- NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pakistani President
Pervez Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S. fight against terrorism, is not
convinced that Osama bin Laden was the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks,
according to a report on Sunday.
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- "I didn't think it possible that Osama sitting up
there in the mountains could do it," Musharraf said in an interview
in the Aug. 12 edition of the New Yorker magazine, nearly a year after
hijacked planes killed more than 3,000 people in New York, Washington and
in Pennsylvania.
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- "He was perhaps the sponsor, the financier, the
motivating force. But those who executed it were much more modern. They
knew the U.S., they knew aviation. I don't think he has the intelligence
or the minute planning. The planner was someone else," Musharraf said
about the Saudi-born militant.
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- The United States blames bin Laden and his al Qaeda movement
for the Sept. 11 airplane attacks that destroyed New York's World Trade
Center and damaged the Pentagon in Washington.
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- After the attacks, Washington turned to Pakistan for
help in its bid to crush the al Qaeda network and sees Musharraf, who came
to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, as a key ally in its war on terrorism.
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- Musharraf, who extended his tenure for five years in
an April referendum boycotted by most mainstream parties, told the New
Yorker that the controversial constitutional amendments he has proposed
would make sure Pakistan is well governed.
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- "In our political setup, if you give a free ticket
to the Prime Minister and the government and the Cabinet are looting and
plundering. So you have to contain it. Elected governments played merry
hell here," Musharraf said.
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- The amendments, which would allow Musharraf to sack the
prime minister, dismiss the cabinet and dissolve an elected parliament,
have been widely criticized within Pakistan, where they are seen running
counter to Musharraf's promise to hand over power to a civilian government.
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- But the United States has refrained from criticizing
Musharraf. Last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell, in South Asia to
defuse tensions between nuclear-capable Pakistan and its nuclear-ready
neighbor India, said merely he had discussed the amendments with Musharraf.
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- Powell also refused to answer questions about whether
former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto should be allowed to take part in
October's parliamentary elections.
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- Musharraf, who has barred Bhutto from the country and
accused her of looting the country when she was in power, said he would
have Bhutto jailed if she were to return.
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- Bhutto has promised to return to Pakistan from self-imposed
exile in Britain to contest the poll. But if Bhutto's party, the Pakistan
People's Party (PPP) wins, Musharraf said he will not stop them from governing
Pakistan.
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- "If they win the elections, they govern...And I
will insure they govern honestly," he said.
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