This is part of an OP-ED re-post from Munaeem’s Blog

Monday, June 11, 2007

TIME TO SAVE PAKISTAN FROM ITS RULER

by Eric Margolis

( The concerns expressed in this article are shared by every Pakistani and every friend of Pakistan. However, the solution is not elections that might return Benazir or Nawaz Sharif to power. They plundered the country and were even more obesquious to ‘friend’ USA and ‘enemy’ India who are strategic partners in the region. Pakistan needs an interim Government of patriots as provide for in the Constitution to change laws and reverse policies to undo the damage done since 1989.) Usman Khalid.

The US media should be focused on critical events that shape our lives, NOT Paris Hilton! While we are sleeping, world events and repercussions from our administration setting global fires are about to complicate everything! How long can America dismiss responsibility?

Hailed by Washington as a `democratic statesman,’ Musharraf has arrested and jailed thousands of people without trial. Many have been tortured. Elections are crudely rigged, legislators and judges bribed, and most of the army and intelligence service’s most capable, patriotic officers, were replaced at Washington’s demand by compliant yes-men untainted by Islam. Now, Musharraf’s security forces are intimidating Pakistan’s free press, one of its few remaining active democratic institutions.

What an irony that while Washington claims to be waging war in Iraq and Afghanistan to bring democracy, it is stoutly upholding Pakistan’s military dictatorship.

Musharraf outraged his countrymen by obsequiously kow-towing to foreign demands while neglecting Pakistan’s needs. Turning Pakistan into Washington’s sepoy(native soldier) in exchange for billions in overt and hundreds of millions more in secret CIA stipends used to rent loyalty to the military regime has shamed many Pakistanis and further enflamed anti-western groups in this important nation of 162.5 million.

Now, thanks in part to Musharraf’s wrongheaded policies over Afghanistan, the conflict there is starting to lap across Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier. Pakistan is facing one of the gravest national crises since its creation in 1947 as a beacon of honest, democratic government for the Muslim World. Sixty years later, Pakistan has become a poster child for self-serving, undemocratic government that often does not even represent the best interests of the nation.

The Bush Administration keeps patting Musharraf on the back as unrest worsens and Pakistan heads toward a potential explosion that could destabilize the entire region and leave US and NATO forces in southern Afghanistan cut off and vulnerable. The west cannot afford to let Pakistan melt-down.

Quickly restoring democratic government is the obvious answer. Pakistan’s banned opposition leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, must be allowed to return and wage free elections. While burdened by a lot of negative baggage from her previous stints as prime minister, Miss Bhutto still appears as the most effective antidote to the current military regime and deserves strong western support. One hopes that recent rumors of a Benazir-Musharraf deal are no more than idle bazaar chatter. If they are true, then she will become as discredited as Musharraf.

Washington needs to press Musharraf to retire as armed forces chief. Musharraf is dragging down Pakistan with his unpopular, isolated regime. If he is as popular as he claims, let him run for office in a fair, democratic politician.

Time is fast running out. A nuclear-armed Pakistan facing regional, tribal and ethnic unrest or conflict is a hugely dangerous threat demanding urgent action. Pakistan must not be sacrificed for the sake of its leader.

This administration has put it’s finger in so many pies and stirred up so much trouble that, when all these little fires explode, the world will certainly experience the Bush Armageddon. Are we really prepared for the conflagration?

The US history of manipulation is about to come back and BITE all of us! Are we really Americans or blind sheep stampeding over a cliff?

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Bush, pope discuss war in Iraq

By JENNIFER LOVEN, & Associated Press Writers Ariel David and Alessandra Rizzo

ROME - President Bush, deeply unpopular here and met by boisterous protests, sought to impress Pope Benedict XVI and the Italian public on Saturday with his humanitarian record and downplayed differences with the Vatican over Iraq.

“He’s worrisome about the Christians inside Iraq being mistreated by the Muslim majority,” Bush said.

Bush said he assured the pope — whom he described as “very smart, loving man” — that the United States was working hard to ensure that the Iraqi people live up to their constitution in treating Christians fairly.

Bush and Benedict appeared intent to look beyond their differences in Iraq. The pope asked the president about his meeting in Germany with Russian President, Vladimir Putin, who has expressed opposition to a U.S. missile shield in Europe and raised eyebrows with democratic rollbacks.

“The dialogue with Putin was also good?” the pope asked.

Bush, eyeing photographers and reporters who were about to be escorted from the room, replied: “Umm. I’ll tell you in a minute.”

… wonder what Bush-it he told the Pope …

Bush aides shrugged off the (Italian) protests, calling them democracy in action; Bush apologized for disrupting traffic as his motorcade moved through Rome under heavy security.

He (Bush) stressed that U.S.-Italy relations were “pretty darn solid.”

Still, Italian-U.S. relations are a bit strained.

Italy has withdrawn troops from Iraq and is reluctant to send additional soldiers to

Afghanistan.   And just hours before Bush’s arrival Friday, the first trial involving the

CIA’s extraordinary rendition program opened in a Milan courtroom.

Oh Yeah, relations are great!

Later, after Bush had concluded his official business for the day in Italy, a protest of his visit turned violent.

Italian riot police used tear gas on anti-Bush protesters, who donned face masks in defiance of a police order and threw bottles and other objects, infiltrating an otherwise peaceful demonstration in the capital’s ancient center. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

… NUFF SAID …

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While we go around the globe, telling everyone what a peaceful nation we are, it appears that our perception is a wee bit off.  Out of the 121 countries on the list,  the U.S. has the honor of ranking 96 one above Iran’s 97.

The United States earned a ranking of 96th in a “Global Peace Index” released on Wednesday, just beating out Iran. Compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the project studied 121 countries, ranking nations according to their peacefulness and the drivers that create and sustain their peace.

“The objective of the Global Peace Index was to go beyond a crude measure of wars by systematically exploring the texture of peace,” explained Global Peace Index President, Mr. Clyde McConaghy, speaking in Washington. “The Index provides a quantitative measure of peacefulness that is comparable over time, and we hope it will inspire and influence world leaders and governments to further action.”

They found that peaceful countries often shared high levels of democracy and transparency of government, education and material well-being. While the U.S. possesses many of these characteristics, its ranking was brought down by its engagement in warfare and external conflict, as well as high levels of incarceration and homicide.

Democracy, transparency of government, I believe those items would be pre Bush  & Co. luxuries.

The United States suffers because it is the world’s policeman, with high levels of militarization,” Andrew Williamson, the director for economic research, said in an interview with the Associated Press.

I’m sure Bush will say that he finds the report very interested, but he doesn’t agree with its findings.

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