Anyone think that bush has a hand in the pakistan situation?

[Windy]

he and cheney certainly don't want to see Musharraf relieved from power...

Just a "tin foil hat thought"....

Feel free to discuss

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Does the ursine mammal excrete in the arboreal biome?

[tularetom]

2. Bush per se? Nah, he's too stupid

But it wouldn't surprise me at all if the CIA was involved.

[ChicagoRonin]

3. I don't think so

But I do think that what is going on is partly related to our meddling in the region (just as the Turkey-PPK-Kurd situation is), and it's another example of how the U.S.' screwed up foreign policy is starting to snowball into various regional problems with long-term implications.

[peaches2003]

4. Balance of power

Whenever something upsets the balance of power in a region there are far-reaching repercussions. BushCo paid no attention to that when they went into Iraq and of course in his arrogance they thought they could control the entire region. Irag and Iran pre the US invasion were keeping each other at bay. Once we took over Iraq the entire balance was changed and what you see happening now- Iran, Pakistan, etc.- are all repercussions of our actions.

[cali]

5. I don't think so

this doesn't benefit either of them. And according to all reports, Admiral Fallon spent yesterday in meeting after meeting with Pakistani officials, trying to convince them not to do this.

[malaise]

6. So why did they meet with Bhutto and force Mushie

to let her return. Mushie better write his will.

[tom_paine]

15. Bhutto makes a better target for Bushie assassins where she is now

than where she was.

She had better be pretty damned careful ecause my guess is she is being stalked by ISI and CIA assassins, although maybe the bushies will use their al-Qaeda pals instead of American CIAS who might be caught.

[Igel]

7. Don't see how.

A few possibilities:

The situation in Swat and Matta, compounded with the spread of jihadi attacks elsewhere (including the Lal Masjid business, which is again simmering), has led to such a problem for the military that emergency rule was being pushed by the military.

The recent decision by the top court that Sharif has the constitutional right to return to Pakistan would trigger even more instability than Bhutto's return did. And so Musharraf wants to stop it. I figure that Sharif *does* have the right, but waived it as part of his deal--an issue that Iqbal (I think that was the judge in this decision) decided was irrelevant.

The recent decision by the top court to unilaterally arrest, try, sentence, and imprison a few of rather high-ranking administration officials for how they treated Chaudhry--with the claim from the administration that they have to be involved and a rebuff from the court--might provide further motivation. After all, next up might well be Musharraf being arrested and sentenced solely on Chaudhry's say. Chaudhry has enough support from the legal/technocrat establishment. I read about this and thought, So how isn't this a huge conflict of interest?

I'm not going to rule out other things--a wheat, rice, electricity, or fuel price hike being imminent, for example, or insider knowledge about something yet to be disclosed.

Remember: Maybe not all, but most politics are local; and, We are not really the center of the universe.

[Snarkoleptic]

8. Putin decides he'd like to stay in power indefinitely.

Musharraf decides he'd like to stay in power indefinitely.
Bush decides he'd like....

[donsu]

9. apparently Butto is the neo con's woman

nt

[tammywammy]

10. I don't think so

[lonestarnot]

11. Is this a diversion for the upcoming Iran attack?

[tuckessee]

12. Wouldn't that involve a "conspiracy theory"?

And as loud & knowledgable DU'ers like to tell us CT's don't exist.

Therefore, martial law in Pakistan is a completely organic, random happening.

Nothing to see here, move on. Don't you have a TV? Go watch some football.

:sarcasm:

[earth mom]

13. Yeah, it's time to go shopping.

:sarcasm:

[The Magistrate]

16. This Has Been Heading Up For Some Time, Sir

Gen. Musharref is, and has been, sitting on a powder keg. Pakistan has been on the verge of civil war for several years now. This imposition of martial law serves the interests of no one but the General....

[tom_paine]

14. Also, it would be a bad precendent to allow a Bushie to be taken down by the law

All Bushies, at least the Royal Bushies, the Inner Circle, and High Vassals like Musharraf are.

Plus, the world was about to see Bushies' election-stealing practices (at least as they are performed in Pakistan) exposed and it would be bad PR as well as making the Amerikan Subjects scratch their heads and maybe a few more of us might wake up.

Much better to declare Bushie Martial Law (get ready Amerika, for this is our future whenether it comes in ten days, ten months, ten yeasrs, or the wildly overoptimistic ten decades) than suffer bad PR for the Bushies and expose them as the lawless tyrants they are.