Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf took the bright, shiny wrapping off his dictatorship, placing former P.M. Benazir Bhutto under house arrest to stop her from leading a peaceful protest against his brazen junking of his country's constitution and supreme court (which had ruled his run for president, again, even though he's term limited... unconstitutional...) Bush's man in the Near East is still sending his police forces into the streets to squash anti-government protests. So what say you now, George "Mr. Democracy" Bush?
So far, Bush's response has been rather tepid. He firmly but politely asked the General to doff his military uniform and dress in civilian clothes. Dictatorships go over so much more nicely that way ... And he says he "hopes" that Musharraf will end his state of emergency and hold elections soon, "while remaining a staunch ally in the war on terrorism." Said the neocon's favorite goofy sock puppet to his fellow puppets at the Fox Business Network:
"He understands the stakes of the war, and I do believe he understands the importance of democracy,''
How adorable. What else is the Dubster up to?
He's sending John Negroponte to "talk" to the man he used to refer to solely as ... "General" (back when he was a candidate and couldn't remember Musharraf's name.) Hold on, he's sending John "Death Squad" Negroponte? Hm. Well luckily Pakistan already has a violent military prone to raising up illicit, violent terrorist armies and harming people who dissent from the government...
WASHINGTON: The US appears to be preparing for different eventualities as the political crisis in Pakistan deepens, according to a report in the New Times on Tuesday.
One US official told the newspaper, “Nobody is ready to cut him (President General Pervez Musharraf) off at the knees yet.” But another official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly on the issue, said that many people within the administration were worried that General Musharraf’s missteps would soon erode his base at home that he could be forced to give up power.” ...
The Times also picks up a report on the latest Benazir Bhutto goings on, courtesy of the Washington Post:
BB still ‘in’: The Washington Post, however, reports that while Bhutto has “warned that she would hold no talks with Musharraf as long as the Constitution was suspended, analysts say that, despite those remarks, Bhutto is still open to a power-sharing deal with Musharraf.” The Financial Times writes, “Western diplomats in Islamabad said the seemingly harder line taken by Bhutto was unlikely to mark a complete end to several months of behind-the-scenes discussions between negotiators representing her party and the Musharraf government.”
The Christian Science Monitor says in a report that “some US officials and South Asia experts are doing what they say the US has failed to do: envision and prepare for a post-Musharraf Pakistan.”
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
