You can't outsmart ME, Wolfie.
I don’t know if you were able to catch Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer yesterday, but the official sat down and discussed U.S.-Pakistan relations with the news anchor, as well as America’s presence in Afghanistan. The interview went as expected, given the party lines/rhetoric that had to be toed, but one part of the segment particularly interested me. See below [courtesy CNN.com Transcripts]:
QURESHI: I think our [U.S.-Pakistan] relationship has qualitatively improved in the last year.
BLITZER: To the point of what?
QURESHI: To the point of greater engagement, to the point of building a new partnership.
BLITZER: Where is Bin Laden?
QURESHI: Who knows?
BLITZER: Where do you think?
QURESHI: I don’t know.
BLITZER: Why is it so hard to find him?
QURESHI: You tell me.
Zing! Qureshi-1, Blitzer-0. That back-and-forth tennis match literally had me laughing out loud. It always amazes me how anchors try to sneak in the “Where in the world is Bin Laden” question randomly into conversation, as if they’re trying to take the Pakistani official in question off guard. The moment was reminiscent of former President Pervez Musharraf‘s stint on Jon Stewart‘s Daily Show, when Stewart offered him a cup of tea, made jokes about twinkies, and then asked, “Where is Osama bin Laden?” Musharraf, without batting an eyelash, answered, “I don’t know. Do you know?“
After all these years, I wonder if a news anchor will finally succeed in cracking a Pakistani politician/military/ISI official, who will confess, tears streaming down their face, “Bin Laden is my homeboy! We borrow Mullah Omar’s motorbike and go cruising for chicks at night!”
[Disclaimer: This post was meant to make you laugh, not make you angry. I understand the need to find Bin Laden, though I think his actual importance and influence today is a point worthy of discussion].
haha, love the disclaimer
Haha…I love the disclaimer! Can’t we just have some fun here without ppl getting upset?
You would think, but there are some very angry blog trolls out there…very angry indeed.
Hahah. I think one of the Pakistani officials should just answer, “I don’t know, we haven’t really been looking for him.”
“Osama who?”
His interview with Charlie Rose last night had a similar moment when Charlie tried to confront him about Pakistani establishment’s support for Taliban in the past. He came around quite nice and Charlie was instantly and visibly on defensive. I am a tough critic of any thing that our “almighty ruling elite” has to say or do, but i was certainly impressed by Qureshi’s ability of almost forcing Charlie into calling spade a spade. If you liked Musharraf-Stewart and Qureshi-Blitzer moment, you will definitly enjoy this one too…
Thanks Hussam! Here’s the link for others who are interested: http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/6745
I, like you, am also a tough critic of our ruling politicians, particularly their ability to say nothing at all. But I think Qureshi, like Husain Haqqani, can spin and dodge like no one’s business, which can come pretty handy in Washington. It’s not so much good for issues we want straight answers on, but good for the “spin factor” in the diplomacy realm.
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Marvel at Qureshi and other Pakistani political and diplomatic rep’s ability to downplay such questions. Had you asked an Indian official where Dalai Lama is, the entire diplomatic community in India would have reacted saying that the U.S. is wrongly holding India responsible for problems in Tibet!
Can the Indian diplomacy learn to be tactical and not touchy?
Dude, don’t give more credit to these clowns than what they deserve.. Yes, they can dodge a question or two because may be that’s what they have done all their lives. In Urdu, we call it “Topi pahnana” and we as a nation are naturally good at it anyways…
Yes, probably Indian diplomacy do need to learn this “art” from our jugglers but I think (keeping my bias aside), in a comparison, the list of things that our politicians need to learn from them can be never ending….
We also have Rehman Malik, whose diplomacy skills are non-existent.
seriously, imagine if Haqqani-Quershi formed a dodgeball team. Ben Stiller, be afraid.
Oooh! Joanie loves Chachi!
lolz….had a good laugh…Thank you Kalsoom!
Eman’s comment is hilarious! ha ha!!
“BLITZER: Where is Bin Laden?”
Bwahaha.. were they interrogating Qureshi for hiding Osama??? and even if we consider for a second that he did it, eitherway do they except for him to answer to that question?? Seriously, sometimes I have to agree to this one..
http://www.abytheliberal.com/internationalism/are-americans-stupid-statistics-and-research-data
xD