Whither Pakistan?

Well, well now....Musharraf declares martial law....Imagine that....Bush's good
comrade in arms, Musharraf, the man Bush and Cheney and Republicans said
would bring democracy to Pakistan, has "suspended" the Pakistan Constitution
and arrested the top judges and lawyers. He has issued orders for the army to
use assault rifles and round up oppostition leaders, including human rights and
democracy advocates. According to news sources any one opposed to his military
rule is being hunted down and arrested. The Parliament and Supreme Court are
surrounded by military troops. Any one who "ridicules" Musharraf or the armed
forces is to be arrested for up to three years.

Musharraf has decided to take the path of dictatorship. And, this is the person Bush
called his firmist ally. Might ask, ally for what? So far, the Bush response has been
to say that the emergency declaration does not impact our military support of the
Muslim nation nor its efforts in the war on terror. Rice, however, has issued a
statement asking for a "return" to democracy. As if there ever was democracy under
Musharraf. Bush's hypocrisy of fronting Musharraf as a force for democracy in
Pakistan is now out in the open. Bush and Rice and the Republicans did nothing to
promote democracy in Pakistan. (Does any one remember Bush's Second Inaugural
Address where he would promote democracy?) The Bush Cabal has totally ignored
the real democratic leaders and forces in Pakistan. They have refused to even meet
with Sharif and Bhutto. Instead they gave all support and praise to Musharraf in the
form of massive financial support and huge supplies of military equipment and
technology. Moreover, they gave him their support as he cracked down on dissidents
and democratic activists in Pakistan, which turned these people to the more radical
elements in Pakistani society.

The bottom line: The Bush Administration and the Republicans have said that Musharraf
put Pakistan on the road to democracy. Double talk pure and simple. A nuclear nation,
possibly falling under radical Islamic control, which was stated for some time to be the
most dangerous place in the world, not Iran or North Korea, but Pakistan because it already
possessed nuclear weapons, nuclear materials for the suitcase bombs, and missles to
deliever warheads. Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, neo-cons, Republicans have made the
US more unsafe, not safer.