This is going to shake up the repub candidates further, McCain is smart to get out on it first. I heard his poll numbers are also getting better.

Those billions in military aide will buy weapons that will fall into the hands of extremists and be used to kill Americans.  Way to go Bush! You never learn from the mistakes you don't think you make.  Flood the area with weapons and explosives -- brilliant!!

Why is it that bush likes dictators in his war on terror?

[[Despite his warnings, McCain did not say -- and he wasn’t asked -- whether he agrees with the Bush Administration’s decision yesterday to maintain billions of dollars of military aid to the Pakistani military.]]

Journalists seldom ask candidates uncomfortable questions, unless they're Democrats, of course.

is there anyone outthere still listening to this "guy"? Guy here may mean anything....hhmmmm OK

ron paul 2008 :)

"Those billions in military aide will buy weapons that will fall into the hands of extremists and be used to kill Americans.  Way to go Bush! You never learn from the mistakes you don't think you make.  Flood the area with weapons and explosives -- brilliant!!
nuanced"

Pakistan has had nuclear weapons for decades. If they are unable to fight off the extrememist those Nuclear weapons would fall into Terrorist hands.
You'd prefer that we pulled all support to the very people who are fighting against just such an extrememist takeover?

Why all of dictators and kingdoms in the region are U.S. friends? Where was this man, I mean Mr. Mosharraf when Saudi Arabia started to finance Islamic schools in the Pakistan that their instructors teach students hate instead of mercy, teach them how to fight with Islam enemies. And still, he can do what he want. No resolution, no international pressure, no sanctions.

As a matter of fact, comparing with any of regimes in the region, the regime of Iran has a very modern democracy system. There is not any uncontrolled area in Iran, there is not any terrorist groups, or schools teaching people to hate westerns. Women have restrictions but it is not comparable with the women of Arab countries or even India. They can reach almost any position that men can reach. Compare this with Saudi Arabia that women have not even a social Identity card. Their name only can be appeared in their fathers' ID cards, not more. Until last year they have not even any right to drive! They are assets of their fathers until they married that the asset transfered!


Pakistan already has nuclear bomb, army and intelligent part of the government are so exteremists that there are suspect that they help Taliban. But as long as Mr. Mosharraf kisses Bush ass, there is no problem.
And also there is another factor, the Israel. Pakistan is nothing to do with Israel. then it is safe. And Mosharaf can do anything that he wants.

Even in the most modern-looking country such as Dubai, you can see that the backbone of the society hates west and U.S. Just last week we had a new that a boy rapped by three men, and the law is against him, and he can be go to jail because he is a homosexual!

American! please study and learn, before any act. Iranians are the most educated and civilized people in the region. Their government, is not perfect, but two years later, Ahmadinejhad and his friends are history. You can also expect more changes after March Parlement election. But why U.S. can not see these things? Why U.S is depressed by any progress in negotiations with Iran? I know the reason, lobby groups worry that U.S. finally recognize that all of the intelligence provided by these groups were wrong and mis leading.  

More fallout from the incompetence of George Bush and the neo-cons.  If they had sent enough troops to Afghanistan to capture Bin Laden at Tora Bora and to eliminate the Taliban we would not be facing the situation that now exists in Pakistan.

This guy came to power as a dictator under a military coup, why are people surprised now?
For the last hundred years or so, the US has been willing to accept, non-commie, totalitarian governments, who promise to keep their people in check. It is way past time to put an end to this practice.

Just another uh-oh!!in a long list of blatent hipocracies` of the imperialistic, self-serving Neo-Cons that have stolen my Republican Party. I am fearful history will indeed judge Geo. Bush and we will rue the day we allowed him and his chronies to subjugate our rights and freedoms thru fear of imminent doom.------- Weren`t our founding fathers considered "terrorists" by the British???

looks like the neo-cons have completely de-stabilized the middle east with their brilliant military actions, now we will all pay the consequences for a few idiots’ decisions, there will be no victory or glory in what is going to play out in the mid-east, only death and hardship, this will make vietnam look like a child’s fairytale

MK, MO said "looks like the neo-cons have completely de-stabilized the middle east"

--- I think for some of them that was the intended consequence

Bush and the neo-con nut jobs that pushed him to become an unsuccessful imperialist were able to scare the American public into submission by creating a "war on terrorism".  This "war" has no end because it is an unwinable war.  This is exactly what they want.  By maintaining a sense of unreasonble and unjustifiable fear the republicans hope to stay in power.  While in power they have transferred wealth into the hands of fewer and fewer people (that is what this is all about).  

Americans need to wake up to the lie.  The war on terror is not about ending terror but rather maintaining a level of terror so Americans will stay submissive due to fear.  For heavens' sake we could kill every terrorist alive today and there would be more tomorrow (How is it people do not get this?).  Unfortunatley, due to our reliance on oil and our politicians insistance on maintaining fear, Americans will have to live with some level of terrorism until such time as we can find another source of energy and change our political leadership.  We cannot "war" away terrorism.  We also should not overreact to acts of terror and take down unrelated political regimes around the world and mortgage our childrens' future to do it.  We should focus our efforts on going after those that attack us.

Musharef is a thug propped up by Bush.  Just like Hussien was a thug propped up by Bush's father.  We are using the Middle East and the people there are coming to that realization and are getting pissed off about it and reacting.  Our leaders stand up and talk about freedom and democracy around the world and then do nothing when thugs like Musharef take them away from there own people (great way to win the hearts and minds-heavy sarcasm).  

Globalization was started by industrialists in our own country and now folks around the world are waking up to Americas' greed and the ever shrinking American middle class is paying the bill and having to live with the consequences.  

Until the American people take back their government from the neo-cons and super rich we will continue to get screwed by our own politicians.

Birds of a feather, fly together. The reason bush can get along so well with dictators is because "he are one." Besides, we are the ones who will pay for the arms we will continue to send him.

i am glad musharaf took the step..he should have taken it 6 months back...
emergency or no emergncy its our internal matter...i am gld we dont have to look up at those who are terrorists them selves

pooja- except he's using the excuse to beat and jail moderates and opposition party leaders - not terrorists.

All a dress rehersal for our declaration of martial law when it becomes clear Hillary is going to be elected and able to look into any BushCo corruption she wants to. BushCo can't have that, or they'll all die in prison like Reagan and his administration should have.

THE PAKISTAN US ELECTION REHEARSAL
Public Law 109-364, or the “John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007? (H.R.5122) (2), which was signed by the commander in chief on October 17th, 2006, in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the President to declare a “public emergency” and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to “suppress public disorder.”   President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act of 2006.  In a sense, the two laws complement one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America. Remember, the term for putting an area under military law enforcement control is precise; the term is “martial law.”
For the current President, “enforcement of the laws to restore public order” means to commandeer guardsmen from any state (or mercenaries) over the objections of local governmental, military and local police entities; ship them off to another state; conscript them in a law enforcement mode; and set them loose against “disorderly” citizenry - protesters, possibly, or those who object to forced vaccinations and quarantines in the event of a bio-terror [invention]. The law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detention of protesters, so called “illegal aliens,” “potential terrorists” and other “undesirables” for detention in facilities already contracted for and under construction by Halliburton. That’s right. Under the cover of a trumped-up “immigration emergency” and the frenzied militarization of the southern border, detention camps are being constructed right under our noses, camps designed for anyone who resists the foreign and domestic agenda of the Bush administration.
An article on “recent contract awards” in a recent issue of the slick, insider “Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International” reported that “global engineering and technical services powerhouse KBR [Kellog, Brown & Root] announced in January 2006 that its Government and Infrastructure division was awarded an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in the event of an emergency.” “With a maximum total value of $385 million over a five year term,” the report notes, “the contract is to be executed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,” “for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) - in the event of an influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs.” The report points out that “KBR is the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton.” (3) So, in addition to authorizing another $532.8 billion for the Pentagon, including a $70-billion “supplemental provision” which covers the cost of the ongoing, mad military maneuvers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other places, the new law, signed by the president in a private White House ceremony, further collapses the historic divide between the police and the military: a tell-tale sign of a rapidly consolidating police state in America, all accomplished amidst ongoing U.S. imperial pretensions of global domination, sold to an “emergency managed” and seemingly willfully gullible public as a “global war on terrorism.”
Unfortunately, the president dealt posse comitatus, along with American democracy, a fatal blow. Despite the unprecedented and shocking nature of this act, there has been no outcry in the American media, and little reaction from our elected officials. On September 19th, a lone Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) noted that 2007’s Defense Authorization Act contained a “widely opposed provision to allow the President more control over the National Guard [adopting] changes to the Insurrection Act, which will make it easier for this or any future President to use the military to restore domestic order WITHOUT the consent of the nation’s governors.”
A few weeks later, on the 29th of September, Leahy entered into the Congressional Record that he had “grave reservations about certain provisions of the fiscal Year 2007 Defense Authorization Bill Conference Report,” the language of which, he said, “subverts solid, longstanding posse comitatus statutes that limit the military’s involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the President to declare martial law.” This had been “slipped in,” Leahy said, “as a rider with little study,” while “other congressional committees with jurisdiction over these matters had no chance to comment, let alone hold hearings on, these proposals.”
In a telling bit of understatement, the Senator from Vermont noted that “the implications of changing the (Posse Comitatus) Act are enormous”. “There is good reason,” he said, “for the constructive friction in existing law when it comes to martial law declarations. Using the military for law enforcement goes against one of the founding tenets of our democracy. We fail our Constitution, neglecting the rights of the States, when we make it easier for the President to declare martial law and trample on local and state sovereignty.”
In other words, the law facilitates the “transfer” of the newest in so-called “crowd control” technology and other weaponry designed to suppress dissent from the Pentagon to local militarized police units. The new law builds on and further codifies earlier “technology transfer” agreements, specifically the 1995 DOD-Justice Department memorandum of agreement achieved back during the Clinton-Reno regime. - Frank Morales           http://www.rinf.com/columnists/news/bush-moves-toward-martial-law

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