Keeping Our Eye On the Ball

Category: Hot Off The Presses

Monday, December 15, 2003

In all the hoopla about the capture of Saddam Hussein, the Post decided that this story should go in the very back of today's A section... great news judgment, guys.

Washington Post: Pakistani Leader Narrowly Escapes Attempt On Life

Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, narrowly escaped an attempt on his life Sunday when a powerful bomb ripped up a section of a bridge in the city of Rawalpindi seconds after his motorcade crossed it, officials said.

A senior army official called the explosion the "closest call yet" in at least three attempts to assassinate the president since he began cooperating with the United States in the war against terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks...

A military official said that "the intensity of the blast was enough to blow up the entire convoy." Police officials and witnesses said debris fell half a mile from the blast site. No one was hurt in the incident...

In recent days, as part of his campaign to rid Pakistan of religious extremism, Musharraf has banned key Islamic militant groups and ordered the arrests of their leaders. And, for the first time, police detained a dozen Islamic militants Saturday for soliciting funds for jihad, or holy war...

In two audiotaped messages recently aired on al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite television network, Ayman Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy, dubbed Musharraf a traitor and called on his Pakistani followers to topple his government.

Just a reminder as we celebrate the toppling of a dictator that the people who struck at us on September 11 are still out there, still defiant, and still waging war against all those they deem their enemies.