Monday, November 19, 2007
Good News For Musharraf
by BarbinMD
It's always good to have friends in high places:
A Supreme Court hand-picked by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf swiftly dismissed legal challenges to his continued rule on Monday, opening the way for him to serve another five-year term — this time solely as a civilian president.
Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar dismissed three opposition petitions challenging Musharraf's victory in a disputed presidential election last month, saying two had been "withdrawn" because opposition lawyers were not present in court.
Of course one has to ask if the opposition lawyers weren't there because they had been thrown in prison by Musharraf. And the third lawyer, who represented Benazir Bhutto, withdrew the petition rather than giving the so-called court any legitimacy.
Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte's face-to-face with Musharraf to express the administration's concerns accomplished nothing, and:
The face-off leaves the Bush administration with limited options in steering its nuclear-armed ally back toward democracy. Senior Bush Administration officials have said publicly that they have no plans to cut off the billions of dollars in military aid that Pakistan receives each year.
Hmmmm...limited options, billions of dollars. It seems like the Bush administration has billions of options.
