The Command T.O.C.

Musharraf Takes Page Right Out of George W. Bush's Book: Bhutto is to Blame!

As if to say, "George Bush is my hero", Musharraf has adopted the "Rolling excuse" method of our President. First it was Al Qaeda, then it was "She hit her head on the sunroof latch", now it is "Yes, she was shot but it was her fault". As each excuse is derided and found not only to not be plausible but actually to be ridiculous, he just creates a new reality. As did George Bush in Iraq. Remember:

1. We will be liberators... Get rid of WMDs....
2. Oops, no WMDS, ... we will free the Iraqi people....
3. Oops, maybe they do not want us there... we will fit Al Qaeda there...
4. Oops, there was no Al Qaeda there before we got there, ... we are there to bring Democracy.. yeah, that is it.. Mikey will like that one...
5. And on and on and on....

If nothing else, Bush has taught the dictators of the world how to so successfully obfuscate the issue, no one knows what you are doing and the populace will lose interest.

Bhutto May Have Been Assassinated By Government

More information is coming out about the Bhutto assassination and it continues to point to something funny going on with the Pakistani government (a very friendly government with the Bush Administration). First, they try to say it was somewhat of an accident by saying she hit her head on a sunroof handle. That, of course, sounded and was totally ridiculous.

Once the Government was called out on that idiotic statement then then agreed that someone must have shot her but they want to "find" the person who did it. Ah, let the fox in the hen house.

Now we learn that there may have been a reason for Musharraf to actually have her killed. She apparently was about to go public with a report showing that the Musharraf government was ready to fix the elections and disrupt them so he could stay in power. One report even said he was prepared to incite violence and kill people to keep his power.

That makes a lot more sense and shows why the Pakistani government would lie about how she died. Musharraf is taking lessons from Bush by changing his story until he finds one that fits. Bush did it in Iraq and Musharraf is doing it in Pakistan.

Juan Cole has a great summary of all of this.

Pakistani Government Backtracks on Silly Sunroof Comment

As I said in my posting earlier, a lot will come out about Bhutto's death and the US will not like some of it. The Pakistani government in a real show of hubris, figuring the populace is so stupid they would believe anything, said the cause of death was her head hit the sunroof latch. I guess in a country where most do not have cars let alone cars with sunroofs, you can say anything you want and try to get away with it.

But, the blogs jumped all over it and pictures of men with guns came out and now the Government is backtracking, as I said they would. we are finding that security was lapse, the US was involved and the Pakistani government showed very little if any concern for her safety.

Magically, elections are delayed!! What else would we expect from a Country which is basically being run by a military dictatorship which came to power in a military coup. But they are our friends. Man, Bush picks interesting friends. First he loved Putin and now his military coup in Pakistan.

We cannot get rid of Bush fast enough!

Bhutto Democracy in Pakistan to be Led by a 19 Year Old

As if to reach out from the grave and say "Democracy is Dead", Benazir Bhutto's 19 year old son has been named the leader of the Pakistan People's Party in Pakistan. A few questions:

1. How, in any democracy, can the leader of a party be chosen in the "will" of the previous leader? This sounds a lot like a dictatorship or monarchy to me.
2. How, in any government anywhere, can a 19 year old be chosen to lead. Yes, Ramses was a "boy king" but that is because they died at age 20. We now have a 19 year old running a democratic party in Pakistan? If elections are held, a 19 year old will be in charge of a nuclear nation?

I am sorry, but while I support the ideals of Bhutto I have to wonder about the execution of the party.

The Socratic Gadfly agrees that this seems a bit odd.

A Lot Will Come Out About Bhutto's Death.. The U.S. Will Not Like It

It is my contention that it will be years before we know what truly happened in Pakistan over the last few days. One thing I am sure of is the story of her "hitting her head on the sunroof" causing Bhutto's death is absurd. First, she was hit with shrapnel then bullets. Then, when Musharraf saw the riots starting he tried to make it seem like an accident.

Finally, they pull out the trump card: "Al Qaeda did it!". See, world dictators are learning from Bush. If/when it looks like you are in political trouble just say "Al Qaeda!! Al Qaeda!!" and that should quite the masses for a while. In our Country, you do an Al Qaeda with a little "Clinton and Monica" thrown in and you can successfully distract the populace from just about anything.

No, my guess is we will find the following: Musharraf is behind this. He had her killed or allowed security to lapse so much to ensure she was killed so that he did not have to ultimately stand trial for being our "friendly dictator" in Pakistan.

My guess also is that the Bush Administration was quietly complicit with the act as they do not want it ever to come out that we support a brutal dictator. After all, how could we do that when our newest stated goal in Iraq is to free people from dictatorships?

As A Country, We Should Be Ashamed

I just have to say that the more I see and read about the barbaric killing of Saddam Hussein, the more I get violently ill about being an American. We, the most advanced civilization in the world (supposedly), should be ashamed that we were part of something so barbaric. Put him in jail for life, yes, hang him like this is the middle ages, absolutely no way.

And again, I ask, for all those "Christian soldiers" out there, I will NEVER believe that this is how Jesus Christ would want us to deal with our enemies. I think he is crying right now wondering what has become of his people.

UPDATE: January 1, 2007

I found this writing at The People's Voice which I thought was well written and provided a mature perspective. It is called The Spectacle of The Noose:

"Indeed we live in a global village, in a sealed monolithic ghetto in which medieval pornographic images of barbarism travel around the world at the speed of light for our consumption. Looped images of executed Saddam have been looping for a day or so on every news network. We are supposed to be cheered by the victory of ‘justice’ nevertheless we all know that whatever has been performed in front of our eyes is nothing but banal retribution. We are well aware that it has nothing to do with Justice."

How to Keep China from Making Trouble

A very interesting and thought provoking article by Daniel Starr at his Blog. He discusses 7 ways to keep China from causing military trouble in the world. While I think he addresses the military options well he does not address the globalization feature of world politics which will trump all military methods.

In light of my last post (see entry below) concerning Friedman's book, it was very interesting that I came across the Starr piece. My feeling is two-fold:

1. The option of cutting off exports from China is ludicrous. We need them for our basic subsistence living unless we are all to become farmers again. China knows that and therefore cutting them off is not a realistic threat. It is like waving a stick at Goliath.
2. We need China to be successful because they finance our debt. We have to buy their exports because they use those dollars to buy US debt which is what we need to keep the Country moving.

I agree what will stop China is a move towards more and more Democracy. The way to get them to move is not to "militarize" against them but to "globalize" them with the economics. What will happen is that democracy will spring forth like a spring flower before they even know it.

I  believe also that the Chinese aren't stupid. They are firmly part of the global economy and cannot afford to cause trouble. We cannot confuse saber rattling for "internal politics" with what their true intentions are. Their true intentions are to dominate the world economically and, while we sleep, they are doing a fine job of it.