The Economist, stalwart voice of international capitalism, agrees with me that Musharraf rigged the raid on the Red Mosque to maintain his autocratic power.
General Musharraf cites the extremist threat to justify staying on as Pakistan's president in uniform. The White House falls for it
ELECTIONS loom and Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, has chosen his campaign strategy: war. This week he declared an open season on Islamist terrorists. “We are in direct confrontation with extremist forces. It is moderates versus extremists.” His comments came after a series of attacks, mainly on the army in North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), claimed more than 100 lives. He also revealed that when his term of office expires in October, he will seek re-election (indirectly, from an electoral college) without stepping down as army chief. He told senior Pakistani journalists that a purely civilian government would not be strong enough to control extremists.
More and more Pakistanis seem disenchanted with General Musharraf, now in power for eight years. His critics feel vindicated. They had predicted that he would use the violence that followed the storming of a radical mosque in the capital Islamabad earlier this month to justify extending military rule. Conspiracy theorists went further, suggesting he had engineered the showdown for just this reason.
SEE:
Islamicists and Evangelical Christians
I Was An IslamoFascist For MI6
Harpers Silence Over Musharraf
Winning Friends
How To Create Terrorists
Say It Ain't So
Brief Cases vs Batons
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