Let the Jihad commence!

>>>>>>>>He did his best to
fix the election so the
pro-government Pakistan
Muslim League (Q)
would win, carefully
engineering the rules to
shut out the secular
politicians who had been
his principal adversaries.
He didn’t merely ban
former prime ministers
Benazir Bhutto and
Nawaz Sharif from
participating; he also eliminated roughly 40 percent of their
parties’ nominees by requiring that all candidates be college
graduates, and he restricted the rest from holding public
rallies. The MMA, meanwhile, was allowed to campaign
freely, and practically all its candidates have degrees in
religious studies. In the absence of a viable secular
opposition, hundreds of thousands of protest votes went to
the mullahs by default.<<<<<<<<

Things that make you go "Hmmmmmmmmmmm"

"The MMA, meanwhile, was allowed to campaign" is this party also a descendant of Bhutto's remaining roots? Having read all about Bhutto Party I dont think that there was any chances for anyone else to get elected there? you appear to know more than myself, can you please elaborate what took place there finally? Thank you.

Bang on the money. THis ends up increasing his leverage via a vis the USA. Now when Mush want's to dilly dally in his "cooperation" in the terror war, he'll be able to point to jihadis and say he can't because his hands are tied and cooperation further would endanger his standing.

And with the US so firmly committed to the jihadi in a uniform, we won't be able to say boo to him.

Bravo Musharraf! He's a wily coyote! Gotta admire how he's turned the US war on terror into a full hand for himself.

Swarthy gave a very cogent analysis of what this means for us. Realistically, it is also confirmation (for me at least) what I've suspected for a year. Pakistan may give lip service for the war on terror, but only for their own purposes, more US aid and an american leash on India.

Think of Pakistan as "Iran Lite". Politically, this is a continuation of the backlash against Bhutto's attempt to secularize Pakistan. This did not go over well with the military or much of the more devout Moslems. Musharref came in on a military coup--it may have even been needed at the time to keep the crazys out of power.

But, the rigging of this election tells me that the Islamics are calling the shots, and will for quite some time. This will also give the AQ and Taliban safe harbors in NW Pakistan to regroup and carry out a long guerilla war in Ashcanistan. Not good news for us, but a great move for Pakistan in keeping India at bay. Also, the happy face the guy in the State Dept. was putting on this has gotta be pure BS, unless the diplomats have a complete cranio rectal inversion.

Musharref has rolled the dice, letting the extremists get some power on the promise of prolonged US interest in his country keeping India from rolling over the Paks in another few years. He has grabbed the Tiger by the tail,instead of throwing the beast into a cage or shooting it. God only knows how this plays out 5 years down the road with the only Islamic nation that has nukes (that we know of).

The BIGGEST question is WHY? If it simply to muddy things up for our hand to protect the Paks from the Hindus--well, a grudging tip of the hat for a good 'realpolitik' move. If it was a miscalculation, all of us will need to live with a "confused" situation at the Afghan Pak border area for years (or decades). If it was to ensure that Pakistan would drift more towards an Islamic Theocracy, than Musharref is a wolf in sheep's clothing, and absolutely no friend of ours.

JMHO

“Down with Bush!” shouted one of the alliance’s leaders, Maulana Samiul Haq, at a recent rally. “This is a war between Islam and American infidels!”

Haven't our pols been telling us it's not the muslims were at war with?

Sounds to me like the muslims are at war with us.

The MMA is NOT a descendent of Bhutto's political movement. They are hardcore Islamics that coalesced into bitter opposition to a (gasp) WOMAN trying to drag Pakistan into the 17th century.

They article points out that really nothing BUT religious types were allowed to run during this election.

>>Bhutto's attempt to secularize Pakistan.

Just one contrarian nit - Bhutto may have tried to secularise Pakistan, but she had no control over the military - the price she paid for the military to leave her alone was to look the other way when the ISI and the military created the Taliban, assigned Pakistani troops to it and used the force to conquer most of Afghanistan.

She knew of all the support going to the jihadis but was unwilling and unable to do anything about it.

She talks good, and is a darling of the western media but her secularism is phoney - she buys into the whole islamic ummah mentality.

You are being kind to Mush. He's no wolf. He's a beast, a masterful puppetier, and a hard-core Jihadist. He manufactured this "election" result by mandating that only those with graduate degrees can run for office. This in a country where only 5-6% of the population go to college. But, if you graduated from a Madrassa (Islamic school - no math, science, literature, history - only the study of the vile book Koran), you can run for office. There are over 1500 madrassas in Pakistan - all funded by Saudis and Talaban types. Guess who won most of the seats - the Islamists from these madrassas - the same ones who taught Johnny Taliban and his type. The same ones that fought for the Taliban.

This whole election facade was masterminded by Mush and his ISI buddies.

Pakistan: A Big Vote for Jihad

Proclaiming an anti-American revolution, Islamic hard-liners do better than ever in Pakistan’s elections

By Ron Moreau and Zahid Hussain NEWSWEEK


Oct. 21 issue — The Islamist leader could scarcely contain his glee. “This is a revolution!” crowed Qazi Hussain Ahmed, promising to evict not only U.S. troops but every trace of Western culture from Pakistan’s soil. No one, not even Qazi himself, had expected the pro-Taliban candidates of his United Action Council (also known by its Urdu-language initials, MMA) to show such power at the polls.