Can Musharraf Survive?

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  • Posted By: atifkhan @ 12/28/2007 4:57:39 PM

    The whole situation is too complex to be analyzed from a single side. In the war against terrorism every rational human knows that all acts of terrorism are wrong. The whole sitaution appeared to me as no body is interested in solving the problem but Bush government wants to flair up the sitaution. The way Benazir Bhutto (BB) back to country and started giving comments against the Hardliners make them a real enemy. I am still unable to understand why a politician like BB gave such type of comments. Being a political leader she has to win the people confidence. It has been said that a political Murder will occurred once, when majority of political or other forces wanted to do so. The time will tell who get the maximum benefit from this situation. May be many people knows who is the ultimate beneficiary of this cruel act.

  • Posted By: Granda @ 12/28/2007 12:18:32 PM

    Musharraf is the next Saddam Hussain

    • Posted By: ryoung122 @ 12/28/2007 4:54:51 PM

      Unless Musharraf invades India, he is no Saddam and we won't be removing him.

    • Posted By: nycanon @ 12/28/2007 1:21:52 PM

      And we are sure he has WMDs.

  • Posted By: junkmail6 @ 12/28/2007 1:27:34 PM

    Musharraf may be a dictator, but he is secular and deeply opposed to the extremists. He is a whole lot better than what we are about to get, thanks to the Bush administration's double-minded foreign policy. On one hand, Pakistan is a Muslim nation, and that has prevented Musharraf and the military from going after Al Qaeda. Bush should never have leaned on him in the first place. That has greatly weakened Musharraf. On the other hand, Bush has pushed his pro-democracy agenda as well, forcing Musharraf to step down commander of the army and leaving him extremely weakened. Extremists assasinate Bhutto, and the government is thrown into turmoil. The CIA couldn't do a better job of destabilizing a country.
    The next step will be another military coup, this time by the pro-Islamic faction in the military, and the establishment of some form of Islamic government. The first Islamic government with a full-blown nuclear arsenal. I feel sorry for our next president.

    • Posted By: ryoung122 @ 12/28/2007 4:47:32 PM

      Get real! It was the liberal press that led the charge for Musharraf to step down; Bush only put pressure on after the Euros put pressure on him. I mean, Musharraf has been 'transitioning' for 8 years; there needed to be an appearance of change toward democracy.

      I note that people like to blame one man, because it is easier than the reality: that the entire world is multi-factorial and there are often multiple causes. Bush, by slowing the push for change while appearing to support it, actually has served as a stabilizing influence. Bhutto's death increases the odds that Musharraf will retain power. Remember Bhutto insisting that Musharraf resign? Clearly, she was being uncooperative; when puppets don't obey the master, their strings get cut. So, she overplayed her hand, and that's why she is now dead.

    • Posted By: Sweet Polly Purebred @ 12/28/2007 2:27:25 PM

      AMEN AMEN AMEN!

  • Posted By: Sweet Polly Purebred @ 12/28/2007 12:08:16 PM

    It is being reported that "Al Quaeda" /Islamic jihaddists were behind Ms. Bhutto's assasination .... That may well be, but Musharraf and Bush are the ones with the blood on their hands. Musharraf for allowing the jihaddists to run rampant in the Western Border areas despite the fact that the U. S. has given him over $5 Billion to root out and destroy these cells and Bush for his failed foreign policy in that area - ie: not invading the Western border region because Musharraf asked Bush not to and indicated that Pakistan would take care of the problem internally - IF the U. S. would help with the overhead costs. We paid, Osama played and Musharraf just let it happen by not providing the security to Ms. Bhutto that had been promised to her. In fact Musharraf scaled back the security recently because Ms. Bhutto was not "president:" and there was, as Musharraf indicated, limits to the amount of security that could be provided.

    • Posted By: ryoung122 @ 12/28/2007 4:42:46 PM

      The fact that all you liberals are whining is just evidence that Bush's foreign policy has been a SUCCESS. Last terrorist attack in the USA? 2001...

      Now, if liberals captured Osama, they couldn't 'waterboard' him and they couldn't put him in Guantanamo, they'd probably let him go free on 'probation' as a culturally-sensitive icon.

      Bush used Bhutto as a bishop on a chess board...a high-ranking piece, yes, but still not the king or queen. Bhutto fell, though, mainly because, like JFK, she relied on 'people power' and that required being in open crowds. Note Bhutto was killed while sticking up through the sunroof...had she stayed inside, she would have survived. So, I don't buy all these 'Bush did it' or 'Musharraf did it.' Was Ms Bhutto expendable? Yes. But that doesn't mean she was sent to be just a sacrfice...had she been like Hamid Karzai (a little smarter), she would have survived.

  • Posted By: Azim @ 12/28/2007 9:10:14 AM

    A good analysis over the question of Musharraf's ability to survive politically from this terrible episode of Benazir Bhutto's assasination. It is concieveable to think that Musharraf will be out of power sooner than later because of the magnitude of the situation in Pakistan. Bhutto herself complained about her security to Musharraf but he did not provide such protection for her life. She quoted as saying " If something happens to her, he Musahrraf will pay the ultimate price for it." This is exactly what happened, she was assasinated.

    Now the PPP and other opposition leaders in the country will put preassure on Musharraf to step down and the newly appointed military General Ashfaq Kiyany will have nothing but to call Musharraf to step down. Under this circumstances, the West must do everything to help the military and the moderate leaders in the country to fight the extreme elements in Pakistan at this critical time.

    The restoration of Democracy lie fully on the shoulder of the people of Pakistan. They should stand up against these elements to root them out. Than only, there will be some prospect of peace ushering to this complex country named Pakistan.

    • Posted By: ryoung122 @ 12/28/2007 4:30:30 PM

      It is said that 'what does not kill you, makes you stronger'. Musharraf bore the brunt of chaos already, and by backing off just a little...stepping down as army chief, allowing the masquerade of 'transition to democracy' to continue, he ensured the pot did not boil over.

      With Bhutto's death, the West will reluctancy return to Musharraf as Nawaz Sharif has been seen as not a strong leader and in addition, too favoring of Islamic extremists.

      Also, I think a lot of analysis here is flawed...Bushco did NOT really support Bhutto; they just wanted her as a puppet to make Pakistan appear to be a democracy, while real power remained with Musharraf. Bhutto's real error is in not understanding this. She came in full-force, anti-Musharraf and suggesting that Musharraf should resign. She ran her mouth one too many times, made one too many enemies, and failed to understand that a puppet must obey the master, otherwise the strings will be cut.

      And so her death appears 'bad' to the Democrats but not to the neo-con, 'New World Order' crowd, whose motto is 'you can't handle the truth.' Those that fail to understand this, end up dead, whether Litvinenko, Bhutto, etc.

  • Posted By: karaswart @ 12/28/2007 6:52:36 AM

    There is plenty of peace and prosperity in the world. Europe, India, China etc. It is a small fraction of humankind that is fighting- America, Middle East, Pakistan. These are religious guys and they will end up destroying each other. The great founding fathers of America were very sceptical of religion. The current leaders have become religious and will end up destroying the great American dream.

    The world is fine...

    • Posted By: ryoung122 @ 12/28/2007 4:23:41 PM

      Europe did its disproportionate share of warring in the 20th century...now they piggyback off of American power. It is highly hypocritical to call out America when nations like Japan and Germany (WWII villains) now benefit from American security...

  • Posted By: eddiewhere @ 12/28/2007 1:27:20 AM

    Somilia, USS COLE, First trade center bombing, embassy in Tanzania ect... duffle. The extremist movement against America begam after the first invasion of Iraq. American troop presence the root cause. I am not saying Hillary is not capable, I just think that Barak Obama has the right instincts and skills to tame that region. He is part of a movement that is very determined to succeed. Hillary Clinton will be an asset to the OBAMA presidency. Hillary Clinton is not a figure that will be welcomed in the traditional Muslim world as president, as a member of OBAMA's presidency YES. WHY?because it is a different culture. This is the first time a woman actually has a chance to become president. That is cutting edge even for our culture, imagine how it is perceived in the Muslim world, they are not ready yet. OBAMA just represents unity, it is what this country needs now. The Clinton's are my second choice.

    • Posted By: ryoung122 @ 12/28/2007 4:19:24 PM

      Quit the Obama spamming. This article is about whether Musharraf's rule in Pakistan will continue; comments should be in response to the article, not off-topic Obama-spamming. Your suggestion that Hillary shouldn't win because she is a woman is akin to saying that Obama shouldn't win because he is black. Shame on you. Pot calling the kettle...

  • Posted By: ryoung122 @ 12/28/2007 4:14:11 PM

    The suggestion that Musharraf may step down because his puppet asks him to is laughable. Musharraf wanted Bhutto gone and, if not directly involved, certainly made it easier for attackers to get to her. Musharraf is about his own survival...

  • Posted By: KK123 @ 12/28/2007 3:12:18 AM

    Muslims are a violent, vile, hateful people. The reason they are that way is because their holy book compels them to kill and pillage. Regardless of anything, they are a cancer, the only answer for Muslims is that they be eradicated. I say Good, let them slaughter each other- the world will be a better place without them.

    • Posted By: leodelaney @ 12/28/2007 2:54:50 PM

      Hey the Christians did the same thing for a thousand or more years or have you never heard of the Crusades and the Inquisition or read about the Dark Ages or studied the Spanish in the Americas. When it comes to violence, killing, torture and all the rest of those things the United States has embraced under Bush, Islam is merely taking its turn at the trough of religiously justified hate and murder. In fact percentage wise, those alive versus those killed and relative to total population I would say that Christianity has an insurmountable lead over Islam.

    • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 12/28/2007 10:46:08 AM

      i guess its a good thing this muslim served to keep you free dumb arass

    • Posted By: liverwurst @ 12/28/2007 5:42:14 AM

      Hey that was a overly sweeping statement. Comments like these breed more hostility and hatred. Please get your facts right before posting such comments... Extremists are only the minority. They have long abandoned Islam and perverted the Koran to fit their violence. They have nothing to do with main-stream muslims. So Please.

      • Posted By: yoruiolp @ 12/28/2007 9:43:22 AM

        All the Abrahamic religions are violent, Christianity, Judaism and Islam. They all have blood on their hands and they all condone violence. Religious intolerance and arrogance are the true causes of Ms. Bhutto's demise. Must we not remember that dozens of people were killed in this incident in the name of God? What kind of God is that? May God save us from Himself.

        • Posted By: nycanon @ 12/28/2007 9:56:53 AM

          Time to accept Pagan religions, atleast they respected nature rather than the Abrahamic religions trying to control man and nature.

    • Posted By: liverwurst @ 12/28/2007 5:44:06 AM

      Hey that was a overly sweeping statement. Comments like these only serve to further breed hostility and hatred. Please watch your comments and get your facts right the next time. Extremists are only a minority. They have long abandoned the ways of Islam and have perverted the Koran for their own usage. They have nothing to do with main-stream muslims. So please, be more sensitive in the future.

  • Posted By: NICKB @ 12/28/2007 11:00:41 AM

    ONE OF THREE THINGS MAY HAPPEN IN PAKISTAN. MUSHARRAF WILL RESIGN AND GO AWAY, MUSHARRAF WILL ALSO BE KILLED, OR PAKISTAN WILL FINALLY HAND OVER OSAMA TO THE U.S. I THINK VERY SOON OSAMA WILL BE KILLED OR CAPTURED BY AMERICAN TROOPS. THE DEAL ON OSAMA BETWEEN AMERICA AND PAKISTAN HAS COME TO AN END. WAIT AND SEE.

    • Posted By: leodelaney @ 12/28/2007 2:44:11 PM

      So what? Osama is little more than a sick old man hiding in a cave somewhere armed with a tape recorder and babbling "Death to the Great Satan." Whether he is captured or continues free or dies of kidney failure or retires to teach at Columbia, he is absolutly unimportant and whatever happens to him will cause little change to the world. His capture will have exactly the same effect on things as Saddams capture; read about it for a few days and then Lindsay and Jessica come back as the real news. Then someone else will replace him and George Bush will have to start again to stupidly and mistakingly give the new al Qaida leader, when he dies or is captured, enough status to make him a martyr and a leader of the Islamic fight against the United States. Capture or kill Osama and it only gets worse and we did it to ourselves. Might as well let the old Osdam stay out there rather than going through the fuss to create a new one.

    • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 12/28/2007 11:28:05 AM

      BTW-OSAMA WILL ONLY BE FOUND, WHEN WE LOOK IN WEST PALM BEACH, WHERE HIS PARENTS HAVE A FACTORY, AND AN ALLY IN THE WH

    • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 12/28/2007 11:26:41 AM

      NUMBER 4 ON YOUR LIST-KAOS, PURE AND VIOLENT AND HIGHLY UNSTABLE TO THE REGION.

  • Posted By: midnight05 @ 12/28/2007 2:28:49 PM

    I think he ordered her death or at least consented to it. It may have been a quid prto quo for his protection of Islamic militants while jailing prodemocracy demonstrators and lawyers. The blood trail leads back to him.

  • Posted By: NICKB @ 12/28/2007 11:32:57 AM

    Kaos, pure and violent and highly unstable to the region, tell me something new? Who cares and better yet why should i.

    • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 12/28/2007 11:42:46 AM

      MAN DO I WISH YOU WERE IN d.









      MAN DO I WISH YOU WERE IN D.C.! NO DISRESPECT INTENDED JUST FACT. WE NEED THAT ATTITUDE THERE, SO WE CAN TAKE CARE OF WHERE -WE-LIVE! NOT WHERE WE WILL NEVER WANT TO LIVE! THANKS FOR BEING.


      • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 12/28/2007 11:50:15 AM

        SORRY FOR THE DDOUBLE HALF POST

  • Posted By: harpchick @ 12/28/2007 10:13:22 AM

    About Pagan religions respecting nature, they are well-documented in the Bible, and even today they find their ultimate expression in human sacrifice.

    • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 12/28/2007 10:54:05 AM

      human sacrafice??? only those who are soldiers, and we respect them, and the veterans we respect them to, and any other human sacrafice will be carried out by American Terrorist the K K K and they are the only humans, we would like to see, but never wish to see them dead! WE ARE NOT SATANIST AS CHRISTIANS ARE, NO GOOD WITHOUT EVIL!!! LEARN YOUR RELIGIONS OF YOUR COUNTRY. WE ARE KINDER THAN ANY CHRISTIAN SENSE JESUS!!! A PAGAN WILL JUMP ON A GERNADE A CHRISTIAN WILL NOT!!! WITTNISSED!!! A Christain will judge you by how much money you make, Pagans respect all life, even yours, can you say the same-by your comment-no!

  • Posted By: pinkpanther87413 @ 12/28/2007 10:41:38 AM

    Musharraf die while a pro-American terrorist leader-never

  • Posted By: Shankardada2 @ 12/28/2007 10:14:41 AM

    I guess all of those people who thought that Bhutto was just in this for the money have their mouths shut real tight now. Her death will spell the end of Musharraff and hopefully will be the beginning of the rejection of Islamism in Pakistan. Musharraf and his ISI nurtured these looneys for proxy wars in Afghanistan and India. Now they have come home to roost. The madrassahs and the Islamists have gone too far this time, just as they did on September 11. Though they may rejoice, as they did on September 11, they are dancing on their own soon-to-be-dug graves.

  • Posted By: jamshed @ 12/28/2007 9:48:09 AM

    It is black day of pakistan's History. Perpetrators of killing of Ms Bhutto has shaken the federal system of pakistan . It is apprehended that consipiracy might have been hatched at international level to break pakistan into pieces.It is not only the loss of pakistan but all of those who believe in justice,tolerence , human rights and respect of civil society. Pakistan has been plunged again into darkness by the allies of bigots and dictatorship.

    j.A.Halepota

  • Posted By: nycanon @ 12/28/2007 8:49:10 AM

    This news will be forgotten by Monday. Americans are more interested in the Patriots game over the weekend than what happens to the rest of the World. Admit it.

  • Posted By: mfenwick @ 12/28/2007 7:57:23 AM

    Well, the One-Worlders have struck again in their efforts to bring about a one-world government. Rest assured folks that the Unites States had a hand in this assassination. True, perhaps a member of some extremist group pulled the trigger, but you may be sure that the plot was sponsored and paid for with your tax money. Now the U.S. will send troops into Pakistan to "help settle the country" and god knows what other excuses to justify meddling. Then Israel will get in on the act as always. It's going to be a bumpy ride and if you voted for either a Democrat or a Republican you'll soon be getting what you deserve.

  • Posted By: eddiewhere @ 12/28/2007 6:27:28 AM

    No one person can bring change, it takes a movement. Bhutto's death could have started this movement. Or it could of ended a movement. Only time will tell. This was prophesized that a woman leader would be assassinated and that it would impact the whole globe. Everyone thought it was a possible referal to an American president. Who thought it would have been Bhutto. THe extremist movement still has uncontrolled grudges against the Clinton's. Hillary Clinton could fuel the extremist cause. This extremist movement views "things" different. I felt bad when I heard the news partly because Bhutto was a women. To us it is an unspeakable crime but to others who belong to powerful extermist movements it is "nothing". These people do not care. We need Obama as president in order to fuel the peace process. Our best chance at peace and security is OBAMA. We need someone who's chief policy makers believe in the movement for peace and prospeity for all. One who understands that our troops are dying and that this issue is more important than their own personal political careers. After the assassination of JFK and Martin Luther KIng, the civil rights MOVEMENT succeeded under the Jonhnson administration in having civil rights legislation passed into law. It was a MOVEMENT that could not be stopped. Bin Laden is a god to extremist, he is their BHUTTO, extremist have no problems committting atrocities. In fact it is their dream, it is their end goal in life. This is why we cannot let these extremist continue to multiply. Obama is our best chance. He is also intelligent enough to know Russia and it's breakaway republics in Central Asia as well as the technological advancement of CHina and it blatent theft of intellectual property is a threat that needs to be dealt with.

  • Posted By: eddiewhere @ 12/28/2007 5:54:33 AM

    Somilia, USS COLE, First trade center bombing, embassy in Tanzania ect... duffle. The extremist movement against America begam after the first invasion of Iraq. American troop presence the root cause. I am not saying Hillary is not capable, I just think that Barak Obama has the right instincts and skills to tame that region. He is part of a movement that is very determined to succeed. Hillary Clinton will be an asset to the OBAMA presidency. Hillary Clinton is not a figure that will be welcomed in the traditional Muslim world as president, as a member of OBAMA's presidency YES. WHY?because it is a different culture. This is the first time a woman actually has a chance to become president. That is cutting edge even for our culture, imagine how it is perceived in the Muslim world, they are not ready yet. OBAMA just represents unity, it is what this country needs now.
    THE THIRD WAVE IS COMING

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