The honest answer to this question is God, but we need to look into it who was instrumental in stopping Bush from including Pakistan into the hit list which surely would have resulted in an all out war between Islam and Christianity.

The new crusade was moments away from happening had it not been because of commendable and most wise decision by President Musharaf and a lots of frantic phone calls from British Prime Minister Tony Blair to President Bush trying to knock some sense into wild west "buffalo Bush"

President Bush neither had the knowledge, depth or interest to know the real reasons behind WTC tragedy the moment he appeared from hiding warlord like rhetoric started and Whitehouse was sounding more and more like Beirut of few years ago than capital city of a super power.

Soon after the terrorist attack happened he went into hiding crisscrossing USA in his "AIRFORCE ONE" it was nothing like a presidential move if Bill Clinton was the president he would have ran towards Washington DC to standby his people and would have handled the situation much better.

Soon after President Bush came out of hiding he looked so scared that it was unbelievable and the world could not understand lack of leadership qualities.Once the dust settles I am sure these questions will be asked and this will become a major issue within USA and that alone could cost President Bush the next election.

On 11th Sep once President Bush was able to get back on his feet he started throwing blame in all direction, Afghanistan was an obvious target and some of his right wing advisers were gearing to include Pakistan, Iran and Iraq too and the idea was to disable and destroy Pakistan's Nuclear capabilities under the pretence that it was likely to fall into hands of terrorist hence had to be secured by destroying it. The plan to destroy Pakistan's nuclear installations was in an advance stage at the Whitehouse and various avenues were being considered how to achieve this aim, Strike by India was also discussed and considered seriously and a direct hit by US Army was another option.

And Iran and Iraq were to be dragged into this conflict too for standing up to America and its unrelenting, Unjust, Unfair and downright cruel support for "Butcher of Beirut" Sharon and non stop murder of innocent people of Palestine and Iraq.

The wheels of this nightmare scenario were beginning to be set in motion until Tony Blair got the whiff of it and he made numerous phone calls to president Bush, Secretary Colin Powell, and Secretary Rumsfield and President Musharaf and various other Leaders in the Middle East.

These were testing hours for Mr Blair he was able to get positive reaction from Colin Powell but President Bush and Donald Rumsfield were still unconvinced of Tony Blair's Stand and depth of knowledge and his understanding of the situation and they still riding the high and mighty horse of super power.

Secretary Powell was being sidelined by hardliners already in DC but he was not going to give up his stand either, and eventually Tony Blair and Colin Powell were able to convince The President and knock some sense into him.

Tony Blair and Colin Powell have not only shown to be doves of peace and stability but also have shown a much greater understanding of the situation and control of events than President Bush.

I can see Colin Powell to be the likely first non-white President of USA that certainly would bring in a lot of fresh calm air into the corridors of Washington DC. Tony Blair has shown it to the whole world that he is a truly world class statesman with more knowledge and depth than dozens of world leaders put together.

His policies and understanding are based on justice and fairness I think he was more supportive of Islam in this hour of need than many a Muslim world leaders who were busy securing their own seats of power than to worry about Muslim Umma's difficulties.

Situation was getting tense and the Pakistani people and governments were not really convinced of American resolve and their long term commitment in Southeast Asia but Tony Blair and his aids were able to put forward a convincing argument to President Musharaf and his Government that west will standby Pakistan this time around and not just use, abuse and dump it like the two previous occasions.

I met President Musharaf in May 2000 and I wrote at that stage that he is one man who could really do things for Pakistan and its people and now he has shown it to be very true, Even the western governments are openly saying "thank God that it was Musharaf in Power and not any of the political parties "whom would have had great difficulties taking this bold and brave stand and convince the world at large that Pakistan is not a terrorist state but a peace loving nation.

I think nation of Pakistan and the people of the world owe a great deal of gratitude to Musharaf and his team for providing quality leadership and putting Pakistan and its people's interest before every other issue it was particularly important at this stage that these events and the aftermath could have broken Pakistan if the correct decision was not made.

Being sons of Pakistan it was duty of President Musharaf and his able team to do what they did to protect Pakistan from great harm, but I think the whole world owes a bigger gratitude to Tony Blair for his unrelenting efforts to stop this situation into becoming the 3rd world war in which Islamic world and the West would both have been losers.

- Shahid Malik