Pakistan

Hi - I'm not sure how much you've all been following the events in Pakistan over the past week, or how much you have noticed the United States' demonstrable lack of anger over the recent suspension of civil liberties & press that has occurred in Pakistan. I've attached a press briefing from the White House that's worth watching (courtesy TPM). I can't help but think that this occurred with the tacit (if not express) approval of the White House.

Now, there's something to be said about our preferring Musharraf being the one to hold power over nuclear weapons rather than pseudo-religious extremists who would quite possibly have no qualms about selling or using said weapons on their neighbors or us - and that Musharraf is less of a security risk to the U.S. than others who would assume power.

However, and I'm not the first to note this - our apparent lack of enthusiasm in condemning the situation is sure to be noticed by those calling for revolt - including judges, lawyers, professionals and other citizens. That in itself carries its own security risks, likely increasing the scope of people holding anger against the U.S. support of Musharraf who would otherwise welcome calls for democracy and support. These people may assume power if and when Musharraf gets booted.

It may be too late to do anything about it - we made our bed with Pervez as an "ally in the War on Terror" years back - and since then al Qaeda and the Taliban have increased their strength within Pakistan's borders. We wake up to find our bed crawling with scorpions, and the floor is covered with snakes.

My point to all this is to highlight the extraordinary short sighted foreign policies the White House has engaged in since 9/11 - between this, the disaster in Iraq, and Afghanistan slipping away, I urge everyone to be wary of calls for military action against Iran. The White House has been so wrong on so many fronts that I would not underestimate the risk of another catastrophic mistake being made.

Peace be with you and our fellow human beings.