Pervez Musharraf: Cold War Tyrant
When you listen to General Pervez Musharraf on TV, he sounds measured, calm and quite reasonable. That’s why it’s important to judge people by their actions. Musharraf governs like a totalitarian dictator. When he realized that the Pakistani Supreme Court was about to rule that he couldn’t command the Pakistani Army and run for president at the same time, he responded by declaring martial law. He has now suspended the Pakistani Constitution and is in the process of rounding up and detaining his political opponents. Musharraf seems hell bent on staying in power until he’s forced out. And thanks to the short sightedness of George Bush, he continues to enjoy the full support of the United States.
Does all this sound familiar? It should. The US supported the Shah of Iran throughout the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. While the Shah used American tax dollars to brutally repress the Iranian people, the US looked the other way. It was all part of our Cold War containment strategy. A series of American presidents foolishly believed that supporting the Shah was better than having Iran fall into the hands of the communists. It all blew up in our faces in 1979 when the Shah was deposed and our embassy overrun. We’ve had terrible relations with Iran ever since.
When will our leaders learn? The United States should always stand for democracy and human rights. It doesn’t matter that supporting Musharraf may possibly help us in the short term against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The truth is, his country has sheltered Osama Bin Laden, Aymin al Zawahiri and the Taliban for the past 5 years and he has done next to nothing about it. He’s likely just playing us for fools. In any case, one day Musharraf will be overthrown, perhaps by violent means. Then where will be?
The Pakistani people are no doubt wondering why the US promotes democracy at home and in Iraq, but not in their country. It’s not hard to conclude that the US only supports democratic institutions when it’s in our own parochial interests.
The last time I checked, Congress determines how America spends its money. Congress should grow a spine and immediately cut off funding to the illegitimate Musharraf regime in Pakistan.
Musharraf, Pakistan, Bush, Shah of the Iran, Iran, foreign affairs, foreign policy, world affairs, democracy, Congress, spine
November 7th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
“When you listen to General Pervez Musharraf on TV, he sounds measured, calm and quite reasonable. That’s why it’s important to judge people by their actions. Musharraf governs like a totalitarian dictator.”
Perfectly said. At least Perv has that “measured, calm and reasonable” facade in his plus column. With that exception, the rest seems to apply similarly to Bush.
November 8th, 2007 at 4:34 am
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