Adil Najam
A few readers have asked us to provide links to various media appearances by Gen. Musharraf here on ATP. A very good and constantly updated colelction is available at Trekker’s blog here.
Meanwhile, we are providing video clips of some of the most talked appearances (rather, those that are available on the web for linking).
Related ATP Posts on Gen. Musharraf’s new book, In the Line of Fire
First, the much talked about appearance on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show and then the apperance on 60 Minutes. Third we have updated this post to include the CNN interview by Wolf Blitzer. We have also added the most pertinent part of the White House Press Conference with President Bush and President Musharraf.
You can view his appearance on 60 Minutes here:
Here is the first half of his appearance in CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer (cannot, yet, find the second half). FULL TRANSCRIPT of this interview can be read here:
Here is the middle part, the most pertinent and talked-about part, of the White House Press Conference with Presidents Bush and Musharraf:
Finally, here is the interview on PBS’s Charlie Rose, which has also been much discussed in the comments from our readers:
I don’t believe the media circus Musharraf has created this last week is the result of inadvertant slips of the tongue. He’s a very smart guy and he knows what he’s doing. My theory is that he’s made the startling revelations that he has to get the book sales up so that people in the West will get to see Pakistan’s side of the whole post-9/11 world. Right now Pakistan fares very poorly in the PR arena. We’re immediately associated with extremism and terrorism. Musharraf went there to promote his book, and also promote Pakistan – a softer, more realistic image of Pakistan. The Jon Stewart show is a prime example of that. How many world leaders can hold their own against Jon Stewart while coming off as charming, and totally self-confident? I think Musharraf showed the US public that he’s not some tinpot dictator whose running a country of full of extremists. He sold himself and his country well. Well done, I say.
I was also quite impressed with the Jon Stewart interview. While i dont agree with Musharraf’s blatant promotion of his book in his current US tour, he does handle the media very well. Jon Stewart is not an easy show to be on, and Musharraf came off as smart and articulate.
Musharraf is looking so exhausted in the video. He’s already gotten tired of the whole tour thingy it seems.
Fawad
Sep 27th, 2006 at 4:13 pm Quote
Jon Stewart’s show last night was one of Musharraf’s better performances. He had a fairly good sense of humor and I thought handled the Bin Laden / George W Bush question fairly well.
However, many of Musharraf’s interviews (60 minutes, Today show) and the much quoted contents of his book have been self-serving and in many cases outright embarrassing. Disclosing Armitage’s bombing threat, boasting that Pakistan has won large amounts of “prize moneyâ€
Not sure why I should be happy about this. Note how both these interviews start. 60 mins makes a reference that most leaders would wait till retirement to write memoirs and Jon S. strats by noting that he is not sure WHY Mush is there. And most people are not! Most people wonder what this is about.