Bush Still Plans to Go to Dangerous Pakistan
March 3, 2006 — -- The suicide bomb that exploded in Karachi, Pakistan, on Thursday is a clear reminder of how dangerous that country is as President Bush travels there. Despite the bombing, Bush is determined to stick to his planned trip and is scheduled to spend an entire day in Islamabad.
The intense security will likely make the city of half a million people look like a ghost town, as Pakistani sources say a central diplomatic zone will be completely cordoned off.
"Everyone goes through a metal detector," said Joe Petro, a former Secret Service agent. "There are perimeters of protection set up around him wherever he is."
More than 1,000 Pakistani law enforcement personnel have been working with U.S. authorities for months, making preemptive arrests to keep bad guys off the street during Bush's visit. There is obvious reason for concern: Pakistan's president has survived at least four assassination attempts.
Try as he might, President Pervez Musharraf has been unable to stop al Qaeda in Pakistan. And, many believe that Osama bin Laden may be hiding in Pakistan's mountains.
"There are many other al Qaeda-like groups in Pakistan that he has banned," said Richard Clarke, a former counterterrorism official and now an ABC News consultant, "but they simply change their name and continue to operate, and he lets them continue to operate."
Karachi: Al Qaeda Hot Spot
Karachi, the teeming port city, has long been an al Qaeda hot spot -- it's where journalist Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and killed.
"I would say, in many ways, it's more dangerous than parts of Iraq," said Alexis Debat, an ABC News consultant and a senior fellow at George Washington University's Homeland Security Policy Institute.
According to a surveillance tape described to ABC News, the bomber parked a white Toyota Corolla packed with explosives about 65 feet outside the consulate's rear exit and waited 18 minutes. As an American vehicle left the compound, he backed the Toyota into it and detonated the bomb.
The explosion on Thursday was so powerful it sent the armored American vehicle flying through the air, clear over the 6-foot cement wall of the Marriott Hotel. American David Foy, 52, one of the four who died, seems to have been a target of opportunity.
Keeping Bush Safe
The key for the U.S. Secret Service to keep Bush safe in Pakistan will be to keep him moving, Petro said.
"A moving target is much more difficult, and the terrorists need to plan their own attack," Petro said. "And if they don't have the time to do that, that puts the advantage with the Secret Service."
There are many security measures that we'll never know about.
Six years ago when President Clinton's official-looking plane landed in Pakistan, he emerged from another unmarked plane. Marine One often travels with several decoy helicopters that peel off at the last moment. And, when Bush snuck off his ranch in 2003 to make a surprise Thanksgiving visit to Baghdad, Iraq, he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wore baseball caps to conceal their identities from the press.