Pervez Musharraf:
A Very Bad Penny
Editor
Editor@TheIndependentDaily.com
The AP reports that Musharraf has returned from exile to his Pakistani homeland (probably) seeking to resume control of the country’s destiny amid the relative turmoil and instability overtaking Pakistan today.
The Taliban seems to think that’s a bad idea for many reasons, and have chosen to underline their discontent with threats of sending Mr. Musharraf “…to hell”. It’s an interesting phenomenon to find myself on the same side of an issue as the Taliban.
Pakistan is what it is today because of the destabilization of the entire region resulting from our (US) invasion and the subsequent disintegration of Afghanistan and Iraq, unseating accused un-Western friendly leadership in Iraq, and destroying the relative stasis of Afghan tribal rule: the only known, workable solution to Afghan societal structure according to a few thousand years of history.
In Iraq, Saddam Hussein, notwithstanding how bombastic and greed-driven he may have been, upheld a rule of law and served as a stabilizing factor in a region previously fraught with uncertainty. He was predictable. He held a nation, Iran, that today represents an alleged threat to Western ideals, at bay: We destroyed that bulwark. Through our collective actions, in concert with Britain and, in a passive role, Pakistan, we were the impetus that has led to the vast turmoil overtaking the greater Middle East today, Pakistan included.
As a supplement to the probably unintentional half-truths discussed in the AP article, let me remind our readers that Musharraf was paid $50 million-plus in cold, hard American (taxpayer) cash to win his heart and mind to our favor, thus permitting Pakistan to serve as a launch-pad from which we could more easily complete our invasion, however haphazardly planned, short-sighted, and self-serving to the shareholders of Shell, Exxon-Mobil, and the Joint Venture beneficiaries of the TAPI pipeline project. Let me be clear about this: Musharraf was the recipient, not the government or people of Pakistan.
And now, Musharraf seeks to cure the cancer
he helped cause.
Pervez Musharraf is one of three bad pennies who ought to be sitting behind bars in the Hague today if there truly were international justice with his cellmates, Bush and Blair, sharing cigarettes and commiserating about how unfair it is to be a misunderstood, pathetic, immoral, self-serving homicidal tyrant, while awaiting trial on charges of War Crimes.