Dan Rather WITH THE capture of Saddam Hussein, the men and women serving in Iraq earned themselves an early Christmas present. For some, it is the sense that a crucial component of the Iraq mission has been accomplished. For just about all, it is the hope that, with the former Iraqi dictator finally behind bars, the anti-Coalition insurgency that has already claimed too many lives will begin to collapse.
Their hope is the hope of the many who must pass the holidays without the ones they love, and their hope is the hope of a grateful nation. But even as news of this key victory in Iraq was spreading, a disturbing event elsewhere in the world brought us within seconds of what would have been a major international crisis.
PAKISTANI EXTREMISTS
It was possible to miss it in the deluge of Saddam news, but last weekend Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's motorcade had just passed over a bridge in the city of Rawalpindi when simultaneous explosions destroyed a section of the span. It was an obvious assassination attempt, and whether it was the work of home-grown Pakistani extremists or of outside agitators (al-Qaida, for one, has called for Musharraf's death), it is cause for real and serious alarm.
Musharraf has no shortage of enemies among Muslim hard-liners within his country, his government and his armed forces - and without. Musharraf earned their enmity when, after 9/11, he withdrew support for the Taliban, whom Pakistan had helped to put in power in neighbouring Afghanistan. Ever since, the Pakistani president has had to walk the line between the external demands of the United States and the internal discontent of Taliban sympathisers. So far, he has managed this balancing act, just barely.
One might hope that he continues to do so, as he is working without a net -- and so, where he is concerned, are the United States, the region and the world. Because President Musharraf has no obvious successor, and Pakistan has nuclear weapons.
Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999. This was the second reported try on his life since then, and it might be worth asking whether it was the opening move of a bloody coup. And if one asks that, one might further ask just how close we all came to having to contend with an extremist government in South Asia armed with the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.
Although focus in the war on terrorism some time ago shifted to Iraq, Pakistan remains an absolutely vital ally, if a demonstrably imperfect one. With this regional power broker on our side, U.S. goals in and around Afghanistan have at times still been thwarted and frustrated; without it, they might not stand a chance at all -- including the ongoing hunts for the still-at-large Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar.
PRECARIOUS PLACE
Pakistan is a precarious place. One where, for now, the United States finds someone it can work with at the top. But the questions about what might happen there tomorrow and the next day point up the perils of nuclear proliferation and of counting too heavily on non-democratic regimes, whether they are hostile or friendly.
And with the stakes so very high, last weekend's events in Pakistan provide a sober counterpoint for any celebrating that might be done over snaring Saddam. The Americans in uniform who helped bring about his capture have more than earned their Christmas present and any hope it might bring for the future; the rest of us, in the meantime, might say a prayer for peace for them, for ourselves and for a troubled and dangerous world.
Dan Rather is a television news anchor. Copyright 2003 DJR Inc. Distributed by King Features Syndicate.
