Bombing Them Back to...Yesterday

Richard Armitage is in the news yet again. When not leaking the name of Valerie Plame to Bob Novak, he reportedly told the Pakistani President following 9/11 that his country's future might not be quite so bright if they didn't cooperate in the war against the Taliban. He actually stated it a little differently:

In an interview to air Sunday on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" program, Musharraf said that after the attacks, Richard Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, told Pakistan's intelligence director that the United States would bomb his country if it didn't help fight terrorists.

He said that Armitage had told him, "Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age."

Armitage has disputed the language attributed to him but did not deny the message was a strong one.

How big a threat is that to Pakistan? Bombing them back to the stone age would take them back to...yesterday, or maybe last week sometime. Have you seen that dump of a country? Most of the country still uses shiny rocks and sticks for currency. The richest guy in Pakistan is still living in a cave somewhere (although it may be a split level).

I don't think this was such a big deal.