A dawn raid and the cooperation of one conspirator through a leniency programme produced the incriminating evidence.

What have they ever given us in return? fulminates John Cleese, playing a Judean revolutionary. The aqueduct, concedes a sheepish co conspirator.

They have made Americans fearful and found a willing co conspirator in the Bush administration. For reasons of its own, the Bush administration has found it advantageous to nurture the fear that September 11 engendered.

Musharraf flits effortlessly between personae. At one moment he is the responsible world leader who speaks charmingly to the international media about moderate Islam at the next, he is the cunning conspirator who rigs elections, destroys political opponents, breaks promises on relinquishing power, enters into mutually beneficial relationships with mullahs, and castigates human rights activists as Westernized fringe elements that are as bad as the Islamic extremists.