Promoting Injustice Abroad as at Home

In Pakistan did Musharraf his stately pleasure dome decree....

It seems that the General (whom we choose to call "President") was annoyed by a certain Jurist Iftikhar Chaudhry, whose investigations into the treatment of detainees Pakistani style, were troubling. So like a certain criminal element in the U.S. he interfered with justice, having the jurist put under house arrest on March 9. Now the country is experiencing the wrath of those who want to see justice committed by its government. Scenes of black-suited lawyers being hosed are rampant. Our government is of course protesting this miscarriage of ..... oh, wait.

THE BUSH administration offered another ringing public endorsement of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf this week. "We have a fundamental interest in the success of Pakistan as a moderate, stable, democratic Muslim nation," Assistant Secretary of State Richard A. Boucher said at a news conference Thursday in Islamabad during which he announced a $750 million aid package. According to the Associated Press, he added: "That's the direction that Musharraf is leading the nation, and we are proud to work with him."
(snip)
Mr. Boucher's rhetoric notwithstanding, some in the Bush administration argue that it's worth tolerating and subsidizing Gen. Musharraf's autocracy because it is an ally against terrorism. But there, too, the general does not deliver. He has handed control of Waziristan, on the border with Afghanistan, to the Taliban, which is allowing al-Qaeda to operate training camps while waging war against U.S. and NATO forces across the border.

It is amazing .... oh, wait a minute again. It is completely SOP that the war criminals in the White House like to propagate the undermining of freedom in the face of strongarm tactics.

It is also typical that they are pouring money on a problem, building up a Border Patrol, in the face of inaction against the perpetrators of 9-11.

The U.S. plans to give Pakistan US$750 million (€570 million) to economically develop border areas where Taliban and al-Qaida militants are sheltering, a U.S. official said.
(snip)
Musharraf says the deals, aimed to pave the way for massive development aid, simply need better implementation. But critics say it has let the militants consolidate their grip on an area steeped in Islamic fundamentalism and hostile to the government.

I suppose actual success against those who attacked the U.S. would make our war on Iraq seem all the more irrational.

Instead of effective action against the enemy, mouthing support of democracy and the principles of freedom our cretin in chief wages war abroad and uses the state of war to curtail freedoms and spy on private citizens.

Recent developments;

Former prime minister and Chairperson Pakistan People’s Party Benazir Bhutto has condemned the arrest of Ahsan Bhoon, president Lahore High Court Bar Association, and Muhammad Shah, president District Bar Lahore, and demanded their immediate release.

Bhoon and Shah were arrested in Lahore on Friday during protest demonstrations on the day of hearing in the Supreme Judicial Council.

The protest in Pakistan has brought back to the forefront former prime minister and champion of the underclass Benazir Bhutto. Bhutto has often been a participant in the judicial system - although a leader of a large political party, she has been charged with corruption many times, although no charges have ever held up under court action.

She spoke out, as is her wont, yesterday also, generally against the Musharaff government;

The Taliban must be defeated in Pakistan this year or the country risks falling under the sway of extremists much as Afghanistan did before Sept. 11, 2001, Pakistan’s ex-Prime Minister and PPP Chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto said here Saturday.
(snip)
"They (the Taliban) have actually established a stronghold in the tribal areas of Pakistan. My fear is that if these forces are not stopped in 2007, they are going to try to take on the state of Pakistan itself," the Pakistan Peoples Party Chief was quoted by a foreign news agency as saying in an interview.
(snip)
The crisis has touched a raw nerve which has shown how deep-seated the frustration within Pakistan is," Ms Benazir Bhutto said.

[emphasis added]

The Pakistani government that the U.S. has chosen to uphold in its lack of action has about as much hold on its country as does the al-Maliki government we have engineered for Iraq. While Osama bin Laden enjoys freedom on the Pakistani border areas, advocates for justice are thrown into jail by Musharaff, while ignoring bin Laden's presence.

Under the present dunderheads in high office, the U.S. is back into propping up unpopular regimes that serve its purposes while denying basic rights to their own population. In this instance, we support a government that reflects our own incompetence in pursuit of the actual perpetrators of 911.

It is increasingly the character of the U.S. government, that instead of serving the public interest, it only undermines the opposition. This is demagoguery, and it undermines the freedoms of U.S. citizens.

Eight U.S. Attorneys in the U.S. are not in jail, but dismissal just as unreasoning has been their treatment.