American Allies on an Execution Spree

Once again we see America turning a blind eye to horrific human rights abuses under the guise of "fighting terrorism" by putative allies who have less than clean hands themselves when in comes to sponsoring the very terrorism that they claim to oppose.  Among the worse offenders?  Saudi Arabia, of course, where there is no religious freedom and a new jihad has been launched against LGBT individuals.  As noted in prior posts, Saudi Arabia is the number one funder of Islamic extremism worldwide.  Along side of Saudi Arabia is another false ally, Pakistan.  A piece in The Daily Beast looks at the foul regimes that America is propping up and squandering money on.  Here are excerpts:

Phony terrorism strategies employed by some of America’s key counter-terror partners are at the heart of a shocking surge in death penalty usage, which has reached its highest level in a quarter of a century.

Amnesty International recorded 1,634 state-sanctioned executions in 2015—more than 50 percent higher than in the previous year.

The regimes in both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia—where the increase has been starkest—have used false claims about fighting terrorism to justify a dramatic increase in the execution of prisoners convicted of conventional crimes. The U.S. has given Pakistan more than $13 billion in military aid since the invasion of Afghanistan but seems to exert little influence over the nation’s counter-terrorism strategy. 

“They [the U.S.] should speak out about a country like Pakistan using a counter-terrorism justification for the horrific scale of executions,” Audrey Gaughran, a director at Amnesty International, told The Daily Beast. “Very few of the executions in 2015 were for people who’d been convicted of terrorism-related offenses. The reality of who is being executed doesn’t match up with the rhetoric.”

By the end of the year, 326 people had been put to death—the highest number of executions Amnesty International has ever recorded for Pakistan, putting it third in the world behind Iran and China.

Joining them in the 2015 top five—with the U.S.—was Saudi Arabia, where there has been another huge surge in executions under the guise of a crackdown against terrorism.

Saudi Arabia executed 158 people last year almost twice the 2014 figure, and more than any other year since 1995.

“The on-going surge of executions is deeply uncomfortable for Saudi Arabia’s Western allies who collaborate so closely on intelligence and security issues,” said James Lynch, Amnesty’s deputy director for the Middle East. “The Saudi Arabian authorities suggest that these executions are carried out to fight terror and safeguard security but it’s clear that they are also using the death penalty in the name of counter terror to settle scores and crush dissidents.”

The vast majority of those executed in Pakistan were not convicted of terrorist offenses, or had terror charges added to their cases with little or no justification. Many of those on death row had no resources to fund an adequate defense, and those executed included people with mental and physical impairments and juveniles. Under international law, executing minors is not permissible.

One of those put to death in Pakistan last year was Muhammad Afzal, who was 16 when he robbed and killed someone. In his final words before he was hanged, he said the police told his family to pay a 60,000 rupee bribe or they would add a bogus terrorism charge to his rap sheet. That is equivalent to only $600, but his family had no means to pay.

“We’re very concerned that this is happening,” said Gaughran. “The death penalty is being portrayed as a way that the government looks like it’s doing something about terrorism.”

Sadly, as it has done so often in the past, America is supporting despotic governments and making a mockery of its alleged concerns about human rights.  When these regimes fall, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the new regimes will be anti-American.

Why Porn is Exploding in the Middle East

Here in America, Internet porn usage is highest in the Bible Belt where all the sexually repressed "godly Christians" apparently cannot get enough porn to satiate their otherwise sexually frustrated lives.  Thus, it should not be surprising that porn is exploding in another repressed part of the world - Muslim countries in the Middle East.  Whenever myth based religion deprives individuals of sexual outlets, nowadays, the Internet provides an escape valve although admittedly porn tastes in Pakistan are beyond a bit bizarre and would certainly get Rick Santorum foaming at the mouth.   The more religiously oppressed - think Catholic priests - the more strange the "turn on" it would seem.  A piece in Salon looks at the Middle East's porn explosion.  Here are excerpts:

Porn is being made and watched in the Middle East, and millions more are watching it around the planet. In fact, some of the world’s top porn consumers come out of the Middle East. According to data released by Google, six of the top eight porn-searching countries are Muslim states. Pakistan tops the list at number one, followed by Egypt at number two. Iran, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Turkey come in at numbers four, five, seven and eight, respectively. Pakistan leads the way in porn searches for animals like pigs, donkeys, dogs, cats and snakes.

According to research put out by PornMD, the terms “creamy squirt,” “blowjob” and even “Kendra Wilkinson” (Hugh Hefner’s former girlfriend) appear on the top 10 most-searched terms coming out of countries like Iraq, Syria and Iran. The word “Arab” is the number-one searched porn term in Egypt, Iran and Syria. Some get a little creepier. “Pain” lands at Iraq’s fourth most-searched term, while “father daughter” and “brother sister” come in at numbers four and five for Syria. Both the words “mother” and “mom” appear on Egypt’s top 10 list.

The specifics are representative of a broader change taking place in a society all but defined by extreme “moral” standards. The fact that porn trends within the region can even be tracked is impressive, given that the sale of erotic material is banned in nearly every Arab country except Lebanon and Turkey.

[R]ecently, the Saudi Arabian government announced that it had hacked and disabled about 9,000 Twitter accounts associated with the publication of pornography and arrested many of the handles’ owners. The move was organized by the Commission for the Promotion and Prevention of Vice, also known as Haia, the Saudi religious police.

The good news for porn fans in the region is that a lot of these restrictions seem fairly easy to overcome. It’s not uncommon to find vendors lining the streets armed with pornographic videos. Nor is it rare to find young men hanging around popular shopping centers, selling cards to disable Internet blocks.

Is this a sex problem? Or is it a porn problem? Or is it just another hiccup in the long, thorny path to gender equality? Women are given center-stage in a lot of pornography, after all. Maybe some in the Middle East aren’t interested in seeing that happen. Or maybe they feel that sex should be restricted to a more private and procreative space. Many Muslim states declare that cemented social morals should not be violated. The data out there, however, suggest their public may feel otherwise.

U.S. Allies That Nurture Islamic Extremism

Fear of and the actions of Islamic extremists are dominating the news of late after the terror attacks in Paris last week.  The only think that made the Paris attacks unique is that the occurred in a modern western nation.  Horrors are being committed by Islamic extremists all around the globe.  Worse yet, countries that are putative U.S. allies and which receive billions in U.S. foreign aid are nurturing the extremists.  Why are we indirectly funding our enemies?  A column in the New York Times looks at some of these other atrocities and our "allies" who are allowing extremism to flourish.  Here are excerpts:

As one group of Islamic militants was waging war in Paris, another was slaughtering vast numbers of civilians in Baga in northern Nigeria — as many as 2,000, according to Amnesty International; “only” 150, according to the Nigerian government.

Meanwhile, Al Qaeda has blown up scores of people in Yemen, and the Pakistan Taliban murdered 150 people at a school. Libyan extremists blew up a Foreign Ministry building last month because an official wished people “Merry Christmas.”

These spasms of terrorism cry out for a conversation among Muslims about faith and tolerance. 

Saudi Arabia could play a leadership role in Islam. In the mid-20th century, King Abdul Aziz al-Saud overcame traditionalists who opposed cars, radio and the telegraph as non-Islamic by having the Koran read aloud on the radio.

Yet since then Saudi elites have retreated, sipping whiskey at private parties while deferring publicly to the traditionalists. Saudi Arabia does not allow Christian churches and sometimes has confiscated Bibles. (I once smuggled in a Bible to see what would happen if I were caught; Saudi customs officials searched the wrong bag.) The kingdom oppresses Shiites, funds extremist Wahhabi madrasas across the Islamic world and last month referred two women to its antiterrorism courts — for driving cars.

To be blunt, Saudi Arabia legitimizes Islamic fundamentalism and intolerance.

Pakistani officials play a similar game. Pakistan was once a tolerant country whose first foreign minister was a member of the Ahmadi sect. Now Ahmadis are persecuted, and a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, is on death row in a preposterous blasphemy case after drinking water said to be for Muslims only.

Republicans have been hounding President Obama for not sending a top official to Paris. They’re right. But let’s engage in more than symbolism and actually support the moderates in the Islamic world who are pushing for change — and, sometimes, being flogged for it. By our “allies.”

The column also mentions Saudi liberal, Raif Badawi, who our supposed Saudi allies sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam.”  The money and support to these nations needs to stop until they cease supporting and legitimizing Islamic extremists.

Where Imprisonment or Death For Blasphemy Is The Norm

As people continue to feel revulsion over the murders in Paris motivated by Islamic extremism and , in the case of the victims at Charlie Hebdo, sick outrage for perceived blasphemy, many are missing the point that the laws in far too many countries make blasphemy a crime and in some instances, a capital offense.   Such laws make the murders in Paris "justified" in the minds of religious extremists.  Equally disturbing is the fact that a number of the countries enforcing such laws are U.S. allies and/or recipients of large amounts of U.S. aid.  Thus, the U.S. needs to be demanding that such laws be eliminated and those imprisoned for blasphemy be released.  A prime example is the plight of Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, age 30 (pictured above), sentenced to 1,000 lashes and ten (10) years in prison.  Why the Hell is America supporting such a foul regime?  In a word, oil.  In short, America is only too ready to prostitute its values.   Al-akhbar.com has details:

US-ally Saudi Arabia flogs liberal activist Raif Badawi in public Friday near a mosque in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, receiving 50 lashes for "insulting Islam," witnesses said.

Badawi, 30, was arrested in June 2012 and charged with offenses ranging from cyber crime to disobeying his father and apostasy, or abandoning his faith.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a fine of 1 million Saudi riyals ($266,666) and 1,000 lashes last year after prosecutors challenged an earlier sentence of seven years and 600 lashes as being too lenient.

Witnesses said that Badawi was flogged after the weekly Friday prayers near Al-Jafali mosque as a crowd of worshipers looked on.

Badawi was driven to the site in a police car, and taken out of the vehicle as a government employee read out the charges against him to the crowd.

The blogger was made to stand with his back to onlookers as another man began flogging him, witnesses said, adding that Badawi did not make any sound or cry in pain.

The faithful who had emerged from noon prayers watched in silence and were ordered by security forces not to take any pictures on their mobile phones.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said the punishment was "barbaric" and noted its timing after Saudi Arabia condemned Wednesday's deadly attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

"Although Saudi Arabia condemned yesterday's cowardly attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, it is now preparing to inflict the most barbaric punishment on a citizen who just used his freedom of expression and information," Reporters Without Borders program director Lucie Morillon said Thursday.

Badawi, who has been in jail since 2012, is a "prisoner of conscience", said London-based Amnesty International, demanding his release.

Badawi is the co-founder of the Saudi Liberal Network along with women's rights campaigner Suad al-Shammari, who was arrested last October and also accused of "insulting Islam."

"Flogging and other forms of corporal punishment are prohibited under international law, which prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," said Amnesty's Philip Luther.

Saudi Arabia's legal code follows a medieval version of Sharia law. Judges are trained as religious scholars and have a broad scope to base verdicts and sentences on their own interpretation of religious texts.

But the problem extends far beyond Saudi Arabia.  Here are highlights from an article in Slate that looks at government sanctioned murder or imprisonment for blasphemy:

The Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris this week was uniquely horrific. But in one way, it was not that unusual: Violent acts in response to “blasphemy” are unfortunately pretty common. They’re just usually perpetrated by governments.

In a recent essay in Foreign Affairs, UCLA law professor Amjad Mahmood Khan argues that Pakistan’s absurdly broad blasphemy laws—under which any “imputation, innuendo, or insinuation” that “directly or indirectly defiles the sacred name of Prophet Muhammad” is outlawed and in some cases punishable by death—have not only led to the arrest of thousands of individuals for crimes as trivial as wearing an Islamic slogan on a T-shirt, but “provide legal cover for terrorists to commit atrocities in the name of protecting Islam’s integrity based on their warped view of the faith.” This includes the mass killings of members of minority sects like the Ahmadis, who are forbidden by law from calling themselves Muslims and frequently charged under blasphemy laws, as well as attacks on Christians. 

Blasphemy laws are harshest and most common in the Muslim world, but aren’t exclusive to it. In the wake of Pussy Riot’s church performance, Russia’s parliament passed a new law mandating jail terms for insults to religion. Nearly a quarter of the world’s countries have blasphemy laws on their books, according to Pew, and one out of 10 bans apostasy. The Charlie Hebdo killings have already prompted some Western governments, notably Ireland and Canada, to announce that they will reconsider the blasphemy laws on their books. But in much of the world, governments, not terrorists, will continue to be the biggest threat to freedom of and from religion.

In the movie "Latter Days" a character asks the Mormon missionaries the following question: "How come if God talks to Joseph Smith, Smith gets to be a prophet, but if God talks to me, I'm a schizophrenic?"   Sadly, the same question applies to the Quran and Muhammad who wrote it based on claimed verbal communications through the angel Gabriel.  Was Muhammad truly a prophet or merely a schizophrenic con man?  I suspect readers know my answer.

Taliban Storm a School in Pakistan, 126 Dead

Fundamentalist religion continues to prove that it is among the foulest forces in the world.   Taliban forces have stormed a school in Pakistan and reports are that 126 have died in the ensuing carnage.  Like ISIS, the Taliban claims allegiance to a ultra far right and brutal version of Islam that justifies, if not revels in brutality against others who fail to subscribe to such toxic beliefs.  And where are the "good Muslims" in all of this?  Like the "good Christians" who allow evil to be done by Christofascists, they sit on their hands.  The Washington Post looks at the horrors done in Pakistan.  Here are highlights:

Taliban militants stormed an elite army high school in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 126 students and teachers, and holding others hostage, in one of the worst school shootings in modern times, according to Pakistani security and hospital officials.

More than three hours after the siege began at mid-day at an army-run high school on a Pakistan military installation in Peshawar, explosions and gunfire continued to be heard coming coming from the school.

A spokesman for the provincial government said 126 dead bodies had been recovered so far and 120 students and teachers have been wounded. Most of the dead were teenagers, he said. 

[E]ight to ten terrorists wearing military uniforms carried out the mid-day attack. He said they started “indiscriminate firing” after entering the school through a back door.

 “They started firing at students participating in a function at the auditorium,” Ghani told local journalists gathered at the scene. “The terrorists wanted to kill as many people as they could and they seemed to be not interested in hostage taking.”

In a statement, the Pakistani Taliban took credit for the attack, saying it was to avenge the Pakistan military operation in North Waziristan. The Taliban said six militants, including three suicide bombers, carried out the assault. 

Why a school as a target?  One reason is that modern knowledge and education are among the biggest enemies of fundamentalist religions.  It's no coincidence that while the the Taliban attacked a school. here at home the Christofascists want to dumb down public education and erode curriculum that show the lie of their 12th century beliefs.

Pakistan: HomophobiscYet Addicted to Gay Sex and Pornography

Just as in the homophobic and supposedly "family values" Bible Belt where Internet porn use is off the charts, so too in Islamic Pakistan it seems that gay sex and pornography are likewise rampant.  The hypocrisy in both instances is, of course, exquisite.   The lesson is that the more a social or faith group feigns religiosity and would be piety, the  more likely it is that it's all a crock of bullshit when one sees what happens behind closed doors.  The Atlantic looks at the gay sex that some claim is rampant in Pakistan.  Here are story excerpts:

Pakistan is one of the most homophobic countries in the world. Yet gay sex is apparently prevalent in the country, which is home to 183 million people, some 97% of whom are Muslim. 

As the BBC's Mobeen Azhar reports in a fascinating investigation, the combination of the prevalence of gay mobile apps like Grindr and Scruff, plus the onus of arranged marriage, has made the Pakistani city of Karachi — the nation's biggest city, at nearly 24 million people — a hotbed of gay sex, even if actually maintaining a gay lifestyle is still incredibly difficult.

"[S]ome say the country is a great place to be gay — even describing the port city of Karachi as 'a gay man's paradise," Azhar writes.

Gay rights don't exist there, being openly gay is still looked down upon, gay relationships are hard to come by, and Karachi pretty much fails on every metric of gay life except for one: man-on-man sex. Karachi is home to a lot of it. 

Like any other country in the world (despite Iran's claims to the contrary), Pakistan has a homosexual population. Earlier this summer, for example, the Pew Research Center found that Pakistan was simultaneously one of the most intolerant countries in the world for gay people while at the same time being one of the world leaders in searching for gay porn. "As of this writing, Pakistan is by volume the world leader for Google searches of the terms 'shemale sex,' 'teen anal sex,' and 'man fucking man,'" Mother Jones's Alex Park wrote.

But despite all this gay sex, life for gay people is still pretty awful in Karachi. That's because gay people, like straight people, crave relationships. And that's still not possible in Pakistan. Many of the men engaging in gay sex acts, Azhar explains, are married. "Sex between men will be overlooked as long as no-one feels that tradition or religion are being challenged. At the end of it all, everyone gets married to a member of the opposite sex and nothing is spoken about," a local told Azhar. 

So gay relationships become an anomaly. Azhar uses the word "occasional." And its led to plots like what's currently going in China—gay men and lesbians "marrying" each other out of convenience.

Actually, Karachi doesn't sound too different from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.  Go on craigslist or any gay hook up site and you will find countless married men looking for quick nearly anonymous gay sex. 

Why Is Gay Porn So Popular in Pakistan?

I guess Pakistan shares some of the hypocrisy and hidden yearnings for sex that simmers across America's Bible Belt, the region of America with the highest online porn usage.  How else to explain Pakistan's high official intolerance of homosexuality yet the high Pakistani search engine traffic seeking gay-porn-related terms?  Candidly, to me it is an example of the psychological dysfunction that goes hand in hand with fundamentalist religions that are obsessed with supposed sexual purity and chastity, yet seem to produce the most twisted and bizarre desires for what is forbidden.   To me, it is no surprise that the number of predator priests and pastors is so high.  A new Pew/Washington Post study looked at the Pakistani search of gay sex themes.  Here are highlights from Mother Jones:

[T]he Pew Research Center published results of a public survey of gay tolerance in 39 countries worldwide. The numbers are fairly unsurprising: While a high proportion of respondents in Western Europe and North America answered "yes" to the question "Should society accept homosexuality?" few respondents in the Middle East and Africa agreed with them. 

Among the least tolerant nations surveyed was Pakistan, where only 2 percent of those surveyed said society should accept homosexuality. That statistic might be unsurprising, considering that gay sex is illegal under the Pakistani penal code. But what is surprising is how those views compare to Pakistani search traffic around gay-porn-related terms.

As of this writing, Pakistan is by volume the world leader for Google searches of the terms "shemale sex," "teen anal sex," and "man fucking man," according to Google Trends. Pakistan also ranks second in the world (after similarly gay-intolerant Kenya) for volume of searches for the search term "gay sex pics."

In its report, Pew noted that countries exhibiting the highest levels of gay tolerance are largely secular, whereas nations where religion is central to public life—such as Egypt, Nigeria, and Pakistan—tend to reject homosexuality. But in Pakistan, what's even more peculiar is that the highest number of hits for some of these terms, including "shemale sex," come not from Pakistan's cosmopolitan centers, but from Peshawar, a bastion of conservative Islam, lately known in the West as a counterterrorism frontline.

Farahnaz Ispahani, an expert in Pakistani minorities at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a former member of Pakistan's parliament, says that homosexuality is a taboo subject throughout the country. In major cities such as Lahore and Karachi, gays can develop a network of allies outside their tribe or family, but in conservative Peshawar, gay identity is more complicated. Part of the popularity of gay porn could stem from the fact that even highly observant Muslim males often have physical relationships with men without considering themselves gay, she says. 

"The real love they can have that most of us find with a partner, they find with men," Ispahani says. "They mostly see their wives as the mother of their children." 

"Islamic conservatives, whether they're actually in power or the governments in power are trying to placate them, they will tend to go to very narrow definitions of Islam," she says. "One of the easiest ways to do this is to come down hard on the role of women, and particularly around sex and homosexuality."   Long before the rise of Islamic conservatism, El Feki says, the Middle East and India had a literary tradition that celebrated gay love, but in recent years, that openness has been forgotten.

The full report from Google Trends is here.

Let's be honest.  Fundamentalist religion be it Christian or Muslim is a toxic evil that the world would be better off without.   The hypocrisy of its practitioners and the hatred and abuse of those deemed "other" are fundamentalism's main hallmarks. 

Taliban Shot Pakistani Teenage Girl for Supporting Girls’ Rights

Meanwhile, the Islamic equivalents of Charlie Fuqua and his Neanderthal knuckle draggers in the Republican Party are putting into action precisely what Fuqua advocates: the Taliban shot and seriously wounded a 14 year old girl in Pakistan for advocating for education of girls.   The Christofascists always take offense, but if they look at the Taliban and Islamic extremists, they are actually looking at a mirror image of themselves: groups that are fighting against modernity and clinging to a perverted version of religion based on writings of authors who were nothing short of ignorant by modern standards.   The Washington Post looks at the shooting of ninth-grader Malala Yousafzai.  Here are some article excerpts:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A 14-year-old Pakistani student who won international acclaim for speaking out for girls barred from school by the Taliban was critically wounded Tuesday by a gunman who boarded her school bus, asked for her by name, aimed his pistol at her head and fired, officials said.

The Pakistani Taliban asserted responsibility for the attack on ninth-grader Malala Yousafzai, who gained notice in early 2009 when she wrote a diary about Taliban atrocities under a pen name for the BBC’s Urdu service. Yousafzai lives in Mingora, a city in the scenic northwestern Swat Valley, where Taliban insurgents imposed harsh Islamic law for two years before being routed by a major military operation in May 2009. 

Tuesday’s daylight attack demonstrated the Taliban’s continued ability to infiltrate the area, which adjoins Pakistan’s insurgency-plagued tribal belt.

Many Pakistanis view Yousafzai, who also promoted literacy and peace, as a symbol of hope in a country long beset by violence and despair. In 2011, the Pakistani government awarded her a national peace prize and 1 million rupees ($10,500). 

She also was a finalist last year for the International Children’s Peace Prize, awarded by a Dutch organization that lauded her bravery in standing up for girls’ education rights amid rising fundamentalism when few others in Pakistan would do so. 

Yousafzai was flown by helicopter to a military hospital in Peshawar, where doctors on Wednesday said they removed a bullet lodged near her spine. The girl’s condition was improving, but officials said she had not yet regained consciousness.

Fundamentalist religion remains one of the biggest threats to peace and stability in the world today.  Yet it is to religious extremists little different from the Taliban in terms of their hatred of others - the Christian Taliban - to whom Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan (and George Allen here in Virginia) have sold their souls for political gain.  These religious extremists are frightening and need to be driven into the political wilderness rather than embraced by the Republican Party.

Bin Laden Reportedly Dead

I missed the news last night having gone to bed early, but the media this morning is filled with coverage of the report announced by Barack Obama last evening that American military and C.I.A. operatives had confronted Osama Bin Laden in a stronghold in Pakistan and that the terrorist leader had been killed in a resulting fire fight. Bin Laden's death in no wise end's the menace of Al Qaeda, but psychologically it cannot but undermine the air of invincibility that sometimes seemed to cling to the terrorist network. The irony, of course, is that Bin Laden was located and died under Obama's watch rather than that of the war loving Chimperator Bush who had been unable to pull of the feat. Some of the far right loonies in the USA must be feeling that someone peed in their Cheerios because of this fact (Wing Nut Daily is still hyperventilating about Obama's birth certificate). Bin Laden should remain a symbol of the danger of hatred driven by religious extremism whether the religion be Islam or Christianity and U.S. politicians of all stripes ought to heed the lesson both at home and abroad. Here are highlights from the New York Times:
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Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world, was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan, President Obama announced on Sunday night.
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In a dramatic late-night appearance in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Obama declared that “justice has been done” as he disclosed that American military and C.I.A. operatives had finally cornered Bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader who had eluded them for nearly a decade. American officials said Bin Laden resisted and was shot in the head. He was later buried at sea.
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Bin Laden’s demise is a defining moment in the American-led fight against terrorism, a symbolic stroke affirming the relentlessness of the pursuit of those who attacked New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. What remains to be seen, however, is whether it galvanizes Bin Laden’s followers by turning him into a martyr or serves as a turning of the page in the war in Afghanistan and gives further impetus to Mr. Obama to bring American troops home.
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How much his death will affect Al Qaeda itself remains unclear. For years, as they failed to find him, American leaders have said that he was more symbolically important than operationally significant because he was on the run and hindered in any meaningful leadership role. And yet, he remained the most potent face of terrorism around the world and some of those who played down his role in recent years nonetheless celebrated his death.
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Given Bin Laden’s status among radicals, the American government braced for possible retaliation. A senior Pentagon official said late Sunday that military bases in the United States and around the world were ordered to a higher state of readiness. The State Department issued a worldwide travel warning, urging Americans in volatile areas “to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels and avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations.”
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After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.” Muslim tradition requires burial within 24 hours, but by doing it at sea, American authorities presumably were trying to avoid creating a shrine for his followers.
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Al Qaeda sympathizers reacted with disbelief, anger and in some cases talk of retribution. On a Web site considered an outlet for Al Qaeda messages, forum administrators deleted posts by users announcing Bin Laden’s death and demanded that members wait until the news was confirmed by Al Qaeda sources, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors radicals.
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In the United States, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy organization, said it welcomed Bin Laden’s death. “As we have stated repeatedly since the 9/11 terror attacks, Bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam,” the group said in a statement. “In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and Al Qaeda caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide.”
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The president was careful to add that, as Mr. Bush did during his presidency, the United States is not at war with Islam. “Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims,” Mr. Obama said. “Indeed, Al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.”

Religious Fundamentalists Taking Over World's Armies?

I have expressed concerns previously about the influence of evangelical Christians in the U. S. Military who seek to impose their beliefs on others in the ranks. The Air Force Academy has been particularly racked with problems of this nature. The phenomenon is not unique to the USA, however, as a Washington Post column notes. The development is worrisome since the combination of military power and religious fanaticism is a very dangerous one indeed. One need only look to Iran to see how dangerous unrestrained religious extremism becomes when combined with military power. It literally can threaten the entire world. Here in the USA, every effort needs to be made to discharge from the military those who put religious fanaticism ahead of the U. S. Constitution and the civil rights it guarantees to all citizens, nut just Christianists. Here are some column highlights:

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Thanks to the peculiar combination of Samuel Huntington's clash of civilizations theory and Al-Qaeda's televisual terrorism, we've grown accustomed to thinking of holy wars as battles fought between shadowy non-state actors representing different 'civilizations'. But a recent string of articles indicates a far more complex and dangerous relationship between religion and state-based security forces.

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Consider a recent New York Times commentary regarding Israel. "The officer corps of the elite Golani Brigade is now heavily populated by religious right-wing graduates of the preparatory academies," noted Moshe Halbertal, a Jewish philosophy professor who co-wrote the military code of ethics and who is himself religiously observant but politically liberal. "The religious right is trying to have an impact on Israeli society through the army."

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And one, published five days later, about Pakistan. "The Taliban's widening campaign in southern Afghanistan is made possible in part by direct support from operatives in Pakistan's military intelligence agency ... new details reveal that the spy agency is aiding a broader array of militant networks with more diverse types of support than was previously known -- even months after Pakistani officials said that the days of the ISI's playing a "double game" had ended."

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Closer to home, there have been reports of a disturbingly close relationship between some right-wing Christian groups and U.S. Armed Forces: "(In the summer of 2007) the Pentagon abruptly announced that it would not be delivering 'freedom packages' to our soldiers in Iraq, as it had originally intended. What were the packages to contain? Not body armor or home-baked cookies. Rather, they held Bibles, proselytizing material in English and Arabic and the apocalyptic computer game "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" (derived from the series of post-Rapture novels), in which "soldiers for Christ" hunt down enemies who look suspiciously like U.N. peacekeepers."

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To make matters worse, religious nationalism in security forces has the potential not only to inflame conflicts between nations, but also within nations and regions. One of the biggest destabilizing influences in Northern Ireland was the presence of a largely Protestant police force patrolling Catholic neighborhoods. A recent New York Times piece confirms that one of the main complaints by Sunni Muslims in Iraq is feeling blocked by the Shia dominated Iraqi government from jobs in the Iraqi security forces.

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There's a lot on the line here, folks. Will battles over land and power get framed as clashes between civilizations? Will the religious right increase their influence over nuclear weapons by rising to the top of the military hierarchy - in Pakistan, Israel, America? Will police forces become instruments of chaos rather than stability in diverse societies?

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Here's what's clear: the forces of religious nationalism are no longer content to dress in rags and move in the shadows. Some are seeking uniforms, and a place in the halls of power.

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It should be noted that in every instance cited, the fundamentalist religious groups involved are all consistently anti-gay and favor the marginalization of LGBT citizens or worse.

Resurgent Taliban

A new story at Yahoo News shows just how badly the Chimperator's so-called war on terror has failed. Billions and Billions of dollars later, with over 4,000 Americans dead, and tens of thousands horrifically injured, and much of Iraq destroyed, the Taliban is resurgent and the Iraq War has greatly increased the numbers of Muslims worldwide who hate the United States. Heck of a job, Chimpy!! A war crimes trial and execution would not begin to undo the nightmare that the Chimperator and his equally delusional minions have produced. Bush - and Cheney too - physically sicken me. Meanwhile the cretin has no concept of the damage his idiocy and hubris has wrought. He cannot leave office soon enough for me. Here are some story highlights of the growing mess in Afghanistan:

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KABUL, Afghanistan - As the two women hunkered down in the dark, enveloped in blue burqas, they thought the gun-toting Taliban might free them despite accusations they had run a prostitution ring for a U.S. base. Soon after, the militants shot them dead. The recent execution of the two women, witnessed in central Ghazni province by an Afghan journalist who contributes to The Associated Press, reflects the Taliban's resurgent presence in Afghanistan and their growing ability to dispense an extreme version of Islamic justice.

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[A]s the insurgency in Afghanistan turns more violent, the Taliban have once again gained control of significant parts of the country where the weak U.S.-backed central government has little authority. One sign of this comeback is the spread of a shadow justice system, with anecdotal reports of the militants' setting up "courts" and meting out harsh punishments.

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Many reports about Taliban justice come from the southern provinces, where the insurgency is strongest. There are signs, however, that the militants are spreading their tentacles further, and even outside Afghanistan. Taliban-style punishments have become commonplace in the border regions of neighboring Pakistan, where Islamic extremists now hold considerable sway. In June, militants executed two people they accused of spying for the U.S. in front of thousands of cheering supporters in Bajur, a Pakistani tribal region.

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The first thing the Taliban do when they come into an area is to set up courts, said Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and author who has written extensively on the militants.

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Equally upsetting is the fact that the Chimperators strongest domestic supporters are Christianists who want something akin to the Taliban's replacement of civi law with religious law.

Bush Iraq Crusade Continues to Help Taliban

The New York Times has yet another disturbing story on the growing power of the Taliban - you know, the group ACTUALLY in league with Al-Qeada - in Afghanistan and, more frighteningly, in Pakistan, a nation that DOES, in fact, have atomic weapons other than in the delusional mind of the Chimperator. While the USA removed Saddam, it has in many ways destroyed the nation of Iraq and meanwhile left the true enemies to rebuild and perhaps even flourish in some areas. Definitely a case of taking one's eye of the ball. That's assuming the idiot Chimperator ever knew what the ball was. A noted in passing yesterday the cretin's approval rating had dropped to 27%, a new low. Heck of a Job, Chimpy! Here are some highlights from the Times story:

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Now the area, around the town of Parachinar, is near the center of the new kind of struggle. The Taliban have inflamed and exploited a long-running sectarian conflict that has left the town under siege. The Taliban, which have solidified control across Pakistan’s tribal zone and are seeking new staging grounds to attack American soldiers in Afghanistan, have sided with fellow Sunni Muslims against an enclave of Shiites settled in Parachinar for centuries. The population of about 55,000 is short of food. The fruit crop is rotting, residents say, and the cost of a 66-pound bag of flour has skyrocketed to $100.

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And, in a mini-conflict that yet again demonstrates the growing influence of the Taliban and the Pakistan government’s lack of control over this highly sensitive border area, young and old, wounded and able-bodied, have become refugees in their own land. Last month, a Pakistani government relief convoy loaded with food and medicines that had been sent to break the siege was attacked by the Taliban at the village of Pir Qayyum. Many of the 22 vehicles were burned and 12 drivers were killed by the Taliban, according to government officials here and Shiites.

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Groups of Taliban affiliated with Mr. Mehsud, who according to the Bush administration is supported by Al Qaeda, now control wide swaths of the tribal areas, from Waziristan in the south to Bajur in the north. From some parts of the tribal areas, like Waziristan and Mohmand, the Taliban have stepped up their operations into Afghanistan against NATO and American soldiers, cross-border attacks that have resulted in rising casualties for coalition forces over the last two months, the Bush administration said.

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To try to quash the Taliban, the ministry would urge the local tribes to form small armies, known as lashkar, he said. The ministry was also offering local people financial rewards, he said, if they killed a Taliban leader. But whether the army would take a role in the efforts to find a solution appeared to remain an open question.

Chimperator's Mindless Crusade in Iraq Continues to Make Us Less Safe

Just think what things might have been like if the USA had stayed focused on Afghanistan and weeding out the Taliban and Al-Qaeda rather than the Chimperator launching his hubris driven, hair brained crusade in Iraq. Besides the trillions of dollars that might have been saved and the thousands and thousands of lives - both American and Iraqi - that would not have been lost, the world and the USA might have actually been more safe and secure. But instead, the Chimperator thought he heard voices telling him what to do - would that the cretin had been removed from office and committed to a mental hospital somewhere. Now, as this story from the Globe and Mail suggests, things are continuing to go to Hell on a wider and wider scale with Pakistan (which has nuclear weapons) now in growing jeopardy. Here are some highlights:

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PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN — Security around Peshawar, the provincial capital in northwest Pakistan, has been dramatically stepped up amid fears that the city could fall to heavily armed Islamic militants who have now massed around its outskirts. From three sides, Peshawar, which borders Pakistan's wild tribal belt, is menaced by Taliban groups and other warlords.

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If Peshawar is taken over by extremists, the rest of the North West Frontier Province is also threatened, raising the possibility that religious fundamentalists may gain control of a state on Afghanistan's border. The drama in Peshawar reinforces existing doubts about the new Pakistani government's policy of pulling back the army and seeking peace deals with militants.

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“[Central] government has not got to grips with the problem,” said one provincial government official who decline to be identified. “Things have moved fast and unpredictably. Last month we drew up a plan for the defence of Peshawar. We have a vast area to defend and our forces are thinly spread. They [the militants] have mobility and guerrilla tactics.”

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Residents of Peshawar, a colourful city of three million, have become alarmed at developments in and around the city. Militants have started openly entering Peshawar to threaten businesses they disapprove of, such as music shops. Last week, a band loyal to warlord Mangal Bagh arrived in several pickup trucks in Peshawar and abducted a group of Christians. They were released after 12 hours.

Religious Extremism Is Alive and Well

Today's Washington Post has two religion related stories that make for an interesting justaposition. One looks at the intolerant Christianist element within the Anglican Communion which, despite all the much more pressing and important issues facing the world has an unbelieveable obsession with homosexuality. The other story deals with death sentences being imposed for blasphemy in Pakistan, demonstrating the clear and present danger involved in allowing religious beliefs to become intertwined with the civil laws.

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If allowed, the Christianists in the Anglican Communion would no doubt favor giving out death sentences like the Islamic fundies. Personally, I wish the leadership of the western/modern faction in the Anglican Communion - which has all the money - would stop wringing their hands over the issue of "unity" and kick the lunatic fringe to the curb and cut off all funding to the wingnut elements and then wait to see how quickly these groups wither on the vine without ongoing funding from those they condemn for not engaging in anti-gay bigotry. I truly cannot grasp the mindset of those who seem to get their main enjoyment in life from hating others - they must be very emotionally disturbed. What happened to the Gospel message of loving one's neighbor? It should also be note that as I have posted in the past, "man of God" Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria (a homophobe extraordinaire) may have been involved in ordering the massacre of over 600 innocent Muslims. First, here are highlights of the Anglicans:

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Organizers of the Global Anglican Future Conference say they will not formally break with the 77 million-member Anglican family when the meeting ends June 29. Even so, the gathering is a clear challenge to Anglicans who want their fellowship to remain unchanged.

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The summit occurs one month before the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade meeting of all Anglican bishops, organized by their spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.
Many of the estimated 280 bishops attending the conservative summit are boycotting Lambeth, mainly because Williams invited bishops from the U.S. Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada and elsewhere who believe that the Bible permits committed gay relationships.

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The majority of Anglicans now live in developing countries and are scandalized by Northern views of Scripture. The leadership of the conservative summit comes mainly from these provinces. The top organizers are Orombi, along with the archbishops _ called primates _ of the Anglican churches of Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Southern Cone based in Argentina. U.S. conservatives, a minority within the Episcopal Church, and British Anglicans also are playing important roles.

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While the conference participants share a theological outlook, they disagree over what they should do next. Some have close relationships with North American and European dioceses, schools and ministries, and gain stature from their ties to a major world church. The communion is the world's third-largest Christian body, behind the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian churches.

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For a view of where mindsets like those of the the GAFCON attendees leads, one has only to take a look at Pakistan where blasphemy is a capital offense. here are highlights on that story:

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A Pakistani judge sentenced a Muslim man to death Wednesday on charges he insulted Islam's Prophet Muhammad, a court official said. Falk Sher, a court administrator, said Judge Shoaib Ahmad Roomi also sentenced the man, Shafeeq Latif, to life in prison and fined him $75,000 on a separate charge of desecrating pages of Islam's holy book, the Quran, in 2006. Latif was accused of making derogatory remarks about Muhammad.

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Under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, anyone who insults Muhammad can be punished by death. Scores of people, including Muslims and minority Christians, are facing trial under the laws, which human rights groups have demanded be abolished.

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"True believers" have sadly turned religion into one of the great force of evil in today's world.

US Intelligence Suggests Coverup in Bhutto Assassination - Suicide Bomber May Have Been Inserted to Eliminate Evidence

Rawstory is reporting (http://rawstory.com/news/2007/US_intelligence_suggests_coverup_in_Bhutto_0107.html) that the government of President Pervez Musharraf may have been involved in a cover of in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. My gut reaction has always been to have suspicions about the rush to blame the murder on Islamic fundamentalists in order to shore up the U.S. aid to Musharraf and also allow the Chimperator to run around using the terror bogeyman once again. It was all just a little bit too convenient. Meanwhile, al Qaeda is denying responsibility and the method of the assassination do not match Al Qaeda's usual format. Here are highlights from the coverage:

Mrs. Bhutto was shot when she stood up through the sunroof of her vehicle after a campaign rally for her Pakistan Peoples Party in Rawalpindi. Immediately after the shooting, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive, killing 25 people as well as himself.

The Musharraf government's initial reaction was to blame either al Qaeda or other terrorists closely linked to al Qaeda. However, contradictions in official statements, as well as the behavior of police – who hosed down the streets in Rawalpindi just an hour after Mrs. Bhutto was assassinated – quickly began to cast doubt on the official version of what happened, leaving serious questions surrounding Musharraf and the ISI and putting more pressure on the United States to pull back its support for Pakistani leadership.

According to a former high ranking US intelligence official, who wishes to remain anonymous due to the delicate nature of the information, the US intelligence community understands the gunman to have been killed in the blast following Mrs. Bhutto's assassination. "He was killed, probably not knowing that the suicide bomber was there," said this source. "We don't know for sure if the two men arrived together. We do know that the assassin died in the explosion, and was probably meant to." Several other US intelligence officials concur that the bomber was likely "inserted" to "clean up" evidence of the shooting, including eliminating the gunman.

The reports that an al Qaeda suicide bomber had killed Mrs. Bhutto disappeared as quickly as they had surfaced, when footage showing a gunman and an audio capture which clearly indicated several shots fired prior to the explosion began to circulate online and in news accounts. Indeed, the changing official position as to the cause of death indicates that someone was very interested in making it appear that Mrs. Bhutto had died in a suicide bombing, with initial medical reports out of Rawalpindi on Thursday claiming she had died as the result of the explosion.

Others interviewed for this article share Johnson's skepticism and believe that the Bush administration will likely look the other way should any connection between Musharraf and the assassination be discovered, because, they say, at this point, the US has “no workable solution” and cannot discontinue support for Musharraf, given the options. “We are being held hostage to Musharraf's whim,” said one former intelligence official.

When asked why the West was even bothering with an investigation that would surely neither help alleviate pressure for any of the parties nor ease diplomatic tension when there is already no viable political solution, one US intelligence official responded that “This investigation is not being done for [the United States]. We are not the audience. The Pakistani people are.”

Who Was Really Responsible for Bhutto's Murder?

For the life of me, I do not even to presume to know at this point. However, the true answer will have huge ramifications as to where events in Pakistan and the Middle East may head. The Chimperator and Musharraf are quite naturally pointing to Islamic extremists, which is of course a distinct possibility, but also plays right in with the other motives of both of them. Bush needs to maintain the terror bogeyman to continue his unlawful actions and Musharraf wants to keep the US money spigot turned to a full on position. My worry is that if we get this answer wrong or go forward based on bad or false intelligence (gee, I cannot imagine what would make me worry about that), the outcome could be disastrous for the entire world.

As David Ignatius said in a column yesterday, his former classmate was indeed NOT someone the Islamic fundamentalists liked for obvious reasons (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/27/AR2007122701479.html):

Bhutto was fearless, from her college years in America to her cruel assassination yesterday. She had an unshakable belief that Pakistan should embrace the modern world with the same confidence and courage that she had. She believed in democracy, freedom and openness -- not as slogans but as a way of life. She wasn't perfect; the corruption charges that enveloped her second term as prime minister were all too real. But she remained the most potent Pakistani voice for liberalism, tolerance and change.

Yet Islamic fundamentalists were not her only opponents. In fact others are speculating that others might have had more to gain from her death than the Islamic Fundamentalists, including Musharraf (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/12/bin_laden_killed_bhutto_how_bl.html#more):

The shorthand being bandied about in the news that al-Qaeda is responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is so sloppy, so lacking in nuance or understanding of the dynamics of Pakistan, and so self-centered in its reference to America's enemy as to be almost laughable. Several U.S. defense and intelligence experts are quoted today dismissing even the possibility that President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani government forces, or other domestic elements could be involved, a conclusion that flies in the face of the country's history and ignores the obvious beneficiaries.

To say that "al-Qaeda" is responsible for Bhutto's assassination -- suggesting Osama bin Laden and an external force -- is to ignore all those political and religious factions inside the country that had the motives and resources to kill the former prime minister. Some of those factions in the government, the military or the intelligence services were likely privy to Bhutto's movements, and they could have actively schemed, if not played a direct role, in getting the suicide attacker to the right place at the right time.

Given Pakistan's history, it is unlikely that the true perpetrators will ever be brought to justice. For the United States though, the al-Qaeda bogey-man has the negative effect of affirming support for Musharraf and his martial law, while ignoring the various extremists who represent the true existential threat to the country. We should not let our al-Qaeda fixation blind us, just as the Soviet threat did in Iran in the 1970s, to the realities that Pakistan could implode of its own accord.

And as the Washington Post is reporting (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/28/AR2007122802622.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2007122801300), the US seems all too ready to run down the path that the Taliban and/or al-Qaeda bear responsibility before anyone knows for certain who was really responsible for Bhutto's murder. Equally scary is the fact that the intelligence officer quoted in the story is still maintaining the false myth that Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons. If the Chimperator and company cannot even get known facts correct, I have no confidence that they will not blindly run down the path that they want rather than make sure it is indeed the correct path. If that happens, we all need to be very afraid. The Iraq debacle has shown what happens when the Chimperator and Cheney act based on delusions/desires instead of real facts. Here are some Post story highlights:

"The Taliban . . . are indeed a growing element of the domestic political stew" in Pakistan, said John Blackton, who served as a U.S. official in Afghanistan in the 1970s and again 20 years later. He noted that Pakistani military intelligence created the Taliban in Afghanistan. How the United States responds will hinge largely on the actions of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, in whom U.S. officials have mixed confidence. If there is indeed a new challenge by Islamic militants emerging in Pakistan, then the United States will have to do whatever it can to support Musharraf, the U.S. Army officer in Afghanistan said.

"Pakistan must take drastic action against the Taliban in its midst or we will face the prospect of a nuclear weapon falling into the hands of al-Qaeda -- a threat far more dangerous and real than Hussein's arsenal ever was," he said, referring to the deposed Saddam Hussein.

This rush to blame al-Qaeda is particularly suspect when Bhutto's own organization is disputing the involvement of al-Qaeda and accusing the Musharraf regime of a cover up (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PAKISTAN?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT):

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- An Islamic militant group said Saturday it had no link to Benazir Bhutto's killing and the opposition leader's aides accused the government of a cover-up, disputing the official account of her death. The government stood firmly by its account of Thursday's assassination and insisted it needed no foreign help in any investigation. "This is not an ordinary criminal matter in which we require assistance of the international community. I think we are capable of handling it," said Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema.

Bhutto's aides said they doubted militant commander Baitullah Mehsud was behind the attack on the opposition leader and said the government's claim that she died when she hit her head on the sunroof of her vehicle was "dangerous nonsense."

Benazir Bhutto killed in attack

This cannot be a good development for stability in Pakistan or the Middle East in general. I cannot help but wonder if some of Musharraf's people were involved somehow. I do not put it past the Chimperator's buddy to use this type of heavy handed action to avoid the scheduled elections. Here are some highlights from the initial Reuters story (http://www.nationalpost.com/rss/story.html?id=200380):

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan -- Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in the city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, her party said. "She has been martyred," said party official Rehman Malik. Ms. Bhutto, 54, died in hospital in Rawalpindi. Ary-One Television said she had been shot in the head.

Police said a suicide bomber fired shots at Ms. Bhutto as she was leaving the rally venue in a park before blowing himself up. "The man first fired at Bhutto's vehicle. She ducked and then he blew himself up," said police officer Mohammad Shahid. Police said 16 people had been killed in the blast.

Pakistan Attempts to Crush Protests by Lawyers - Will Bush and Cheney Get Ideas from This?

Based on the New York Times story (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/world/asia/06pakistan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin) the Chimperator's buddy, Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is sure showing an interesting example of building democracy - one of Chimpy's supposed goals for the Middle East. Or perhaps Musharraf's version of democracy is what Bush/Cheney would in their hearts like to implement in this country in lieu of the system envisioned by the U. S. Constitution as drafted by the founding fathers. It is obvious that Bush thinks he himself is above the rule of law. Here are some highlights:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 5 — Angry protests by thousands of lawyers in Lahore and other cities Monday demonstrated the first organized resistance to the emergency rule imposed by the Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. But the abrupt arrest of many of them threatened to weaken their challenge.

The real test of whether the opposition to General Musharraf will prevail appears to be several days off: The leader of the biggest opposition political party, Benazir Bhutto, has pledged to lead a major protest rally Friday in Rawalpindi, the garrison city adjacent to Islamabad, the capital.

The strength of the crackdown by baton-wielding police officers who pummeled lawyers and then hauled them by the legs and arms into police wagons in Lahore showed the resolve of the Musharraf government to silence its fiercest opponents. At one point, lawyers and police clashed in a pitched battle, with lawyers standing on the roof of the High Court throwing stones at the police below, and the police hurling them back. Some of the lawyers were bleeding from the head, and some passed out in the clouds of tear gas. How long the lawyers could keep up their revolt without the support of opposition political parties, which so far have been lying low, remained in question.

General Musharraf said in his emergency edict that he was taking the action as chief of the Pakistani army, not as president, a fact that made his move akin to martial law, said Daniel Markey, senior fellow for India, Pakistan and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. But General Musharraf stopped short of taking some steps that are characteristic of martial law, like shutting down Parliament and disbanding the executive government, he said. The main points of General Musharraf’s emergency order were the suspension of the Constitution, the dissolution of the Supreme Court and the provincial High Courts and the silencing of privately owned television news channels.

In fact many of the steps General Musharraf has taken since his emergency decree Saturday amounted to a kind of pre-emptive strike against the lawyers. He fired the entire Supreme Court. Many of its 17 judges, including Mr. Chaudhry, have been sidelined and are under house arrest. Judges in the four provincial High Courts were also fired.

A Supreme Court justice, Rana Bhagwandas, who is also under house arrest, said in a telephone interview that the United States should press for the restoration of democracy in Pakistan. “The United States is a democratic government and democratic governments should work for democratic values across the globe,” Mr. Bhagwandas said. “Pakistan is no exception.”

To shore up the imposition of the emergency rule, the government appeared to be bypassing the regular police channels and instead sending orders for arrests through regional, politically appointed mayors, said Syed Fakhir Imam, a former speaker of the National Assembly.

Hmm, will Bush and Cheney rely on Blackwater and private "contractors" of the same ilk if and when they make a move to impose a Musharraf like democracy here? One has to wonder at times. Emperor Palpatine Cheney is crazy enough to want to try something that nuts and Chimpy would be putty in his hands.