As the U.S. maneuvers there selected rulers into place once again:
"Bhutto issues warning to Musharraf; Plans march, rally in protest of crackdown" by Griff Witte/Washington Post November 8, 2007
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Following four days of relatively tepid statements, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto yesterday issued a rousing call to action against President Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule, setting up a possible direct confrontation between the two leaders.
'Cause we told her to!
Bhutto, whose legions of rank-and-file supporters have been conspicuously absent from anti-Musharraf demonstrations this week, urged her backers to join in a major rally tomorrow in Rawalpindi, headquarters for the army, which Musharraf heads.
'Cause a deal was cut!
After she spoke, hundreds of boisterous Bhutto supporters attempted to march to the Parliament building but were beaten back by riot police wielding sticks and firing tear gas, a clash that might offer a small preview of what lies ahead.
Before her return, Bhutto and Musharraf had been in months-long power-sharing talks. Many Pakistani political analysts had speculated that even after the emergency declaration, she would not directly challenge Musharraf for fear of jeopardizing those negotiations.
But yesterday, Bhutto gave Musharraf a 48-hour ultimatum to meet her demands or confront her in the streets. Bhutto's demands dovetail with calls from the United States and other Western countries for Musharraf to schedule elections for January, take off his uniform as promised, and end the emergency.
The Pakistani government has sent mixed signals about how long it intends to maintain emergency rule. Some top officials have said it will end in a few weeks, while others have suggested it could go on much longer.
Notably, Bhutto did not focus on the restoration of the Supreme Court judges Musharraf fired Saturday. The judges had been expected to rule Musharraf ineligible for another term as president. Bhutto also did not call for Musharraf's resignation as president, as other opposition leaders have, repeatedly and loudly.
At protests in Islamabad, a couple of hundred lawyers have demonstrated each day while a much larger number of shopkeepers and other working-class Pakistanis have looked on but not joined in. One said he was too afraid.
Mohammed Javed, 40, who runs a small storefront advertising typing and printing services:
"What is going on is all wrong. It is illegal and unconstitutional. So my heart is with the protesters, but if I protest, my family will be in jeopardy."
Analyst Ayaz Amir noted that Musharraf has not done anything since he declared the emergency on Saturday to tackle the issue in Pakistan that the United States cares about most: counterterrorism.
Indeed, the Pakistani Army continues to lose ground to insurgents in the scenic Swat Valley, and on Sunday, Pakistan released about 30 Taliban fighters in a prisoner exchange in the tribal area of South Waziristan."
And Bush is quit on that, too?
"Bush presses Musharraf to hold elections, quit army post" by Deb Riechmann and Anne Flaherty/Associated Press November 8, 2007
WASHINGTON --President Bush, personally intervening in the political crisis in Pakistan, told President Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday he must hold parliamentary elections soon and step down as army leader.
Bush, describing a 20-minute telephone call with Musharraf:
"You can't be the president and the head of the military at the same time."
But, isn't that what you are, Georgie? Byyyyyyye, ya fucking hypocrite!!!!!!
For days, the White House has faced questions about why Bush was taking a softer line on Pakistan than he did, for instance, against Myanmar where military rulers cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in September.
When? When has he faced questions about Myanmar?
That situation faded quicker than shit through a goose!
Bush defended his response to both governments:
"Look, our objective is the same in Burma as it is in Pakistan, and that is to promote democracy. There is a difference, however. Pakistan has been on the path to democracy. Burma hadn't been on the path to democracy. And it requires different tactics to achieve the common objective."
Sick of his double-talking lies!
Mahmud Ali Durrani, Pakistan's ambassador to the U.S., said he expected Musharraf to lift the state of emergency soon: "It may go into a week or two, but I don't think more."
On Capitol Hill, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte repeated U.S. criticism of Musharraf's crackdown, but described the Pakistani leader as a key ally. He said Musharraf has been so indispensable in the global war on terror that extremists and radicals have tried to assassinate him multiple times.
Negroponte told the House Foreign Affairs Committee:
"No country has done more in terms of inflicting damage and punishment on the Taliban and the al-Qaida since 9-11. Their record is quite impressive."
WTF?! And yet, "CIA-Duh" is stronger than at any point in the last six years, and he's stopped fighting them up in the hills.
WTF is Negroponte talking about?
Negroponte said he hopes the U.S. will not have to punish Pakistan."
WTF are we? The WORLD'S "PUNISHER?"
Fuck that! If anything, it's the U.S. that should be punished!
The Times telegraphs who the next Army chief will be (it's on of our men, readers):
"U.S. Prods Musharraf to End Emergency Rule" by DAVID ROHDE
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 7 — Amid a deepening crisis in Pakistan, Bush administration officials have begun pushing Gen. Pervez Musharraf on several fronts to reverse his state of emergency, quietly making contact with other senior army generals and backing Pakistan’s opposition leader as she carries out back-channel negotiations with him.
Military attachés from the United States and several other Western nations are discreetly contacting senior Pakistani generals and asking them to press General Musharraf, the president, to back down.
Gonna EASE HIM OUT the DOOR, 'eh?
Two aides to General Musharraf acknowledged that aides to the general and the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto were engaged in negotiations, even as her supporters clashed with police officers outside Parliament and she threatened larger protests on Friday.
Tariq Azim Khan, the government’s minister of state for information:
“Talks back channel are going on with her.”
Ms. Bhutto’s approach dovetailed with the American effort.
That's twice they have used "dovetails" to describe Bhutto's approach!
Conferring a peaceful nature upon the usurper, 'eh, Times?
A hint, readers, with more to come:
For now, Bush administration officials are unanimous in saying that American financial support for Pakistan will continue regardless of whether General Musharraf reverses course.
Even as the pressure on General Musharraf builds, one Bush administration official who works on Pakistan issues said that the White House was concerned about any appearance that the United States was interfering in the country’s politics.
The official, referring to recent attempts to broker a power-sharing arrangement between General Musharraf and Ms. Bhutto:
“We can’t reach ourselves into the Pakistani political process more than we already have.”
So he admits we reach in there and fuck with it!
Wake up, America! This is why people hate us!
In a sign of the closeness between Ms. Bhutto and Washington, the opposition leader met after a news conference with the American ambassador to Pakistan, Anne W. Patterson. The perception among Pakistani analysts is that Ms. Bhutto is being guided by Washington.
Najam Sethi, the editor in chief of The Daily Times and a sympathizer to her cause:
“She’s listening to the Americans, no one else.”
Meet your next president of Pakistan, 'eh?
An American official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the United States was not instructing Ms. Bhutto on how to proceed, and that American officials were unaware of the details of her protest plan until she announced them publicly.
Why does our government have to lie about everything?
Daniel Markey, a former State Department official who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said he understood she was getting advice from the Bush administration to “sit tight and try to work things out and don’t do anything rash.”
But Ms. Bhutto also runs a risk of being perceived as too close to the United States, and too accommodating of General Musharraf. Many Pakistanis, weary of General Musharraf’s military rule, are skeptical of Ms. Bhutto’s drive to end the emergency and believe the two leaders will eventually strike a deal.
They are quick to note that Ms. Bhutto is the only opposition leader freely operating since the emergency decree on Saturday.
In a telling sign of this mood, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the chairman in the Punjab of Ms. Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, was booed when he walked into a group of lawyers preparing to demonstrate in Lahore on Monday morning.
A lawyer at the scene: “They yelled at him and called him a collaborator.”
Pakistan's people are not stoo-pid!
They know what is going on, even if Amurkn shit-eaters don't!
In an indication of the potential for violence, after her news conference, the police fired tear gas and carried out a baton charge against 100 of her party workers when they tried to push through police barriers blocking public access to the country’s Parliament building in Islamabad.
Among Western diplomats, there is rising concern that General Musharraf’s declaration is also damaging the standing of the Pakistani Army as an institution.
A Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity: “It’s the concern about how the military retains its position as an institution of national respect. These kinds of things can be damaging to the institution, the respect for the institution and also the morale.”
Yup, Mushy is on his way out!
Western officials have also begun praising Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, General Musharraf’s designated successor as army chief. General Kayani, a moderate, pro-American infantry commander, is widely seen as commanding respect within the army and, within Western circles, as a potential alternative to General Musharraf.
One Bush administration official who works on Pakistan issues: “He’s somebody we know well, and he’s tough on Al Qaeda. He’s somebody we can work with.”
Our NEW MAN in Pakistan!
Is there not one coup in this world not engineered by the U.S., readers?
Known as a soldier’s soldier, General Kayani rarely mixes with politicians and is not thought to have used previous senior postings — including heading the country’s powerful military intelligence service — to expand his own wealth and contacts.
During the recent religious holiday, he flew to embattled soldiers in the tribal areas and celebrated the holiday with them. Tall, introverted and highly professional, he received some of his key training in the United States. He declined a request for an interview, but is believed to favor decreasing the army’s role in politics.
Rumblings of discontent with General Musharraf exist in the armed forces, but they are far from reaching the point where the army’s senior generals would turn against him, according to Western officials and Pakistani analysts. But they say sustained popular unrest against General Musharraf could cause the army to turn on him.
On your way out, Mushy! Don't let the door hit you in the ass!
Twice in Pakistan’s history, senior generals have asked military rulers to resign when their popularity faded and their rule was viewed as damaging to the army as a whole, according to American and Pakistani experts on the Pakistani military. They said General Musharraf could find himself in that position too.
The Times is foreshadowing the future, readers!
Retired officers said they had not spoken with many serving officers since this weekend’s declaration, but said they believed it had worsened morale.
One retired officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity: “I do not come across anyone who says this was the right thing. I don’t think that they are very happy.”
Discontent has been gradually increasing in the army this year, according to western diplomats. In March, some officers were troubled by the criticism generated when General Musharraf removed the country’s chief justice from the bench. And this summer, officers have been frustrated by the heavy casualties they have suffered fighting militants in the country's tribal areas.
WTF? No stomach for fighting "CIA-Duh?"
A second Western diplomat: “There are a number of generals who feel that the time has come for the army to get out of politics. Most importantly, that the army has become unpopular and the image of the army is suffering in Pakistan, largely due to the insurgency, but also that they are associated with the president.”
Bye-bye, Mushy!
