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THE CONSERVATIVE REVIEW
February 22, 2008
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Our Man in Islamabad
By Robert D. Novak
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Overwhelming repudiation of President
Pervez Musharraf by Pakistan's voters did not immediately
dilute the Bush administration's support for him. On the
contrary, the first election returns were barely in Monday
night when the U.S. government began pressing victorious
opposition leaders not to impeach the former military
strongman.
Publicly, State Department spokesman Tom Casey reminded
that Musharraf "is still the president of Pakistan" and
expressed hope "whoever winds up in charge of the new
government would be able to work with him." Privately, U.S.
diplomats pushed hard against any effort to dislodge the
now retired army general who had just suffered public re-
jection, unprecedented in Pakistan's 60 years, from the
office he retained last year by nefarious means.
The United States had guessed wrong again in pinning hopes
on an authoritarian, anti-democratic foreign leader.
Musharraf follows the pattern of South Korea's Syngman
Rhee, the Shah of Iran and Ferdinand Marcos of the
Philippines, all of whom went into exile after public re-
jection. But Musharraf remains "our man in Islamabad,"
counted on by Washington to battle Islamist terrorists --
including Osama bin Laden -- despite his inconstant effort.
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Foggy Bottom's stubborn policymakers are frozen in an
irrelevant mindset, dating back to their effort last year
to broker a shared partnership between Musharraf as pres-
ident and the assassinated Benazir Bhutto as prime minis-
ter. In her posthumous memoir ("Reconciliation: Islam,
Democracy and the West") published this week, Bhutto de-
tailed Musharraf's perfidy in reneging on power-sharing
agreements made with her in two meetings last year. In-
stead, he engineered his election as president by a lame-
duck parliament, purged the judiciary, imposed martial law
and refused to resign from the army until virtually forced
by Washington.
Since Bhutto's murder, Assistant Secretary of State Richard
Boucher has antagonized Pakistan's opposition leaders by
insisting Musharraf was committed to a "good" election while
in fact voting rolls were being rigged. Minimal election-
day vote fraud is attributed to Musharraf's weakness rather
than strength. The army refused its cooperation needed to
really steal votes. According to Pakistani sources, the army
high command was alarmed that Musharraf's unpopularity had
undermined public esteem for the military.
These changes apparently escaped the U.S. embassy in
Islamabad, which on election eve reported to Washington
that Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League-Q would do well
enough to force a coalition government. Vote rigging prob-
ably cost the opposition 25 seats, mainly in Baluchistan --
not enough to prevent a two-thirds majority by opposition
parties that could vote impeachment in the lower house.
Officials of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) say
that while Musharraf deserves impeachment, they would not
move against him if he showed any humility. But the gener-
al has not departed from his habitual arrogance, even at
the moment of humiliation.
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In "Reconciliation" (concluded shortly before her death),
Bhutto was careful to avoid an anti-American posture, but
still details Washington's long record of support for Pak-
istan's military regimes that overturned democratically
elected leaders. I must report that my late partner Rowland
Evans and I followed that line of reasoning as necessary
to enlist Pakistan as an ally against the Soviet Union in
the Cold War.
This outlook by government has persisted in the war against
Islamist terrorism, though it has been increasingly clear
that Musharraf would not vigorously pursue that conflict.
I was impressed when I talked to Bhutto in New York last
summer to find her committed against the extremists inside
Pakistan in a way Musharraf never has been. "The core of my
being a Muslim," she wrote in her posthumous memoir, "re-
jects those using Islam to justify acts of terror to pervert,
manipulate and exploit religion, for their own political
agenda."
Those sentiments reflect how much Benazir Bhutto will be
missed. Her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, succeeding her as
PPP leader, will not take the prime minister's post. Who-
ever does head the new Pakistani government cannot be
counted on to pursue the risky course of closing madrassa
schools and fighting al-Qaida in tribal lands that Bhutto
promised. No Pakistani expects help from Musharraf, repud-
iated by the public and not backed by the army now that he
has removed his uniform. Only the State Department still
takes him seriously.
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