You know honestly Buck I think we've seen this coming for a long time. As
you note, Musharraf is plain and simple a dictator that came to power via a
coup. Is he the worst we've seen anywhere ? No. But his ignoring their
legislative and court systems has been leading to where we are today. And he
is scared to death of Mrs. Bhutto as she is a threat to his gravy train. The
sooner he is gone and she is in power the better for all the reasons you
note ! I thought it almost comical, sadly, the other day when he said if
elected he would resign from the military.
Chuck
-----Original Message-----
From: cpf0000-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:cpf0000-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Buck Calabro
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2007 10:10 AM
To: Open discussion among iSeries Users
Subject: Re: [CPF0000] What value Pakistan?
Yet, a lack of support for him could result in a coup, placing someone
even worse in power. That's not supporting democracy, it's
encouraging chaos.
I completely fail to understand that. It's exactly as if you were
speaking to me using metaphors only the Swahili would know. Today,
right now, this very moment, General Musharraf is imprisoning his
opposition, killing his own citizenry, shutting down all organs of
disagreement with him personally. This isn't a theoretical
possibility, it's actually happening. In the name of suppressing
radicalism, we are paying the man to radicalize thousands if not
millions of people who would probably not bother to vote if they had a
genuine choice. But by taking that choice away, he is fomenting
violence -- the very thing we are purportedly trying to reduce.
That's not stability, is it? Isn't paying him actually, this moment,
causing chaos? It's not like he's really in control over there, who
uses the army on their own people when things are under control?
Supporting this behavior is actually causing chaos, violence and
fueling the radicals. Dropping support for him makes it possible for
someone worse to take over, sure. Without a name, that's more
hypothetical than the probability that Mrs Bhutto will take over when
General Musharraf is gone.
I honestly can't see how continued support for a dictator is a
stabilizing influence on anything at all.
--buck
