Posted on 11/10/2007 8:41:48 AM PST by goldstategop
Well, I dunno. It seems to me a certain humility is appropriate when offering advice to Islamabad.
Gen. Musharraf is – as George S. Kaufman remarked when the Germans invaded Russia – shooting without a script. But that's because he presides over a country that defies the neatness of scripted narratives. In the days after 9/11, George W. Bush told the world that you're either with us or against us. Musharraf said he was with us, which was jolly decent of him considering that 99.9999 percent of his people are against us. In the teeth of that glum reality, he's rode a difficult tightrope with some skill.
Nevertheless, in Washington and the media, the assumption is that the wheel has now come off Musharraf's highwire act. Time for Pakistan to go back to democratically elected unicyclists, like the charming and glamorous Benazir Bhutto, who plays note-perfect in the salons of the West but degenerates into just another third-rate hack from one of the world's most corrupt political classes once she's back greasing the wheel in Pakistan itself.
Furthermore, confident believers in the usual dreary pendulum of Pakistani politics – corrupt democrats, followed by authoritarian generals, followed by corrupt democrats – overlook how profoundly the country's changed. Its political dynamic has a new player: Islamism.
Pakistan is both a nuclear power and a nation that cannot enforce sovereignty over significant chunks of its territory. Large tracts are run by the Taliban. The organization responsible for perpetrating the bloodiest assault ever on the U.S. mainland is holed up there and all but untouchable.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
The bottom line in one sentence: the DBM foists chaos to steal defeat out of the jaws of victory. The gambit in Turkey didn't work, so go for Pakistan.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I think Mark, unusually, is missing the dynamic here.
Musharaff is America’s friend (comparatively speaking) and is therefore not allowed to crack down on his opposition, most of whom are America’s enemies.
If he were himself a proclaimed enemy of America, like Kim Ilsung, Saddam Hussein or Hugo Chavez, then the usual suspects would be loud in their proclamations that we need to “be humble about the circumstances of the Third World,” and not impose our values on them.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I could not agree more, and its driving me nuts!
Howls, bruce. Howls of derisive laughter at the beltway bozos who presume to tell Mussaraff what to do.
Every time America’s blood enemies are trying to topple a much better government, and that to our great detriment, idiots and the evil rush to help them. The list is long...Marcos, Pinochet, the Shah, Batista, Ngo Dinh Diem, Sun Yat-Sen and Chiang Kai-shek (though fairness requires us to lay a good deal of the blame for that one on the fact that Vinegar Joe Stillwell was a jerk)...
The same type of cretin who now supports the monster (yes, I said monster) Hillary Rodham or the Trojan horse Hussein Obama for president always jumps up at these critical junctures to castigate us for “propping up corrupt tyrants,” as though we were supporting them against Bambi’s mother instead of against the murderous excesses of communist and mooselimb totalitariansim.
Each and every one of the “tyrants” named above was light-years better than his alternative, and so is Mussharaff. With the current strength of mooselimbs who practice “Islam” as it is written, Bhutto has no chance of surviving if she returns to power. They will kill her quickly, and the odds of a Taliban Tyranny supplanting her are very high.
As far as Hussein Obama being a Trojan horse, the mooselimbs can’t afford to have it known that a mooselimb can convert to Christianity and become President of the United States. Their lunatic death cult requires that all apostates be killed. I really think that if the word were not out, the mooselimbs would have moved against him by now.
“Nevertheless, in Washington and the media, the assumption is that the wheel has now come off Musharraf’s highwire act. Time for Pakistan to go back to democratically elected unicyclists, like the charming and glamorous Benazir Bhutto, who plays note-perfect in the salons of the West but degenerates into just another third-rate hack from one of the world’s most corrupt political classes once she’s back greasing the wheel in Pakistan itself.”
Good summary, Mark......Bhutto seems to stand for nothing, except “democracy”.......that would facilitate her space amongst the eligibles, since sharia would give her the boot upon its implementation. But beyond that, I don’t have a clue of what this moonbat stands for except being Pakistans own Hillary Clinton....
Well, I’m delighted to have Marc Steyn confirm what I’ve been saying on these threads.
I was going to paste in his comment about Musharref’s high wire act. I had compared Musharref to someone sitting on the lid of a boiling kettle, and said that Bhutto would immediately be blown off if she tried it.
So, I can’t resist what he says about Bhutto, which takes what I said about her yesterday and puts it into far more elegant language:
“the charming and glamorous Benazir Bhutto, who plays note-perfect in the salons of the West but degenerates into just another third-rate hack from one of the world’s most corrupt political classes once she’s back greasing the wheel in Pakistan itself.”
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Oh ok..same thing.
IMO, this guy has nailed it. Anyone who thinks a pro-western person can rule Pakistan better needs to have their head examined. We need to be VERY VERY careful what we wish for in Pakistan. We have Jimmy Carter as the model. In this instance, we should break the mold.
I read that the State Department — OUR State Department — is behind getting Bhutto back into Pakistan! And whupping things up for her and against Musharaff. If that is the case, I am quite content with the military control Musharaff has set in place, and I bet he has darned good reasons for it.
Don't come down off the mountain boys. Better to freeze your you know what's off then face the quagmire waiting below. LOL.
The continued existence of the failed state Pakistan makes it clear that, in the not-too-distant future, we’re going to need a real war to clean things up.
We can't judge Pervez Musharaff and Pakistan by Western rules. Its both a nuclear power and a failed state. Sure, the general is not our ideal guy when it comes to democracy but there is far worse than him waiting in the wings. It behooves us to be humble about the circumstances of the Third World.I thought we were against moral relativism?
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