Is the United States Openly Supporting A Military Dictatorship in Pakistan?

[spanone]

Musharraf has arrested the lawyers, violently.

Musharraf has dismantled the media.

Musharraf has cracked down on 'intellectuals'

and bu$h* tells him to have elections soon and take off your uniform.

what does 'soon' mean?


Meanwhile, what about the people in Pakistan...they must love us.

[SteppingRazor]

1. Um ... weren't we supporting a military dictatorship in Pakistan even before the crackdown?

:shrug:

[spanone]

3. Yes, but musharraf pretended to have democracy

[robinlynne]

2. yes, and we have been for years.

[Hydra]

4. Dur!

The only time we don't is when they don't do exactly what we say. Then we invade and put a new dictator in.

US support of real democracy = 0%
US support of dictatorship or oligarchy = 100%

[spanone]

5. and we're fighting for 'democracy' in iraq.....

[Hydra]

10. We're fighting for a colony in Iraq

against the wishes of the local population that understand what we are really doing.

Permanent bases
Oil controlled by our corps
Services privatized by our corps
Demonization of local population(Al-Qaeda in Iraq)
Ethnic cleansing
Puppet Gov't
Local army under our control
Torture

Yeah...gotta wonder the IQ of people who believe we're bringing them freedom

[tkmorris]

6. Yes we are

As was said above, this aint exactly new. Musharraf has always been a military dictator. The Bushies needed Pakistan's help though, so they settled for gentle recriminations and encouragement to hold elections.

Yeah it's hypocritical but in the world of Bush it's small potatoes.

[spanone]

9. Yes, but what is new is when Musharraf goes bad....

Musharraf formally appointed himself President on June 20, 2001.

He's been the bu$hman since his inception.

[blondeatlast]

7. Yes, we have for some time now. and they not only have nukes,

they've used them, unlike Iran...

Edited to add: They also verifiably have al Qaeda ties, come to think of it.

[Ikonoklast]

8. Absolutely not.

The U.S. is now, and has been for many years now, supporting a 'Democracy Challenged' elected leader that just happens to use extra-constitutional force, state-sponsored political terrorism, secret courts, and an implied threat of domestic military action to keep the populace in line.

Kinda like here.