Musharraf plugs his book like a champ

[Al-Gebra]

"You want to know about what SoS Armitage said to me? then read my book."

How clever is this guy . . . first he tells CBS news something outrageous, then he tells us to buy his book . . . coming out tomorrow, brought to you by Simon and Schuster.

Who owns Simon and Schuster and CBS news? CBS corp.

  Love this guy. he's a true capitalist.

[Al-Gebra]

240, are you researching this nexus of brilliant marketing?

[Hugo Chavez]

Hardly as evil as you make it sound... Come to think of it, it's the standard rightwing goto to discredit everything... If it's not Clinton's fault, it's profit motive.... Of course this is never levied against the hundreds of accusations and cases published by right wingers.  Hmmm....  Still doesn't change the fact that if it's true, it fits the definition of terrorism

With his memoirs due for release on Monday, Musharraf used the unusual gambit to smooth diplomatic waters after talks on the U.S.-Pakistan partnership in the war on terrorism and efforts to prevent a Taliban resurgence in        Afghanistan.

Musharraf, in an interview with CBS News' magazine show "60 Minutes," to air on Sunday, charged that after the September 11 attacks, the United States threatened to strike Pakistan if it did not cooperate in America's campaign against the Taliban.

Musharraf said Richard Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, told Pakistan's intelligence director, "'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age."'

Bush told a White House news conference, in which he hailed Musharraf as an important ally, that he knew of no such U.S. threat, and Armitage said on Friday he had never issued such a warning.

"The first I've heard of this is when I read it in the newspaper today," Bush said as he stood next to Musharraf. "I guess I was taken aback by the harshness of the words."

Musharraf sidestepped repeating his earlier accusation, saying, "I would like to -- I am launching my book on the 25th, and I am honor-bound to Simon & Schuster not to comment on the book before that day."

Amid laughter from the assembled journalists, a smiling Bush quipped: "In other words, "Buy the book," is what he's saying."

Musharraf spoke just days ahead of the worldwide publication of his memoir "In the Line of Fire."

The White House said earlier it was not U.S. policy to threaten Pakistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, as it sought Islamabad's cooperation against Afghanistan's Taliban, who were sheltering al Qaeda leader        Osama bin Laden.

"U.S. policy was not to issue bombing threats. U.S. policy was to say to President Musharraf: 'We need you to make a choice,"' chief Bush spokesman Tony Snow said. He added there may have simply been a failure of communication.

Armitage told CNN on Friday, "I've never made a threat in a my life that I couldn't back up, and since I wasn't authorized to say such a thing, hence I couldn't back up that threat, I didn't say it."

Armitage also said, however, he had made clear to the Pakistani intelligence director how strongly the Americans felt.

"I told him that for Americans it was black or white, that Pakistan was either with us fully or not," he said.

Praising Musharraf on Friday, Bush said, "My recollection was that one of the first leaders to step up and say that the stakes had changed -- that an attack on America that killed 3,000 citizens needs to be dealt with firmly -- was the (Pakistani) president."

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Caren Bohan)