"Kill All the Lawyers"
by Robert Russo
Saturday's collapse of democracy in Pakistan and the mounting volcano of violence engulfing that country, lawyers and reporters rounded up like sheep, beaten and dragged to jail, is a grim reminder to us all of how comfortable we are in this nation and that we are united despite our petty differences. The supreme court decision that chose our current president seems less objectionable compared to imprisoning all judges within their homes. Our political contests on this Election Day are quite friendly considering the incumbents are not arresting all of their opponents. It's hard for freedom-loving people who believe our way of life is vanishing to be told these are actually the good times because the rest of the world has it ungodly worse.
It's impossible for me or anyone who hasn't been to Pakistan to give informed opinions on the situation there, only when you've spent your life under one self-imposed government after another can you understand the significance of a leader's return from exile. But we can break our illusions by recognizing there are other perspectives in the world. Many of us first heard of President Musharraf through the invasion of Afghanistan and hunt for bin Laden, in which he was purported to be a contemporary leader and ally with some internal issues to deal with, not a dictator and symbol of Western-style encroachment in a very unstable region. Ousted prime minister Benazir Bhutto, one of the first female heads of state in the Muslim world, told CNN "The ruling party is an artificial political party created in the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence during the General Elections of 2002. Its core support comes from the political partners of the military dictator of the '80s… who empowered the most radical elements within the Afghan Mujahedeen who went on to morph into al-Qaeda, Taliban and the Pakistani militants of today. This party has called for a banning of outdoor rallies, demonstrations and caravans. They would thus suspend all activity that demonstrates to the people of Pakistan and to the people of the world which parties enjoy mass support amongst the people."*
One can only wonder if Bush would do the same thing in Musharraf's shoes, which raises serious questions about the war on terrorism and whose side we are on. We may have allied ourselves with dictatorship, and if the current Pakistani government doesn't listen bin Laden and his followers will disappear into a sea of local conflict. The deposed chief justice's call for rebellion sounds a lot like Al Qaeda's "come to jihad" video released in September. If they succeed our current policy would have us hopscotch from Iraq to Iran to Pakistan in search of the "axis of evil" until we reach a country that has nuclear weapons. In civil war there is no line in the sand that divides terrorist from patriot. Our current administration does not understand this because it requires changing one's perspective.
Bhutto in talking to CNN appears to be a progressive leader, with good reason to ally with Americans as we are a huge promoter of womens' rights and the very political tolerance that allowed her to return to her country unharmed, unlike those whose issues are lost in extreme views like Ahmadinejad. (Although Pakistan was allied with the Taliban during her term, we certainly can't point the finger of hindsight considering we were once allied with Saddam.) In her words "The extremists need a dictatorship, and dictatorship needs extremists.".**
We often complain about lawyers so news of them being persecuted in the enforcing of martial law is a bitter change in perspective. I was a proud supporter of the war in Iraq but situations change and so must our point of view. That is the separation. We libertarians are considered extremists but we are capable of changing our perspective. If the president is not then perhaps he is an extremist. I read this news story at http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/06/pakistan.crisis/index.html.
*http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/04/bhutto/index.html
**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benazir_Bhutto
If you have opinions to add to this thread send them to russo@richmondliberty.org. We welcome your input!