Monk

I see Pakistan is showing it's true colors:

Five suspected informants have been detained by Pakistan on accusations they helped the CIA monitor Osama bin Laden's hideaway in the weeks before he was shot dead in a US raid, Pakistani and American officials said.

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At the same time the US continues to accuse them of aiding militants. Last week, Leon Panetta, director of the CIA confronted the Pakistani military leadership with video surveillance showing militants evacuating two bomb factories in Waziristan days after the US had passed on their co-ordinates to Islamabad.

And those colors are more pro-al Qaida than red, white, and blue. Maybe that shouldn't be shocking, but it's good to be clear on that.

(Source: Rob Crilly for The Telegraph)

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Bhutto was fearless, from her college years in America to her cruel assassination yesterday. She had an unshakable belief that Pakistan should embrace the modern world with the same confidence and courage that she had. She believed in democracy, freedom and openness -- not as slogans but as a way of life. She wasn't perfect; the corruption charges that enveloped her second term as prime minister were all too real. But she remained the most potent Pakistani voice for liberalism, tolerance and change.

-- David Ignatius for The Washington Post

Here is a nice tribute to Bhutto. Mr. Ignatius throws in some language about being more wary about engaging in other nations' politics, that the Pakistanis need to work out their own way to a more advanced liberal democracy. The problem, though, is that they are moved to strike out at the West. After all, even the primary al-Qaida reportedly makes its headquarters in the Pakistan mountains. We are engaged, so that debate on the issue is beside the point.

( column )

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RAWALPINDI, Pakistan - Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated Thursday in a suicide attack that also killed at least 20 others at a campaign rally, aides said.

"The surgeons confirmed that she has been martyred," Bhutto's lawyer Babar Awan said.

A party security adviser said Bhutto was shot in neck and chest as she got into her vehicle to leave the rally in Rawalpindi near the capital Islamabad. A gunman then blew himself up.

-- SADAQAT JAN and ZARAR KHAN for the Associated Press

This is hard news to come to in the morning. I thought she was one of the real shining lights in that region of the world. I know there were corruption charges, but for that region, that still leaves her in the running to be the George Washington and Abraham Lincoln of the hemisphere. News like this confirms that there is no hope for that wasteland.

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Bhutto barricaded in home again, says Musharraf should resign

In a CNN interview over the phone, Bhutto also said, “I prefer to live in Pakistan in jail than to leave.” I seriously doubt this is true, and I take the statement as an indication of her optimism that Musharraf will fall and she will come out on top. Perhaps she is right, but I wouldn't draw that conclusion based on the public statements from the Administration, who seem to favor the safe play of keeping Musharraf in power, since he is supposed to have the nuclear weapons better secured under his command.

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In Pakistan, Musharraf has scheduled a press conference for exactly the same time that Benazir Bhutto has scheduled hers. This can seem like a petty rivalry between rich siblings, rather than a power struggle to head a nuclear state.

A couple of complications in this story.

First, Musharraf loyalists are reported to be the people who have control over the nuclear weapons, which gives us an interest in keeping Musharraf in power, even though we have more than a few indications that he is playing both ends against the middle and is hardly a hearty ally.

Second, Bhutto evidently has a very checkered history from her first premiership over the country. Highly corrupt. So, it's hardly clear that Bhutto is really good for us.

Such is life and the moral quagmire of the Islamic lands.

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sunday, Nov. 4 — The Pakistani leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, declared a state of emergency on Saturday night, suspending the country’s Constitution, firing the chief justice of the Supreme Court and filling the streets of this capital city with police officers.

-- David Rohde for The New York Times

Ah, it sounds like another day in Pakistan!

When I first heard this, I was wondering what were the chances of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto surviving this power play. She has just arranged to get back into the country and survived a massive bombing. But it looks like she is still playing strong, even taunting Musharraf:

After landing in Karachi, she mocked General Musharraf and accused him of using the specter of terrorism to prolong his hold on power. “This is not emergency,” she said. “This is martial law.”

What really makes this fun is that Pakistan has nuclear weapons. Imagine if Iran could play, too!

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Thousands of followers of Maulana Abdul Aziz underlined their defiance by chanting "Our way is jihad!" and setting fire to hundreds of mainly Western DVDs and video cassettes outside Islamabad's Red Mosque.

... Aziz then asked the gathering, "What is our way?" and students bellowed back: "Jihad! Jihad!"

-- Stephen Graham for the Associated Press

Tsk, tsk, using the word jihad like that goes against the European Union's code of political correctness, because it is Islamophobic. I guess they already burned all the books, and regarding the great DVD burning:

"This is porno material and blue films. This is destroying our society," Ghazi said. Crowds shouted, "God is great!" when the pile, doused in gasoline, caught fire with a whoosh.

The DVDs included films from neighboring India and some Western titles, including a romantic comedy called "Dirty, Filthy Love," but also children's movies such as "Home Alone 4" and "Free Willy."

Evidently, they prefer videos and DVDs with live beheadings - those feel-good movies that are food for the spirit and the religion of peace.

More seriously, these Islamists are moving to take over Pakistan, establishing their own courts of sharia, and threaten to take over control themselves if President Musharraf does not kowtow to them first. It just keeps getting better.

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