Remember, this is what we're fighting for in Iraq.

President Bush yesterday offered his strongest support of embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, saying the general "hasn't crossed the line" and "truly is somebody who believes in democracy."

Bush spoke nearly three weeks after Musharraf declared emergency rule, sacked members of the Supreme Court and began a roundup of journalists, lawyers and human rights activists. Musharraf's government yesterday released about 3,000 political prisoners, although 2,000 remain in custody, according to the Interior Ministry.

Musharraf, you see, is a decider, and deciders decide in a democracy. Bush elaborated on this point during the interview:

we didn't necessarily agree with his decision, to impose emergency rule

He didn't necessarily disagree, either.

Let's face it, George Bush has supported Musharraf since he led a coup against the elected government of Pakistan 8 years ago. Musharraf has never been elected himself, and he is not a democrat.

He's had opposition leaders arrested, rivals exiled, had the country's constitution rewritten to his ends, censored the media, purged members of the Supreme Court for voting against him, placed them under house arrest, replaced them with his own lackeys and required those justices to sign an oath to military rule and to Musharraf himself. (All in the name of protecting the country against terrorists)

In other words, Musharraf is the president George Bush always dreamed he would be.

Anti-terror laws in Pakistan

Protesters in London demonstrating against Pakistan's "state of emergency". Image originally uploaded by Orhan

Not so great at catching actual terrorists, but very good for stifling dissent:

Another opposition figure contacted by Bhutto earlier in the week, cricket legend Imran Khan, was moved to Lahore's biggest prison early Thursday after being charged under anti-terror laws for protesting against emergency rule.

Musharraf said in a series of interviews that he would not consider quitting until the turmoil in the country was over, telling Sky News: "I am not a dictator, I want a democracy."

Anyone who thinks that we need to make a devil's bargain with Musharraf to avoid having the bomb fall into the hands of radicals should remember these points:

It was the Pakistani military, with the help of A.Q. Khan, that sold nuclear weapons technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

It was the Pakistani military which backed the Taliban in Afghanistan before 9/11.

Musharraf signed a deal with the Taliban in September of 2006 that effectively gave them safe haven in Waziristan and has allowed them to relaunch attacks on Afghanistan. 2007 has been the most violent year in Afghanistan, since the 2001 invasion.

And while Musharraf has now disbanded his country's secular courts and turned his forces against protestors demanding a return to democracy, this is how the war against Pakistan's radical militants is going:

[I]n the last several days, the militants have extended their reach, capturing more territory in Pakistan’s settled areas and chasing away frightened policemen, local government officials said.

As inconspicuous as it might be in a nation of 160 million people, the takeover of the small Alpuri district headquarters this week was considered a particular embarrassment for General Musharraf. It showed how the militants could still thumb their noses at the Pakistani Army.

In fact, local officials and Western diplomats said, there is little evidence that the 12-day-old emergency decree has increased the government’s leverage in fighting the militants, or that General Musharraf has used the decree to take any extraordinary steps to combat them.

h/t John Cole

George Bush has always supported the dictator of Pakistan

A lot of people are astonished that the man who overthrew the Pakistani government in a coup 8 years ago might not actually believe in democracy.

US scolds Musharraf but smothers talk of aid cuts

US President George W Bush today urged Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf to lift a state of emergency, quit as army chief, and hold elections soon - but left unclear whether US aid hung in the balance.

Asked what he would do if Musharraf spurns such advice, Bush replied: "All we can do is continue to work with the president, as well as others in the Pak government, to make it abundantly clear the position of the United States."

Now why would anyone think George Bush was going to suspend aid?

Here were his views in 1999, a year before George Bush was elected, 2 years before 9/11 changed everything and 3 weeks after Pervaiz Musharraf overthrew the elected government.

"Can you name the general who is in charge of Pakistan?" Hiller asked, inquiring about Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, who seized control of the country October 12.

Bush, in answering the question about the leader of Pakistan, also said: "The new Pakistani general, he's just been elected -- not elected, this guy took over office. It appears this guy is going to bring stability to the country and I think that's good news for the subcontinent."

Musharraf is a military dictator. Let's not act surprised when he acts like one.

The Taliban and their al Qaeda allies have set up shop in Waziristan

Pakistan treads carefully in kingdom of the Taliban

The Taliban have been in control of North Waziristan for more than a year and have established a militant Islamic “emirate” where political opponents are beheaded, girls are banned from schools, video shops have been closed and barbers are forced to display signs stating they will not shave beards.

Nowhere will this hurt more than in Washington, where intelligence officials have identified the remote and backward province as Al-Qaeda’s new headquarters. Bin Laden is believed to have regrouped his lieutenants and rebuilt his training camps there.

They allied themselves with local militants and began a battle with the Pakistani army for control. Since 2002 they have killed more than 750 Pakistani soldiers, executed 200 pro-government tribal elders and imposed sharia (Islamic law).

According to a number of Waziris opposed to Taliban rule, Musharraf’s deal effectively handed them over to Islamic militants and their Al-Qaeda allies, and turned the province into a terror-state.

Critics of “Talibanisation” have been murdered in a series of motorcycle drive-by shootings, lynched or beheaded, with warning notes pinned to their torsos.

[F]ighting erupted after men loyal to Tahir Yuldashev, the Uzbek commander who is believed to have up to 2,000 gunmen under his command, refused an order to disarm by local Taliban chiefs in North and South Waziristan who are under intense pressure from Islamabad to keep their side of the peace deals.

Battles raging among factions in Waziristan

Pakistan fights near Afghanistan kill 52

Fighting between local and foreign militants Friday killed 52 people in a conflict between Pakistanis and suspected al-Qaida-linked extremists.

Since fighting began last week, 213 people have been killed, including 177 Uzbeks and their local allies, [Pakistani Interior Minister] Sherpao told The Associated Press.

The minister said the conflict intensified Friday after foreigners failed to comply with an ultimatum from tribal elders to leave their territory. Security officials said tribal militias had fired rockets at the hideouts of the foreigners in several locations.

South Waziristan is generally off-limits to journalists, making it hard to verify reports of the fighting.

[T]he government has claimed that the violence in South Waziristan vindicates its policy of using traditional leaders, and not the army, to combat militancy along the border.

Some analysts, however, say militants with links to Taliban and al-Qaida are involved on both sides of the current conflict, which also pits local tribes against each other, and that blood feuds could deepen insecurity in a region viewed as a possible hiding place for Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri.

Who will take over if Musharraf falls?

Musharraf’s Faltering Grip

A few weeks after Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf suspended Iftikar Chaudhry, Pakistan’s chief justice, demonstrations boil on around the country. Protesters accuse the president of violating the constitution in order to silence the judge who questioned his authority, though Gen. Musharraf denies the claims, saying “there is a conspiracy against me”. At the same time, the Supreme Court demanded the government provide information about some four hundred people who’ve vanished into police custody since Pakistan allied itself with the United States in 2001.

Musharraf indefinitely removed Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry from office for abuse of power, but opponents claim the move was aimed at silencing an outspoken judge before a series of election-year cases challenging the president's authority.

The chief justice ... took up cases of "forced disappearances" — people believed to have been picked up by the country's powerful intelligence agencies without due process of law.

Human rights groups have expressed concern over the disappearance of at least 400 people in that manner since Pakistan joined the U.S.-led effort to curb terrorism in 2001.

Pakistan's peace agreement with the Taliban led to an increase in Afghan attacks

More from the AP:

More suicide bombers enter Afghanistan

UNITED NATIONS - Suicide bombers are crossing the border from Pakistan into Afghanistan with increasing frequency, launching attacks directed against foreign military convoys with funding from abroad, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the Security Council on Tuesday.

Despite high losses during the past year, the Taliban insurgency appears to be "emboldened by their strategic successes, rather than disheartened by tactical failures" in Afghanistan, Ban said in the report.

The September 2006 peace agreement between Pakistan and pro-Taliban fighters in that country's North Waziristan region did not prevent the border area from being used as a staging ground for attacks on Afghanistan, Ban said. Instead, the agreement led to a 50 percent increase in security incidents involving insurgents in Afghanistan's Khost province and a 70 percent increase in Paktika province — both on the border — between September and November, he said.

Bush uses the threat of the Democratic Congress to motivate Musharraf

Bush to warn leader of Pakistan on aid

WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush has decided to send an unusually tough message to one of his most important allies, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, warning him that the newly Democratic Congress could cut aid to his country unless his forces became far more aggressive in hunting down operatives with Al Qaeda, senior administration officials say.

[T]he White House has ruled out unilateral strikes against the training camps that American spy satellites are monitoring in North Waziristan, in Pakistan's tribal areas on the border. The fear is that such strikes would result in what one administration official referred to as a "shock to the stability" of Musharraf's government.

If his government collapses, it is not clear who would succeed him or who would gain control over Pakistan's arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Congressional Democrats have threatened to review military assistance and other aid to Pakistan unless they see evidence of aggressive attacks on Al Qaeda. The House last month passed a measure linking future military aid to White House certification that Pakistan "is making all possible efforts to prevent the Taliban from operating in areas under its sovereign control."

American intelligence officials have made an assessment that senior Qaeda leaders in Pakistan have re-established significant control over their global network and are training operatives in some of the camps for strikes on Western targets.

According to the article, British and American intelligence agencies have linked al Qaeda camps in Pakistan to plans to blow up airliners over the Atlantic. This puts the lie to the comment by General Schoomaker, that capturing bin Laden would have little effect on threats to the United States.

For too many years, America has been distracted from its original fight. We need to discard the absurd and meaningless declaration of "war on Terror" and rededicate ourselves to destroying al Qaeda.