Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf isn’t even pretending anymore to be anything but a dictator. After declaring emergency rule, he launched a countrywide crackdown on political opposition, the media and the courts, the Washington Post reported. And instead of spending our $7 billion in military aid to pursue al-Qaida militants, Musharraf has used most of it on heavy arms and aircraft that are more likely to be used against India, the Los Angeles Times reported.
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42 Comments
This is another one of those you are darned if you do, and darned if you don’t.
After 911 we decided to go to bed with a dictator inorder to promote our goals. Much like Afghan where record amounts of poppy/opium are being grown.
And here we are repeating the mistakes of the past all over again.
Remember the Shah of Iran? Eygpt?Vietnam?
We make some bad bedfellows.
I have mixed feelings on this.
“Democracy” in Gaza put Hamas in power, didn’t it?
Also, during the American Civil War, did we allow the Congressman from “rebel” States to continue to “vote” in Congress? Of course not.
As Lincoln said, “the Constitution is not a suicide pact” — and he did suspend habeous corpus.
Pakistan is dealing with rebel provinces, some friendly to the Taliban or to Al Queda. It is probably that OBL is in Pakistan.
However, it is regretable that he went this far.
I am not sure it was necessary.
It might have had the short term affect of keeping nukes out of the hands of radical Islam.
Let us all hope and pray that it does not have the long-term effect of doing exactly that!
The big danger in Musharrif’s move is that he is alienating so many groups in Pakistan that he needs on his side to fight alQuada/Taliban. The professional class is hardly fundamentalist but he is cracking down on them even more than he is on the extremists.
What the hell?
AmWay made a good post.
You’re criticising Bush?
Is that YOU, man?
THE PROBLEM IS ISRAELTHE PROBLEM IS ISRAELTHE PROBLEM IS ISRAELTHE PROBLEM IS ISRAEL!
A good portion of our woes in the middle east is due to Israel! The rest is our own imperialistic foreign policy.
Israel has always been something I hold dear to my heart, but after doing some reading on the problems in the middle east, much of the mess boils down to Israel and the west bank. This isn’t a partisan issue either, Carter, Regan, Bush 1, and Clinton have all tried to slap Israel into line, as well as many Congressmen, but the political lobby the Jews have is so strong, that to do so means your complete destruction as a politician!
They say the fall is Israel is the end of the world. Well, they sure seem hell bent on causing it! From what I’ve learned the past few weeks, nothing, and I do mean NOTHING any “terrorist” organisation has ever done to Israel was beyond what they had coming to them.
We guarantee loans on Israeli housing in Palatanian territory. We know we shouldn’t, we don’t want to, but if your a politician, and you don’t support this, they will spend millions destroying you at every turn!
Whisper one word of truth, they label you an anti semite! I’m really starting to feel the hatred of Jews throughout history isn’t completely unfounded. I had a tearful argument with a German in the mid 90’s over Jews, the holocaust. This old woman didn’t condone what happened to the Jews, but she darn well would not back down on the fact that the Jews were destroying Germany
Sometimes people just bring problems on themselves. I just don’t get the attachment to some ancient homeland that had been abandoned for an eon.God doesn’t just exist in a parcel of land.
And the train wreck that is the bush administration continues…
Thanks for clearing that up, AmWay.
I do believe that people who support evil are evil.
Those who support the most evil administration ever to steal the White House will have to answer for it on Judgement Day.
I was feeling a bit depressed the other day, so I called the Help Hotline.
I was put through to a ‘call center’ in Pakistan.
I explained that I was feeling suicidal.
They were very excited at this news and wanted to know
if I could drive a truck or fly an airplane…..
The dilemma we have in Pakistan: Is the dictator we do know, better than the dictator we don’t know?
The stakes are high given that a nuclear armed Pakistan hates its nuclear armed neighbor, India.
only John Rambo can save the day!
Pakistani President Musharraf isn’t the problem, the buffoon standing behind him is.
Gold reached 800 dollars an once as the bottom is falling out of the dollar.
Israel “sold” India our best radar array and Rice told them to increase their supply of Nukes.
Congress must stop Bush by cutting off the supply of money.
Well, we’re always saying we support democracies, but the truth of the matter is that we find them a little too chaotic to rely on. So, we’ve consistently made our alliances with dictators such as Battista, Somoza, Pinochet, King Faisal, Shah Reza Pahlavi, Musharraf, etc. Now we’re paying the price.
O boy… here we go!
I thought the Conservatives claimed the moral high ground.
Where is this attitude when they are all for supporting these dictators?
I just want the America that I grew up with back. The one whom the world looked to and respected. The America before this war happened and Bush ruined our image.
This is why I support Obama for President. He has understood the threat from Pakistan before this happened. People were making fun of him when he was saying that Pakistan is the real threat.
Looks like he is turning out to be right after all.
I really hope Obama capitalizes on this!
Bush would say don’t worry about India, he made a sweet nuke agreement with them, so they’ll be able to take care of themselves.
Democratizing societies that hate you may not be in our best interest.
I wonder if the U.S. will be as easilly controlled. A few thousand intellectuals and lawyers protesting while the mindless millions go on with business as usual.
Thousands arrested in Pakistan protests By ROBIN McDOWELL, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Police on Monday fired tear gas and clubbed lawyers protesting against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s emergency rule. The U.S. and other nations called for elections to be held on schedule and said they were reviewing aid to Pakistan.
In the largest protest in the eastern city of Lahore, lawyers dressed in black suits and ties chanted “Musharraf Go!” as they defied the government’s ban on rallies. Some fought back with stones and tree branches.
The crackdown mainly targeted Musharraf’s most potent critics — the judiciary and lawyers, independent television stations and opposition activists. Opposition groups said 3,500 had been arrested, though the government reported half that total.
President Bush urged Musharraf to hold parliamentary elections as scheduled in January and relinquish his army post as soon as possible. “Our hope is that he will restore democracy as quickly as possible,” Bush said.
But there did not appear to be a unified position among senior government officials on whether they planned to hold the election as planned. The attorney general said the vote would take place as scheduled but then conceded there was a chance of a delay. The prime minister also left open the possibility of a delay.
The demonstrations so far have been limited largely to opposition activists, rights workers and lawyers angered by his attacks on the judiciary. There does not appear to be a groundswell of popular resistance and all the protests have been quickly and sometimes brutally stamped out.
The streets of Pakistan appeared normal Monday with people going about business as usual for the most part.
Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup and is also head of Pakistan’s army, suspended the constitution on Saturday ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on whether his recent re-election as president was legal. He ousted seven independent-minded Supreme Court judges, put a stranglehold on independent media and granted sweeping powers to authorities to crush dissent.
Musharraf’s leadership is threatened by the Islamic militant movement that has spread from border regions to the capital, the reemergence of political rivals, including former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, and an increasingly defiant Supreme Court.
The court has emerged as the chief check on Musharraf, who has been promising democracy ever since he seized power. The judiciary has proved surprisingly independent for a country that has been under military rule for most of the 60 years since it was founded.
The emergency decree appeared aimed primarily at heading off any Supreme Court challenge to Musharraf prolonging his eight-year rule.
The opposition has been demanding Musharraf relinquish his post as army chief and says he should be disqualified because he contested the presidential vote as army chief.
Musharraf has also moved quickly to control the media, which he said was partly to blame for the current crisis. Authorities have blacked out TV networks and threatened broadcasters with jail time, but so far have spared the Internet and most newspapers. Most people in Pakistan, where illiteracy is rife, get their news from TV or radio.
Police raided and briefly sealed a printing press belonging to Pakistan’s largest media group on Monday. They also tried to storm a press club in Karachi. Broadcasts by independent news networks remained blocked, and domestic transmissions of BBC and CNN went off the air.
Lawyers — who were the driving force behind protests earlier this year when Musharraf tried unsuccessfully to fire independent-minded chief justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry — attempted to stage rallies in major cities on Monday, but the protests were quickly stamped out.
In the biggest protest, about 2,000 lawyers congregated at the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore. As lawyers tried to exit onto a main road, hundreds of police stormed inside, swinging batons and firing tear gas. Lawyers, shouting “Go Musharraf Go!” responded by throwing stones and beating police with tree branches.
An Associated Press reporter saw police bundle about 250 lawyers into waiting vans. About 20 were injured, at least two bleeding from the head and were treated in a waiting ambulance before being spirited away.
In the capital, Islamabad, hundreds of police and paramilitary troops lined roads and rolled out barbed-wire barricades on Monday to seal off the Supreme Court.
Rana Bhagwandas, a Supreme Court judge who refused to take oath under Musharraf’s proclamation of emergency orders, said he has been locked inside his official residence in Islamabad and that other judges were being pressured to support the government.
“They are still working on some judges, they are under pressure,” Bhagwandas told Geo TV in a phone interview.
Chief justice Chaudhry was removed from his post on Saturday, just as the Supreme Court was preparing to rule on the validity of Musharraf’s Oct. 6 re-election.
“I am virtually arrested,” Chaudhry said in a written statement, describing the emergency declaration as a “naked attack” on the rule of law.” “The main gate of my residence has been locked.”
Even lawyers who were not involved in protests appeared to be targeted.
Imran Qadi Khan said police pulled him off a bus near Musharraf’s army office in Rawalpindi, just south of the capital, as he was heading to work.
“We have been sitting here since morning,” he said from prison, sitting alongside other lawyers who stood out because of their traditional attorney dress, black jackets and black ties. “The police are not telling us anything about what they plan to do with us.”
Since late Saturday, between 1,500 and 1,800 people have been detained nationwide, an Interior Ministry official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
But Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman for former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s opposition party, said authorities had rounded up around 2,300 of their supporters. Other political activists, human rights groups, and lawyers said another 1,200 detentions to that toll.
They included at least 173 workers and supporters of Bhutto, who has held talks in recent months with Musharraf over a possible alliance to fight extremism, said Pakistan People’s Party spokesman Farhatullah Babar.
The Netherlands became the first country to punish Pakistan, announcing a freeze on almost all of its millions of dollars in development aid.
Rice said Washington was reviewing its assistance to Pakistan, which has received billions of dollars in aid since Musharraf threw his support behind the U.S.-led war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
But Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested that military aid may not be affected because the Bush administration does not want to disrupt its partnership with Pakistan in fighting al-Qaida and other militants.
The country has been hit by a string of suicide bombings in recent weeks blamed on extremists, including one last month that killed 145.
Britain said it had no current plans to change the $493 million it has budgeted in aid to Pakistan over three years.
Musharraf told ambassadors at his official residence Monday that he was committed to completing Pakistan’s transition to democracy.
“I am determined to remove my uniform once we correct these pillars — the judiciary, the executive and the parliament,” he was quoted by state-run Pakistan Television as telling foreign ambassadors Monday.
“I can assure you there will be harmony … confidence will come back into the government, into law enforcement agencies and Pakistan will start moving again on the same track as we were moving.”
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz left open the possibility for a delay in parliamentary elections that had been expected in January.
“The next general elections will be held according to the schedule or a program that will be finalized after consultation with all the stakeholders,” he said. On Sunday, Aziz said the polls could be delayed by up to a year.
Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum gave contradicting statements on whether the elections would be held on schedule.
“Yes the elections will go ahead on time,” he told the Associated Press. But then he conceded there was a small chance of a delay because some in the government wanted to put the vote off by a year.
WHAT DID OUR PRESIDENT DOODY SEE IN MUSHARIFF’S EYES ? —- DID HE SEE HIS SOUL ?
WORSE PRESIDENT EVER?
Josh,”I just want the America that I grew up with back. The one whom the world looked to and respected.”
That America doesn’t exist, and probably never did. Norman Rockwell lied.Our diplomacy has always been about who we could make the most advantageous short-term deal with, not about who was the most honorable. It’s just taken a while for that policy to exact it’s heavy price. Maybe the powers that be will learn a lesson from that, but I wouldn’t count on it.
“alQuada/Taliban. The professional class is hardly fundamentalist but he is cracking down on them even more than he is on the extremists“.Ben
Ben from what I have learned of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, that is exactly where the real hard core of both come from. Lawyers, Doctors, Engineers and others of wealth and influence are the ones whom almost since the formation of the Islamic extreme movement. Have been the most formative and steadfast in their believes. Perhaps that has been one of the greatest misperceptions about Islamic extremism that it is the uneducated and down pressed are the membership. Most of the 9-11 terrorists were from the professional class. The terrorists who struck in Scotland were Doctors.
*****I was feeling a bit depressed the other day, so I called the Help Hotline.
I was put through to a ‘call center’ in Pakistan.
I explained that I was feeling suicidal.
They were very excited at this news and wanted to know
if I could drive a truck or fly an airplane…..
Posted by: American WayOMG you got a real belly laugh out of me! Thanks…*****Recently I read that a lesser member of the Bush Administration has been indicted for spying for Israel by passing U,S. Defense information through APAC.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C34672DA-1613-4A1E-BE4B-A6FDE8524388.htm
here is the link about spying for Israel.
Josh/Jed,
What’s wrong with you guys? What America do you live in? Mine’s great!
I live in a country that pretty much lets yo be what ever you want to be. If you don’t think this is a great country try the wall test. Put a wall around this country and see which way the people climb it.
Obama? If Obama is the answer it’s a very dumb question! Hillary has 50% negatives. Her record is one of looking out for Hillary. The democrat presidential hopefuls might not have the stones to challenge her record, but she won’t get a continuation of her cakewalk if she wins the nomination.
Hank–
Yeah, it’s a great country.
But the government still sucks.
I think we should try to improve it, don’t you?
Point taken on Obama Josh. He called it as to Pakistan.
I too long for the America I was taught about. I grew up watching and learning lies. The Alamo, the purity of the founding fathers, Manifest destiny, so much more of it, ALL of it lies.
And Pakistan? Just another in a long line of nations manipulated by US foreign policy not for their or our greater good. But merely to keep the rich getting richer and the power brokers in place.
Looking more like bush may go after Iran before he leaves. He’ll probably do as the Republican congress majority did, and leave as big of a mess as possible to clean up.Americans split on Iran action: poll 53 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are concerned about Iran’s nuclear program but split on whether the United States should take military action to shut it down if diplomatic efforts fail, according to a USA Today/Gallup Poll released on Monday.
ADVERTISEMENTSeventy-three percent of those surveyed said the United States should use economic sanctions and diplomacy to stop Iran’s nuclear program and 18 percent favored military action, the poll found.
However, 46 percent said military action should be taken either now or if diplomacy fails while 45 percent ruled out a military strike altogether, USA Today said.
Republicans were twice as likely as Democrats to endorse taking military steps, the poll said.
President George W. Bush has suggested a nuclear-armed Iran could lead to World War Three. Bush last week imposed sanctions on Iran’s military and its financial sector, hoping to increase pressure on Tehran to stop uranium enrichment and curb what the U.S. government says are terrorist activities.
Iran has so far refused to heed United Nations demands to halt nuclear work that has both civilian and military uses.
Three of four Americans polled said they were concerned the United States “will not do enough to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons,” USA Today said.
An equal number also said they were concerned that the United States will be too quick to use military force against Iran.
The telephone survey of 1,024 adults was taken Friday through Sunday. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Looks like John Q. Public will never learn.
We’re going into Iran, there’s no doubt about it.
And then just watch Bush’s prediction come true. And guess who the agressor will be. Who will the world come together against this time?
“Rox” –
It’s just about as absurd as the entire George WMD Bush adminsitration has been since the SCOTUS granted him office in December, 2000.
If there had been anyone else put into the Oval Office through such means, s/he would have understood that this was a highly-divided nation. Not Shrub. He ruled as if 2000 had been a landslide and set out to invade Iraq long before 9/11/2001.
Under the guise of “The War on Terrorism” the Busheviks have shredded not only the Bill of Rights but the Magna fuc#ing Carta!
What’s just happened in Pakistan should prompt all of us to read up on NSPD-51.
I really don’t believe the crazies who think 9/11 was the Busheviks’ Riechstag Fire. But I’m not convinced the next 9/11 won’t be.
Shrub is advocating attacking Iran because a Muslim country might “get the knowledge” of how to create an atom bomb… but he supports a dictator in Islamist Pakistan, a nation that already *has* nukes?!
I’ve disagreed with Republic Party members for most of my adult life, but I used to understand their rationale. So-called “conservatives” no longer make any sense to me. It’s like arguing with house cats: you can make all the sense in the world but they aren’t paying attention.
As usual Republican foreign policy fails. It failed when Bush financed a military dictator in Pakistan, it failed when Reagan financed a military dictator in Iraq, Prescott Bush in Nazi German, and every other dictator America has financed to oppress it’s own people (Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Chile, etc.)
I just want the America that I grew up with back. The one whom the world looked to and respected. Posted by: Josh D
The events of today are a reflection of our nations conduct over the last 100 years. Our involvement with puppet governments began following WWI. Heck, with western europe - we ESTABLISHED the middle eastern nations.
It is short sighted to play the blame game. Both parties use that devise.
America needs a foreign policy which supercedes parties and presidents.
Otherwise, no matter WHOM is elected next - we will continue to repeat the mistakes of the past.
If Iran can not threaten to retaliate against Israel, Israel will attack Iran. Without Nukes, Iran has no defence against the Bush/Israeli Cabal.
Where did Israel get its Nukes back in 1950?
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg?
Hamas is not a terrorist organisation, that is Israeli propaganda.
“…that is Israeli propaganda.”
I’m with you, Ed! Is “lieing Jew” redundant? I don’t think so. Right, Ed?Damned Christ killers!Right, Ed?
“Hamas is not a terrorist organization, that is Israeli propaganda”
Ed, I wouldn’t want these guys moving in next door, would you? And what do you call them?
“And what do you call them?”
He calls them Jew Killers (aka: The Good Guys).
Right, Ed?
Hey, Ed! It looks like we are winning!
“According to the Community Security Trust, the defense organization of Britain’s 300,000-strong Jewish community, last year saw nearly 600 anti-Semitic assaults, incidents of vandalism, cases of abuse, and threats against Jewish individuals and institutions—double the 2001 number.”
fleettwoodgster
Have you all ever given any thought to making friends with people rather than pissing them off?
Musharraf signed a peace treaty with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and is cracking down on the intellectual class.
Meanwhile in America, Republicans consider our own intellectual class to be their enemy.
Makes sense that Bush and Musharraf would be allies.
Ed, I wouldn’t want these guys moving in next door, would you? And what do you call them?
Posted by: gster | November 06, 2007 at 10:46 AM
They would not bother me, as do not shoot their kids, kill their wives or bulldoze their houses, or cut-off their electricity, or do supersonic flyovers, and the list goes on and on.
The Red Cross has a complete list, if you’re interested.
Bush still hasn’t called Musharaff to voice his alleged displeasure with the State of Emergency.
A Nuclear Iran will not bother anybody, as nobody will bother a Nuclear Iran.
Israel and their lapdog Bush do not want Iran to be able to strike back.
Israel and Bush are sweating Pakistan { afraid that Iran may ask to borrow a “cup of sugar” }.
Bush just now said: ” You can’t be President and head of the military at the same time.”
President and Commander-In-Chief?
If Bush wants to lecture Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, he needs to get his facts straight.