Pakistan, Iran stress need to bolster
relations
TEHRAN, Dec 9 (AFP)
Pakistan�s military ruler General Pervez Musharraf and Iranian President Mohammad Khatami stressed the need to bolster ties between their two countries in talks here late Wednesday, the Iranian news agency said.
Khatami described the relations between the two neighbours, which had religion and culture in common, as deeply rooted and unbreakable, adding that they ought to defend it �hand in hand�, IRNA said.
On the economic front, an aide told AFP that the main subjects to be tackled were the building of two oil refineries in Pakistan and a pipeline from Iran.
Relations between Tehran and Islamabad have been strained over the protracted civil war in Afghanistan in which the two governments support opposing sides.
But since Musharraf�s coup, Islamabad has issued reconciliatory-sounding statements.
By SANDY GRADY
WASHINGTON, Dec 6
(Philadelphia Daily News)
This was the night skeptics of George W. Bush had been waiting for: Would �Dubya� prove himself ready for the Oval Office, or be exposed as lightweight Dan Quayle clone?
They�re still waiting.
Sure, Bush escaped his first 2000 presidential debate unscathed. No gaffes, no garbled no-answers. Since nobody asked, he didn�t confuse Uzbekistan with Kazakhstan. He sailed through the evening with a �What, me worry?� smile.
But it was a soft, kindergarten test for the Republican front-runner with $60 million in his jeans.
In truth, this Manchester, N.H., scrimmage, televised by Fox News, was no free-swinging brawl: It was as stilted as �Meet the Press.� Bush and his five GOP contenders stood entombed behind blue podiums, reciting 60-second mantras like a sixth-grade spelling bee.
Think of �Who Wants to be a Millionaire� � substitute �millionaire� with �president� � with Brit Hume and New Hampshire TV reporter Karen Brown replacing Regis Philbin.
So, no mystery why Bush breezed untouched � no confrontations with opponents, no crowd ruckus. You wonder why Dubya�s handlers, who had him ducking three debates, were nervous about a gentle format geared for the novice.
Steve Forbes, edgily hostile because his wallet has bought him no traction in polls, kept jabbing Bush about his plan for a $483 billion tax cut and his intention to raise the Social Security retirement age.
Bush sunnily replied: �Some say my plan is too big, others too small. . . . I must be doing something just right.� Then with a �gotcha!� air, he whipped out a Forbes quote in which Steve advocated jacking the retirement age to 68 or 70.
�I said that 20 years ago,� Forbes snapped, sullenly.
The mood was genteel. No Ronald Reagan roaring, �This is my microphone, Mr. Breen!� or Walter Mondale demanding, �Where�s the beef?� The Republican sextet was so chummy, John McCain saluted Bush�s �attractiveness as a front-runner� and Bush rejoined, �He�s a good man, a good friend.�
After 90 minutes of chummy chat, you began to miss pro wrestling. The riddle about Bush is whether he�s steely and knowledgable to run U.S. foreign policy. Each time he was politely pressed, Dubya turned on a mental tape recorder and droned about his Texas credentials.
�Your father had been CIA director and ambassador, experiences that helped hold together the Gulf War alliance? What about you?� Hume asked.
Said Bush, relieved he wasn�t quizzed about Mongolia or Mozambique: �I�m the only one on this stand who has been chief executive of a state. And Texas has the 11th biggest economy in the world. I�ve had foreign experience dealing with Mexico. The people of Texas appreciate me as a leader.�
Each time he was pressured, Bush all but waved a Lone Star flag. He was slightly rattled only when Hume, obviously testing the smartness quotient, asked what he was reading.
�Oh, newspapers,� said Bush, rattling off Dallas, Austin, New York, �and books. I�m reading a biography of Dean Acheson. And mysteries. But the question is, can you lead? The people of Texas know I�ve reached across racial lines � I�m a unifier, not a divider.�
Dubya seemed to know his stuff about a technical proposal to clean up gasoline. Or at least faked it well. When grilled about Saddam Hussein � the villain his father sent 550,000 troops to pursue � Bush was grimly pugnacious.
�I wouldn�t ease the sanctions. If he has weapons of mass destruction, I�d go after �em. I�m surprised he�s still there.� (Translation: So�s daddy.)
Oddly, nobody asked about the controversy over the World Trade Organization filling TV screens with riotous Seattle protests. Only Alan Keyes, the night�s most passionate performer, grappled with it: �We�re abdicating our power to a system run by dictators and tyrants.�
Another peculiarity: The Republican Big Six hardly laid a glove on Al Gore and Bill Clinton. They made veiled, coded references to the Clinton scandals, such as Bush�s threadbare pledge to �return honor and law to the presidency.� But they seemed to be waging a 2000 campaign against no-name ghosts.
McCain, Bush�s war-hero rival: no impact in this gang format. He wouldn�t be baited by the �whisper campaign� that his POW years left him unstable. Gary Bauer: a smooth, predictable right-wing moralist. Keyes: the class preacherman. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch: He hit a closing home run.
�These debates are structured and boring,� Hatch said. �Why don�t we all get on a bus, ride around the state, hold town meetings, let regular people ask us questions? How �bout it, George, John, Gary?�
McCain gave a grinning thumbs-up. Bush shrugged. Hey, Dubya had a free pass. Why should he risk potholes when he can smile, toss a few Texas brags and float to his 2000 coronation?
All Over the Globe is published by IPA House.
© 1998 IPA House. All Rights Reserved.