PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you very much, please be seated. Laura and I appreciate the opportunity to welcome President and Mrs. Musharraf here to Washington. We remember fondly, Mr. President, your great hospitality in Pakistan and we remember the importance of that visit -- it reconfirmed our friendship, gave you and me a chance to discuss important issues. And there's no more important issue than defending our peoples.
This President is a strong defender of freedom and the people of Pakistan, and I appreciate your leadership.
(...)
We talked about democracy. The last time I was with the President, he assured me, and assured the people that were listening to the news conference, that there would be free and fair elections in Pakistan in 2007. He renewed that commitment, because he understands that the best way to defeat radicalism and extremism is to give people a chance to participate in the political process of a nation
Bush certainly has an unique innate skill at sussing out the true essence of an individual, don't he?
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Police fired tear gas and clubbed lawyers protesting Monday against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule. The U.S. and other nations called for elections to be held on schedule and said they were reviewing aid to Pakistan.
In the largest protest in the eastern city of Lahore, lawyers dressed in black suits and ties chanted "Musharraf Go!" as they defied the government's ban on rallies. Some fought back with stones and tree branches.
The crackdown mainly targeted Musharraf's most potent critics — the judiciary and lawyers, independent television stations and opposition activists. Opposition groups said 3,500 had been arrested, though the government reported half that total.
(...)
Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup and is also head of Pakistan's army, suspended the constitution on Saturday ahead of a Supreme Court ruling on whether his recent re-election as president was legal. He ousted seven independent-minded Supreme Court judges, put a stranglehold on independent media and granted sweeping powers to authorities to crush dissent.
...Bush, upon hearing the the news, placed books in his lap so as to hide his excitement. Such power. Such unchecked, unregulated raw power... the mind reels.
Posted by kerry at November 6, 2007 03:15 AM