With Humayun Gauhar, having about the best English among Pakistani columnists at this time, helping Musharraf write his autobiography, the book should not suffer from want of lucidity and/or expression. The stating of facts is a different proposition, and there are always many sides to a story. Once in print, its credibility can be called into question depending upon the facts themselves, and/or the motivation of the beholder. Given that those coming out second best in the book will have no love lost for him, the autography is bound to be extremely controversial.

The publishers did not leave anything to chance, choreographing the timing and venue of the launch in brilliant fashion. Such overkill is commercially acceptable given that any publisher would like to ensure a good return on investment by maximum publicity and the widest distribution in the first few days of the book coming into print.

Whetting the appetite of potential buyers of the book is standard business practice in business circles, creating titillating controversy being always part of the game plan. Musharraf's personality helps by being tailor-made to evoke controversy. His refusal to answer a question about the "US threat to bomb Pakistan" after 9/11, during the joint press conference with US President Bush, on the grounds that it would infringe the confidentiality agreement with his publisher prior to the launch was carefully scripted. This could be worth $10-15 million, or more, of advertising on prime time world electronic media.

Every person in the world has an inherent freedom of expression. Those in positions of power have every right to lay out the facts as they have lived it, it is also a moral responsibility to do so. The important guideline to remember is that the facts must be credible. One has to choose carefully what can be aired (and when), and the damage control thereof has to be war-gamed, because we cannot afford to give ammunition to our detractors. While Musharraf is a past-master in taking calculated risks, the government should have been prepared to deal with well-orchestrated negative propaganda in the international media, and the ensuing "collateral damage" to the national interest should have been assessed.

Within the bounds of the Official Secrets Act, and the legal parameters of the two offices Musharraf occupies, the material must have been vetted by the intelligence agencies with due care also taken for legal go-ahead by the Judge Advocate General (JAG) of the Pakistan army and from the Ministry of Law. It then becomes their responsibility if anything violates the secrecy and legal parameters of the office of the president and the army chief of staff, unless, of course, their advice is ignored. The moral restraint was for Musharraf to exercise, not only as a citizen of Pakistan and a soldier of the Pakistan army, but also as the head of the state.

Collateral damage is generally meant to denote civilian casualties and damage to property that unintentionally came in the line of firing, shelling, bombing, etc. The term "collateral damage" is now also widely used by writers to describe damage not intended, even in matters other than military. For example, while Pervez Musharraf strongly defends the role of the ISI in apprehending and/or killing al-Qaeda operatives, the collection of reward money makes Pakistanis out to be "bounty hunters" whose crass motivation is commercial rather than the higher moral cause of fighting terrorism.

Supporters of Musharraf will see the book as a consolidated vindication of the many controversies that surround his person and Pakistan, while his detractors (and that of Pakistan) will raise doubts about his motivation and the facts stated in the book. Not having read the book, one can only hope that the facts printed therein are without colouring or prejudice. We live in out of-the-ordinary circumstances, and both Musharraf and the country (and by extension the Pakistan army) will now face extraordinary pressure from the world media as all the people, countries, or institutions affected by the contents of the books take up cudgels to defend their credibility, as is their right.

Neither our decision-makers nor media handlers took into account (or even have an idea of) what is about to hit us. The motivated will try to defame Musharraf and the institutions of the country, to destroy their very existence. The ISI is already under concentric attack! Those whose duty it is to calculate possible collateral damage, and damage control thereof, do not seem to be ready to meet this extraordinary challenge to our existence.

Failure to assess the possible downside amounts to criminal neglect. Those who create euphoria ("the feel good") for our leaders to bask in should have catered for the possible erosion of the foundations of the state, as well the downside to their four-star client. The book will sell, but it will be at the cost of Musharraf's future in history, and at even greater cost to the state.

Those friends and colleagues of Pervez Musharraf who encouraged him to go into print did not take into account the "collateral damage" to the state and its institutions, particularly the Pakistan army and the ISI. He has now made them, along with himself, a target for anyone who can speak and write.

Musharraf has been put in the cross-hairs of the most dangerous weapon in the world, the spoken and written word, character assassination with or without motivation. This is a vulnerability that Pakistan, the Pakistan army, and the ISI could have done without at this time. One only hopes that motivated advice was not done deliberately to put him on the spot as a "loose cannon." Is somebody looking to replace him?

What has been done has been done! Instead of relying upon inexperienced and lightweight PR artists, it is time for the president's men to cobble together an "A-Team" that will limit the "collateral damage" by reacting with logic and facts to each and every criticism that tends to erode Musharraf's credibility as an individual, and our credibility as a nation. And watch out for your friends, Mr. President, sometimes they can be more dangerous than enemies!

Ikram Sehgal, a former Major of Pakistan Army, is a political analyst and columnist.