Say, remember that lady running for PM in Pakistan..oh yeah

"Bush administration officials said the United States would still like to see Pakistan's opposition leaders find a way to work with Mr. Musharraf, a staunch ally for more than six years, but conceded that the notion appeared increasingly unlikely."

Though Mr. Zardari said he wanted a government of national consensus, he ruled out working with anyone from the previous government under Mr. Musharraf.

Instead he said he was talking to the leader of the other main opposition party, Nawaz Sharif, whose party finished second, about forming a coalition.

Talking to the Sunday magazine of a national Urdu daily, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad revealed that he had repeatedly met Osama bin Laden and that the Al Qaeda leader had visited him at Mansoora, the Jamaat headquarters in Lahore. According to him, Osama was willing in 1990 to buy parliamentarians' loyalties to ensure Nawaz Sharif's election as prime minister. Bin Laden had said that if there was a way to buy votes, he was willing to pay for them. Qazi said, "He was a big supporter of IJI (Islami Jamhoori Ittehad) and Nawaz Sharif." He said Bin Laden was also interested in a deal with the JI, which he (Qazi) had declined because he did not agree with Osama's "methods". He also said Bin Laden could not have carried out the 9/11 attacks because he lacked the "ability"; he said the Jews had done it, first giving the day off to all Jews working in the World Trade Centre.

Benazir Bhutto too has accused Nawaz Sharif of taking money from Osama bin Laden to oust her from power. Then we had the most extraordinary event of Ramzi Yusuf trying -- after his attempt at blowing up the World Trade Centre -- to kill her. He failed while the chemicals burnt his hands and he had to be hospitalised. According to reliable sources the attempt (in Karachi) on Ms Bhutto's life was funded by Khalid Shaikh Muhammad -- the man who also funded Al Qaeda's assault on the World Trade Centre in 2001. When Khalid Sheikh Muhammad was finally caught it was at the house of a JI member.

The two opposition parties share similar views of how to tackle the terrorism problem. The new approach is more likely to be responsive to the consensus of the Pakistani public than was Mr. Musharraf's and is more likely to shun a heavy hand by the military and rely on dialogue with the militants.

Mr. Zardari said his party would seek talks with the militants in the tribal areas along the Afghan border, where the Taliban and Al Qaeda have carved out a stronghold, as well as with the nationalist militants who have battled the Pakistani Army in Baluchistan Province.

Many in Pakistan, including several parties that boycotted the elections, have been strongly opposed to Mr. Musharraf's use of the army to battle tribesmen in the name of the campaign against terrorism, which is seen as an American agenda.

"We will have a dialogue with those who are up in the mountains and those who are not in Parliament," Mr. Zardari said. "We want to take all those along who are against Pakistan and working against Pakistan."

Plus c'est les memes choses.

OK fine. This is the will of Pakistan's peoples. And when, as it always has been the case the talks fail? When the guys with the Quranically untrammeled consciences, and racist religious stupidities find their souls stained by 'collaboration' with 'agents' of america?

The people of the United States NEED to be introduced to the idea that the PEOPLES of other nations, NOT SIMPLY THEIR ADMINISTRATIONS, may have inimical desires to what WE need. We don't need xenophobic rage. We don't need demagogic spittle flecked hysteria. We need someone to say...this is a problem we need to think about and think our way through, no matter how uncomfortable it is to consider no KUMBAYA.