Matt Lauer to Pakistani President: Is Bush Making World More Dangerous?

In this morning’s interview with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Today host Matt Lauer mostly asked serious questions about Pakistan’s role in the war on terror and what more that country could do but right before the end of the interview Lauer asked Musharaff to elaborate on a charge he made about the Iraq war: 

Lauer: "In your book you wrote, quote, 'I never favored the invasion of Iraq because I feared it would exacerbate extremism as it most certainly has. The world is not a safer place because of the war in Iraq, the world has become far more dangerous.' A recent classified National Intelligence Estimate, in this country, draws that exact same conclusion. So let me ask you, do you think then President Bush should be blamed for making the world a less safe place?"

Pervez Musharraf: "Well I wouldn't like to comment. These are past. I believe in living in the present and I believe in finding ways of improving the situation in the future. Let's live in the present and the future and not discuss what decisions were taken in the past."

Lauer: "President Pervez Musharraf. The book is called In the Line of Fire: A Memoir. It's good to have you here, this morning."