OAKLAND, Calif. - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama said Wednesday it's critical for Pakistan to be a constructive ally in fighting al-Qaida, one week after threatening military action to hunt down terrorists if President Pervez Musharraf doesn't act.
Obama declined to criticize the Bush administration's policies on Pakistan, and expressed sympathy for Musharraf, who faces a growing militant backlash in his Muslim nation.
"President Musharraf has a very difficult job, and it is important that we are a constructive ally with them in dealing with al-Qaida," the Illinois senator said.
Obama did not repeat the most incendiary line from his foreign policy speech last Wednesday, when he promised: "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."
That pledge set off ripples of resentment in the relationship between Washington and Islamabad, prompting Pakistani officials to warn against U.S. incursions into their country.
President Bush was vague on Monday when asked whether he would consult with Pakistan before chasing al-Qaida leaders into Pakistan. Last year, he offered a clearer answer, saying he could not send thousands of troops into Pakistan to search for Osama bin Laden without an invitation from the government. "Pakistan's a sovereign nation," Bush said then.
Asked Wednesday whether there was any difference now between his position and the Bush administration, Obama twice sidestepped the question, once saying he did not know Bush's stance and then saying he did not speak for the White House.
Obama repeated his insistence that, "We can't send millions and millions of dollars to Pakistan for military aid, and be a constant ally to them, and yet not see more aggressive action in dealing with al-Qaida."
Bush recently tried to ensure just that, signing into law a measure that ties U.S. aid to Pakistan to progress in combatting militants.
The closest Obama came to directly criticizing the Bush administration on the matter was to cite a report in The New York Times that said then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had called off a raid against al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan in 2005, despite having actionable intelligence.
"The American public needs to understand these issues because part of what's at stake in this next, upcoming foreign policy debate is the need to shift resources out of Iraq, in part to attend to these problems," he said. "If the American people don't understand that this is where the real threat is, that we're on the wrong battlefield right now, then we may get confused and elect a president who continues down the wrong road instead of the one that's really going to make a difference in terms of our security."
In Islamabad, a spokesman said Musharraf's government is not ruling out imposing a state of emergency because of "external and internal threats" to Pakistan and deteriorating law and order in the volatile northwest near the Afghan border.
Tariq Azim, minister of state for information, referred to recent military action against militants in northwestern border areas that he said had resulted in the deaths of many soldiers.
He also said statements coming from the United States, including Obama over the possibility of U.S. military action against al-Qaida in Pakistan "has started alarm bells ringing and has upset (the) Pakistani public."
Obama spoke to reporters after spending the morning with a home health care worker, Pauline Beck, as she made her rounds in Oakland. The senator helped clean a house, and said afterward it had reshaped his views on health care and unions.
He also said it was more gratifying work, in some ways, than working the halls of Congress.
"It actually was kind of liberating. When you're in the Senate you spend all your time talking," he said. "When you're cleaning out some cobwebs or you're mopping the floor, and you wring out the mop and you see the dirty mop water, you know that you actually accomplished something."
Obama was the fourth Democratic presidential candidate to participate in a program sponsored by SEIU, the service-workers' union.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070808/ap_on_el_pr/obama_pakistan_2
