November 9, 2007 at 19:42:59

Terrible week for the Democrats and consequentially the world.

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The article "Grim possibilities for Pakistan." at
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=YzU2MTVlN2E2MmJmOWRjYjVkMjQ4ODI5NWRjZTJmOTU
notes the problems Westerners have predicting that predictions by non-region experts are just an idiotic waste of times as "What is to become of Pakistan? In the wake of President Musharraf's declaration of a state of emergency, any number of grim scenarios are imaginable. Before spinning some of them out, consider this true and timely confession from Stephen P. Cohen, one of America's top Pakistan experts: "I don't know what's going to happen....I don't think any Pakistan expert knows what will happen even tomorrow."
Then he proceeds to make a number of informed guesstimates before concluding "No one really knows what's about to happen in Pakistan. The possibilities are many, and laying out scenarios is more likely to help us make sense of what eventually does happen than to precisely predict it. Yet I fear we may soon be looking at something more than a replay of Pakistani politics past. The real jihad may be just about to begin."

The likeliest of his guesses is an "Islamist Coup -- Even if Musharraf's
declaration of an emergency headed off a potentially deadly split within the
military over the power-sharing agreement with Bhutto, the danger remains grave.
Why wouldn't the jihadists take advantage of Musharraf's weakness? After all, the civil war has already
begun, not only in the Taliban's ever-expanding zone of control in the
northwest, but in an aggressive nation-wide campaign of terror attacks. With
Musharraf's legitimacy now in doubt, and with the army busy suppressing
opposition rallies, this would be the logical moment for Osama and his allies to
mount a vastly more aggressive series of terror attacks aimed at toppling the
state. It's hard to believe that the Islamist war on Pakistan's army isn't about
to explode into a brand new phase. Yet if this doesn't happen, that in itself
would give a revealing glimpse into the limits of jihadist power."

Why? Who is Musharraf carting off to jail? It is the non-extremist, middle and
upper middle class. That is the very group Musharraf needs to repel an Islamist
Coup is the only group he's quashing. Sounds like W's brand of thinking. Any day
now Musharraf will be declaring "Mission Accomplished"! Maybe he'll have a
banner and a air force pilot's spiffy costume.

The article "The price for backing dictators' may be to box America in" at
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/CNN_The_price_for_backing_dictators_1107.html
states "Partnerships with strong men, some say just as necessary now as then,"
Todd concluded. "But some analysts say so-called realpolitik, while it serves
America's immediate interests, also boxes it in. "Steve Clemens of the New
America Foundation told CNN, "It's terribly hypocritical to go into this world
and talk democracy as boldly and robustly as this administration did and then
cozy up to a dictator now like Musharraf. President Bush can no longer go out
and give a pro-democracy speech."

W's actions, which whenever he wants to circumvent our constitution and the role of the executive branch, are ruining our standing in the world! Get him, and the eminently impeachable v.p.--president of vice, to stop acting against our nation's interests. An easy way to bog these ghouls down would be to impeach them! To restore our nation's standing impeach them now, impeach them tomorrow, impeach them as frequently as possible! ! !

All of these messes the Democrats will have to clean up in 2008. They could reduce their inevitable upcoming workload if they would be more forceful now!

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Winston is an ex-Social Worker, burnt out by too much indifference regarding our weak and weary. I had little interest in politics until the illegal Iraq War started.

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