Diplomacy in action, Musharraf may step down as military chief before Pakistan's election

[ProSense]

Musharraf may doff uniform before re-election

A change of heart in this regard has taken place following meetings held by a Pakistani-American Shahid Ahmad Khan with top presidential aides. Khan, who has been in the capital for the last seven days, is an adviser to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on South Asia and had arrived in Pakistan as the pointman of John Kerry, who is heading this Senate Committee.

Both Shahid Khan and a legal adviser of Musharraf confirmed the strong possibility of the President shedding off the uniform before the polls. The legal adviser declared that the final decision would be made in the next three to four days. The president’s spokesman, however, denied having any knowledge in this regard.

Shahid Khan has held a string of meetings with Musharraf’s top aides. It was against the backdrop of his parleys that Musharraf’s pointmen left for London to negotiate with Benazir Bhutto. John Kerry has sent Khan on a ‘fact finding’ mission. Khan’s visit is to be followed by a flurry of visits by senior officials of the US State Department like John D Negroponte, Nicholas Burns and John Kerry.

Khan, who was the national co-chair of presidential election campaign of Kerry, is presently the adviser to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee (South Asia). He is also an adviser to the Senatorial Committee of the US Congress and to the Democratic Party.

Khan, along with Musharraf’s legal adviser, confirmed to The News of the plan of the COAS-president to shed his uniform before the presidential election. “There is a now a stronger possibility of this than ever before,” Khan told The News when asked about Musharraf’s plan to doff the uniform before the poll.

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Asked if Senator John Kerry would also be visiting Pakistan, he said: “Yes, probably in the next two months”. He said a senior official of the US State Department, John Negroponte and Nicholas Burns, were also expected to visit Pakistan shortly.

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SFRC hearing on Pakistan (July)

[MH1]

1. I hope this happens.

Certainly this is a worthy effort by Kerry. He clearly understands how important this situation in Pakistan is.

[karynnj]

3. The Pakistan SFRC hearing on July 25th was incredibly informative

Here's a link to Kerry's openning remarks http://www.johnkerry.com/2007/7/25/jk-chairing-sfrc-hearings-on-pakistan

[TeamJordan23]

2. I didn't like Kerry much in 2004; but I have really liked the work he has done the past 2-3 years.nm

[sandnsea]

11. Past 20-30 years, same guy

Too bad the media wouldn't let you get to know him. :hi:

[TeamJordan23]

17. His political consultants also played a big part in that. nm

[ProSense]

18. Please, it's time to kill that myth!

It's one thing to point out that people only got half the story from the media (they're still doing that to Dems while giving Repubs a free ride). It's another thing entirely to keep pushing the consultant line. The consultants weren't the ones getting up in front of the audiences and speaking. There is no evidence that Kerry said anything different from what he has said all along. None! The hindsight wrangling about what the political consultants told him to do or wanted him to do is just that political wrangling, and it's pretty much standard for campaigns, especially given some of the backstabbing assholes that call themselves Democratic political consultants. If Kerry had actually made it to the WH, as many believed he was going to up until the end, they would be claiming a hand in getting him there.

[beachmom]

4. Thanks, Prosense. Kerry is doing great work here. K & R. n/t

[ProSense]

5. Thanks for the

link!

[hibiscus]

6. K & R n/t

[beachmom]

7. I just listened to a report on this on NPR. It focused on the Pakistani

players, not American ones. Apparently, Musharraf definitely is going to take the uniform off and no longer be Army Chief of Staff. Meanwhile, Bhutto, will run in Parliament, and if her party gets a majority, she will be Prime Minister. The idea is to transition from a military dictatorship to a civilian democracy. Keeping Musharraf as President eases that transition, but only if he made that concession. He will still be in charge of the military and foreign policy (like the Taliban and al Qaeda), but this is a movement in the right direction, without it being a radical change which could cause unrest.

It was John Kerry who said that Musharraf must get rid of the uniform. Nicholas Burns also agreed with that. Dare I call this a bipartisan diplomatic victory?

[mopinko]

8. barack obama made me laugh, talking about destabilizing mushariff

as though we didn't put him there in the first place, and as though we wont take him out when we are ready. the rest of them all played along. don't look at that man behind the curtain.

[beachmom]

9. No. Obama merely stated what is current U.S. policy. Whether

you like it or not, it is the policy of the U.S. to kill or capture al Qaeda members anywhere in the world. It is hoped that it is with that country's cooperation, but if they don't cooperate, it is our current policy that forces will go in and get them anyway. It was a lot of bruhaha over nothing, IMO.

[mopinko]

13. ya know, i am getting so jaded. i don't even believe in

al queada. or "leftist rebels" in general. i think they are mostly cia, or some other ia.
i just wish a single one of those candidates would acknowledge that we are bull shitters of spectacular proportions, and thugs and extortionists, all over the world.

[ProSense]

14. The most effective way to fight terrorism is not with military might.

And we know that conventional military force is not the most effective way to destroy terrorists hiding out in sovereign nations. Getting that job done largely falls to our intelligence agencies and special operations forces, and it will always hinge on coordination with countries where terrorists hide – exactly the areas in which we are the least equipped to work effectively. Why does that matter? Because make no mistake, if an attack on America is ever hatched in a Pakistani neighborhood in London, we won’t be bombing Buckingham Palace—we’ll be working with MI5 to hunt down the perpetrators. -- John Kerry

[mopinko]

15. The most effective way to fight terrorism is

to fire them. and quit peddling arms to every f'ing country on the planet. quit stirring up conflicts to make them think they need them. let's have a new church commission.

[karynnj]

16. I think the man, who dared investigate Reagan arming the Contras

at the height of Reagan's power, knows this. He is also consistent, he spoke against using Iranian arm merchants to get arms to Bosnia.

[mopinko]

20. well, he sure has learned to keep it under his hat

if he does know. he sure was not talking about any of this in '04.
anyway, you are missing my point. never mind.

[karynnj]

21. I did not miss your point

He actually did speak of terrorism in 2004. He did not speak directly about Iran/Contra in 2004 because it would have been political suicide. Reagan died in June 2004 and was immediately cannonized as a new American saint by the media. Even the things most people had previously accepted as Reagan negatives - the economy - were whitewashed. The country was also in one of thr recurrent black/white narrative periods where people accept the idiotic idea of arming thugs around the world to fight our enemy. (which worked so well with the Afghan warlords - Kerry spoke of that debacle) Do you think saying that he brought to light that Reagan illegally armed the Contras would win people in the middle that Kerry needed? Consider that in the 1980s, Clinton and other Democrats were in FAVOR of arming the Contras, though legally. Kerry had the left, even if they didn't love him. He needed to win more people in the middle - and do it in a very hostile media environment.

[mopinko]

22. yeah, yeah

whatever.

[beachmom]

19. That's a great quote from Kerry. He is so wise. Unfortunately,

wisdom is in short supply in D.C., and the idiots like to shoot down the wise ones.

[politicasista]

10. K&R

:kick:

[sandnsea]

12. Excellent news

A little improvement in one area, at least. Now if he could just get Bush to move out of the way in Baghdad, he could get that situation resolved too.

[beachmom]

23. Actually, until Musharraf says it himself, we don't know if he'll do it.

The latest is he has denied that he has agreed to quit the post as Army Chief. He "hasn't decided yet".

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aQ7TbmtgSrEs&refer=home

Musharraf hasn't decided whether to step down as army chief before a presidential election, the Associated Press reported, citing a government spokesman. ``No decision has been made,'' AP cited government spokesman Mohammed Ali Durrani as telling reporters today in response to a question about Bhutto's comments. ``When he will decide, he will announce it,'' Durrani added, AP said.



This thing is still in flux. But now that Sharif is coming back to Pakistan (per the above article), Musharraf has competition in the election. The Pakistani people want him to lose the uniform. He needs to respect the people and democracy.