VP Cheney survives assassination attempt in Afghanistan

Let's make it look good for the cameras, ok Musharraf?


A bomber attacked the largest US military base in Afghanistan during VP Cheney's visit in what the Taliban said was an assassination attempt. The bomb detonated at the front gate, killing 23 people, including a US soldier and contractor.

Vice President Cheney had stayed overnight at Bagram Air Base and was preparing to leave for a meeting with President Hamid Karzai when the suicide bomber struck about 10 a.m. US military officials declared a "red alert" at the base, and Cheney was rushed to a bomb shelter for a short time.

This latest incident underlines recent calls by Cheney Afghan president Kharzei and Secretary of State Rice to Pakistan's President Musharraf to control Pakistan's borders and stop the inflow of terrorists into Afghanistan.

And it came just hours after Vice President Dick Cheney completed a private meeting with President Musharraf in Pakistan on inadequate efforts by Pakistan in combating Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The nature of the meeting can be pretty much guessed from the subsequent response of the Pakistani government yesterday with a series of statements insisting that “Pakistan does not accept dictation from any side or any source.”

Even more interesting is how the bomber got that close to Cheney or how the bomber knew where he was, as this information was not even known to the base commander until the Vice President showed up.

My guess is that Pakistan's infamous ISI leaked this to the Taliban, and that it was intended as a `warning', mafia style.