Woodward's book). Then Armitage made a follw up call to say, "just so you know, if you don't meet the conditions my boss just explained to you, we're gonna publicise the Taliban/Osama/Pakistan connection and bomb you into the stone age". Musharraf agreed, Pakistan became (publicaly) a US ally in the war on terror, the US ignored the news about the ISI's involvement, the IMF OK'd some Pakistan loans and the US lifted sanctions on weaponry to Pakistan. That's the history.
Now, Musharraf and the ISI are fighting I think, maybe the ISI is trying to get rid of him. But Musharraf has an ace up his sleeve. He knows the ISI was involved in 9/11, they are the ones with dirty hands, not him, he can deny any knowlege of the part they played. So he says, screw you, you try to mess with me I tell the world about ISI involovement in 9/11. And the cheif of the ISI says, your bluffing.
And Musharraf says, "am I now ? - watch this ! ..."
