It is hard to imagine a greater nightmare for America than the
world's second-largest Muslim nation becoming a failed state in
fundamentalist hands, with an arsenal of nuclear weapons and a
population larger than those of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and
North Korea combined.

That is why, today, I delivered a major policy address to
transform our Pakistan policy from one focused solely on General
Pervez Musharraf to one that focuses on the entire country of
Pakistan.on.

I have asked my campaign to circulate this address to voters as
quickly as possible. I am asking for your help to make this
happen.

As we near our goal of raising $500,000 by next Friday, we are
seeing thousands of supporters become first time contributors to
my campaign. I ask you you to join them today -- an amount as
small as $10, $15, or $25 will make a difference reaching out
to voters

Click here to make a contribution of $10, $15, or $25 to my
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We are making incredible progress with voters in Iowa and
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Thank you for your support. You can read the full address below.

Joe Biden

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A NEW APPROACH TO PAKISTAN
November 8

I've been saying for some time that Pakistan is the most complex
country we deal with - and that a crisis was just waiting to
happen. On Saturday night, it did. 

President Musharraf staged a coup against his own government. He
suspended the constitution, imposed de-facto martial law,
postponed elections indefinitely, and arrested hundreds of
lawyers, journalists, and human rights activists. He took these
steps the day after Secretary Rice and the commander of all
American forces in the region appealed to Musharraf not to take
them.

America has a huge stake in the outcome of this crisis - and in
the path Pakistan follows in the months and years to come.
Pakistan has strong democratic traditions and a large, moderate
majority. But that moderate majority must have a voice in the
system and an outlet with elections. If not, moderates may find
that they have no choice but to make common cause with
extremists, just as the Shah's opponents did in Iran three
decades ago. 

But unlike Iran, Pakistan already has nuclear weapons. 

It is hard to imagine a greater nightmare for America than the
world's second-largest Muslim nation becoming a failed state in
fundamentalist hands, with an arsenal of nuclear weapons and a
population larger than those of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and
North Korea combined.

To prevent that nightmare from becoming a reality, I believe we
need to do three things:

First, deal pro-actively with the current crisis.

Second, and for the longer term, move from a Musharraf policy to
a Pakistan policy that gives the moderate majority a chance to
succeed. 

And third, help create conditions in the region that maximize
the chances of success, and minimize the prospects for failure.

RESOLVING THE CRISIS

To help defuse the current political crisis, we must be far more
pro-active, not reactive and make it clear to Pakistan that
actions have consequences. President Bush's first reaction was
to call on President Musharraf to reverse course. Given the
stakes, I thought it was important to actually call him - which
is exactly what I did. I also spoke to opposition leader Benazir
Bhutto. President Musharraf and I had a very direct and detailed
discussion. I told him how critical it is that elections go
forward as planned in January, that he follow through on his
commitment to take off his uniform, and that he restore the rule
of law to Pakistan. 

It was clear to me that President Musharraf understands the
consequences for his country and for relations with the United
States if he does not return Pakistan to the path of democracy.
Now, President Bush finally got around to calling Musharraf
yesterday. As a few of you may know, I'm running for President
and I can tell you this: if I'm elected, I won't wait five days
to pick up the phone or delegate matters of this magnitude to my
secretary of state or to my ambassador. There is too much at
stake to leave this kind of conversation to others.

If President Musharraf does not restore his nation to the
democratic path, U.S. military aid will be in great jeopardy. I
would look hard at big-ticket weapons systems intended primarily
to maintain the balance of power with India, not to combat the
Taliban or Al Qaeda: hardware like F-16 jets and P-3 maritime
surveillance aircraft. President Musharraf doesn't want this aid
suspension - and neither does the military establishment whose
support he needs. Nor can they afford for this crisis to
undermine confidence in Pakistan's economy, which has already
taken a hard hit. So I believe there is incentive for cooler
heads in Pakistan to prevail. But if they don't and if President
Bush does not act, Congress almost certainly will. 

BUILDING A NEW RELATIONSHIP
 

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