Saturday, November 03, 2007

I don't get it

Here's a simple question I don't know I've heard asked before: If it's legitimate for the United States to bomb the Muslim fruitcakes in Iran to keep them from getting The Bomb, why isn't it legitimate to take out the Muslim fruitcakes in Pakistan who already have The Bomb?

And who now are descending into political chaos.

Because the Pakistanis are our "friends"? Because there's nothing we can do without the Pakistanis blowing one up over Tel Aviv, or New Delhi . . . or Baghdad? Because we're feckless? Because there's nothing we really can do to keep the Iranians from getting nukes, either?


Because we don't care to, no matter how grave the threat?

What the hell is going on here?

MSNBC reports on chaos in the home of the "Islamic Bomb":
Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan on Saturday, ahead of a crucial Supreme Court ruling on his future as president, thrusting the country deeper into political turmoil as it struggles to contain spreading Islamic militancy.

Seven Supreme Court judges immediately rejected the emergency, which suspended the current constitution. The government blocked all television transmissions in major cities other than state-run Pakistan TV, and telephone services in the capital, Islamabad, were cut.

Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto flew from Dubai on Saturday and was sitting on a plane at Karachi airport, waiting to see if she would be arrested or deported, her spokesman Wajid Hasan said after speaking to the former prime minister by telephone from London.
Witnesses said 100 police and paramilitary troops were deployed at her home in Karachi, though it was not immediately clear if they were there as a protective cordon or to apprehend the opposition leader. A bomb disposal squad was also at the scene.

“The chief of army staff has proclaimed a state of emergency and issued a provisional constitutional order,” a newscaster on PTV said, adding that Musharraf would address the nation at 11 p.m. (7 p.m. ET).

A copy of the emergency order obtained by The Associated Press justified the declaration on the grounds that “some members of the judiciary are working at cross purposes with the executive” and “weakening the government’s resolve” to fight terrorism.

PTV reported that a new chief justice had been appointed to replace Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, whom Musharraf tried and failed to oust this spring, sparking a popular movement against military rule. Judge Abdul Hameed Dogar was sworn in by Musharraf in his place.

The state of emergency follows weeks of speculation that the military leader, who took power in a 1999 coup and later made Pakistan a U.S. ally in its war on terror, could take the step. Military vehicles patrolled and troops blocked roads in the administrative heart of the capital.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has urged a swift return to democracy in Pakistan and says it is “highly regrettable” the president has declared a state of emergency.

The U.S. and other Western allies urged Musharraf this week not to declare martial law or an emergency that would jeopardize the country’s transition to democracy. Crucial parliamentary elections are due by January, which are meant to restore civilian rule.
I GUARANTEE YOU, if a Western city is taken out by a terrorist nuke, the bomb -- or the technology behind it -- will have come from Pakistan, not Iran.

Think about that.

Someone tell me, what is the trigger-happy Bush Administration doing about the grave threat that is, as opposed to the threat that might be?

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