How Musharraf survived US delete button

[cosmicone]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/882578.cms

JOSY JOSEPH

TIMESOFINDIA.COM< WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2004 08:40:51 AM >

NEW DELHI: It's not just Osama who has frustrated Uncle Sam's plans. The world's most powerful democracy failed the popular test in Pakistan thanks to its trust ally, General Pervez Musharraf.

The global cop had drawn up a very detailed roadmap to restore democracy in Pakistan, but terror priorities prevented it, show documents available with Timesofindia.com .

Musharraf has backtracked on his promises and Washington can do little to enforce them.

The US has almost given up on its original agenda of ensuring the Pakistani Parliament "function without interference or dissolution from outside sources," as outlined in the Mission Performance Plan for 2004.

</snip>

Musharraf has been blackmailing Bush with the carrot of finding Osama been Forgotten before the elections and in exchange Bush has been looking the other way at Pakistan's development of WMD, proliferation to Libya, Iran and North Korea, terrorism in Kashmir and Chechnya and to top it off, giving $8 billion in covert aid to Pakistan. I hope Kerry can forge a strong alliance with the other victim of terrorism - India and bring real democracy to Pakistan by weakening its military dictators.

[neomonkey]

1. Laughable

That the U.S. has squandered such opportunities while simultaneoulsy empowering a fledgling dictator in Pakistan who very well can come back and haunt us a few years down the road.

And where is OBL?

[DuctapeFatwa]

2. That's an easy one

Biofilm makes it, there's your hot stock tip.

[gavodotcom]

3. No way this article from the Times of India is biased.

I'm not worried about Gen. Musharraf.

I am worried about a coup in Pakistan.

From my understanding, Musharraf doesn't can't count on the loyalty of his own intelligence service or his 'nuke czar', and people keep trying to kill him.

Musharraf is a military man, who knows not to mess with the best military in the world. This, especially when he enjoys millions of US dollars for his 'service' on the western frontier of his country and support of the US operations in Afghanistan. I think the fears of Musharraf aggression towards the United States or her interests is patently chicken little.

Quite the opposite, I believe he's walking a very thin line, which could prove to turn into civil war or a coup because of his relationship with the US. THIS is what worries me.

I think we've all seen what kind of effect a dictatorial leadership vacuum leaves behind. You presumably have Al-Qaida's top leadership somewhere in the western part of the country, religious fanaticism in the center, and India to the east.

As long as he has the support of the military, Pakistan is stable. If for whatever reason there's civil unrest, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find Musharraf out of power and who knows what kind of fundamentalist whack-job with nuclear weapons we'll wake up to the next morning.