Bush, bin Laden visit Pakistan in tellingly different ways

This weekend, President Bush and Osama bin Laden will, in all likelihood, be in the same country for the first time. That nation is Pakistan.

How each man will likely spend the day Saturday paints a sharp picture of just where the war on terror stands and of what the United States could do better to win it.

Bush is, without a doubt, taking one of the bigger risks of his presidency in going to Pakistan. Islamic fundamentalism is rife. His host and ally, President Pervez Musharraf, tries to keep an iron military grip on his country, but his hold is shaky. On Thursday, despite heightened security across Pakistan, a suicide bomber was able to kill a U.S. diplomat in Karachi. Bush said it wouldn't deter him. But the places he'll visit will look as if a neutron bomb has hit: with buildings standing, but populations all but cleared out for fear of assassination attempts.

Bin Laden, meanwhile, is thought to be hiding in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province, protected by Muslims who revere him, as do followers globally. So much so that a $27 million bounty has not led to betrayal.



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