Extremists in Pakistan

Teh stupid.

Reading Hilzoy's collection of wingnut reaction to events in Pakistan is illuminating. If you didn't have access to blogs, CNN, The New York Times, or indeed any other source of news besides your own fevered, terrified blogs, you'd think Musharraf is our last and only hope to hold back the Taliban from having a nuclear bomb aimed at Des Moines (Hilzoy has the links, if you want em).

Nuance from Don Surber:

"Musharraf is a pro-Western man in the second-largest Muslim country on the planet, after Indonesia. That does not make him too popular. But allowing Pakistan to fall into the hands of a Taliban-like government is far worse."

Jihad Watch:

"One hardly has to regard General Musharraf a saint in order to appreciate that his removal would more likely usher in an era of Sharia and jihad than New-England-town-meeting-style democracy."

And then there is the Fresno State scholar, Victor Davis Hanson:

"It would be hard to think of a bigger mess than Pakistan: nuclear; half the population radically Islamic; vast sanctuaries for the architects of 9/11; a virulent anti-Americanism in which aid and military credits are demanded but never appreciated; dictatorship at odds with America’s professed support for Middle-East constitutional government-all the while doing little to hunt down al Qaeda while assuring us that the possible radical alternative, with some reason, is far worse." (Emphasis added.)

Hilzoy, in her post, analyzes the actual support of Sharia law in Pakistan and finds causes for concern not so much.

Me, I'll take a different tack. While I'm sure the authority-loving wingers salivate at the idea of shutting down elections and arresting "activist judges," someone might point out to them that it isn't the Taliban taking to the streets to call for the ouster of the dictator we've bankrolled to the tune of $10-20 billion since 2001. No, Musharraf cut his deal with the Taliban and it is the General's own forces who've permitted Osama bin Laden safe passage.

The hordes that threaten Pakistan -- more specifically, Musharraf -- are lawyers and judges demanding he hold free elections. Democracy, baby. Remember when it was cool? Nowadays, for our friends on the American Right, free elections aren't so appetizing any more.

Today, the second day of protests, the police arrested 50 lawyers in the eastern city of Lahore and clashes broke out between hundreds of lawyers and Pakistani police officers in Multan, about 200 miles to the southwest. On Monday, in Lahore and other cities, thousands of lawyers protested, with many beaten by baton-wielding police officers and then thrown into police wagons. By the end of that day, about 2,000 people had been rounded up by the authorities, among them 500 to 700 lawyers, according to lawyers and political officials.

It was unclear how Chief Justice Chaudhry, who was fired on Saturday and is under house arrest, was able to gain access to a cellphone. He and other lawyers said they hoped to re-create the protest campaign they carried out this spring when the lawyers mounted big rallies in major cities after General Musharraf had removed Chief Justice Chaudhry from the Supreme Court bench. General Musharraf’s popularity plummeted during the protests, and Mr. Chaudhry was reinstated after four months, invigorating the Supreme Court and the general’s opponents.

On Saturday, citing a need to limit terrorist attacks and “preserve the democratic transition,” General Musharraf suspended the Constitution, dissolved the Supreme Court and the four provincial High Courts, and silenced privately owned television news channels. Many of the Supreme Court judges are, like Mr. Chaudhry, under house arrest.