Pakistan Is At A Crossroad ...

After yesterday's deadly bombing of the convoy carrying former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani government and citizens have a difficult choice to make. They have three options, they can try to maintain the status-quo, give in to Al-Qaeda, or eliminate the extremists in their midst. For too long, President Musharraf has tried to placate the tribes in the north. An uneasy truce with the extremists was shattered earlier this year after the take-over of the "Red Mosque" in the capital, Islamabad. Al-Qaeda in the north declared jihad on Musharraf and attempts have been made on his life.

Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Bhutto has returned from a self-imposed 8 year exile in Dubai. It was widely expected that Bhutto would be elected Prime Minister for the third time and a power-sharing arrangement was rumored to be in the works. The attack on her convoy that killed over 100 people and injured hundreds more should be a unifying event in the history of this Secular Muslim nation.

What Pakistan needs is a George Bush "photo-op" moment. I think everyone remembers President Bush, standing in the ruins of the World Trade Center after 9/11, bull-horn in his hand, his arm around a firefighter/rescue worker saying, "I hear you ... and the people who brought these buildings down will hear all of us soon." Now that was a motivational moment. It made the entire country feel together, and feel safer in that togetherness. It might have started as just another photo-op (as some Democrats claim), but it became so much more ... and it was needed. What Musharraf and Bhutto need is to show solidarity with each other, and with their citizens. They need to unite the country and exterminate the vermin in the populace.

So far, they are having mixed results. Initial reactions on both sides were to condemn the terrorists, but later on came the finger-pointing. The Bhutto camp criticized President Musharraf for not providing enough security (and obviously they didn't), and the Musharraf camp has criticized Bhutto for failing to heed their warning that it was too dangerous to drive to Karachi, saying that Bhutto should have accepted the helicopter transportation that Musharraf had offered (and judging by the results, she probably should have). But the blame game has to end, otherwise they will have a divided country and the terrorists will have succeeded.

Yes, Pakistan is at a cross-road ... what they decide will influence the entire region as well as the Global War On Terror.

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Bad Days For Terrorists ... Yipee!

Terrorists have been having a string of set-backs lately ...

• Pakistani commando forces have stormed and cleared out the Red Mosque in Islamabad, killing pro-Taliban cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi and 50 of his fighters.
• The Jordanian army is preparing for the final assault on members of Fatah-al-Islam, holed up in a refugee camp in Northern Lebanon ... there will be no terrorist survivors of this assault either.
• The Filipino Air Force has been pounding positions held by the MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) and has killed at least 67 of them this week. This is in addition to taking out 7 Abu Sayyaf terrorists (including 2 top commanders) on Saturday.
• Operation Phantom Thunder continues to clear insurgents out of Baghdad and Operation Arrowhead Ripper (who comes up with these names?) is having even more success in Baqubah, with coalition forces distributing aid to the residents as the terrorists are driven out of the town or killed.
• Money is pouring into the Fatah controlled West Bank, while the Hamas controlled Gaza Strip is having to make do with considerably less.
• In London, the (4) 2005 failed transit bombers were sentenced to life in prison and their 2007 counterparts succeeded in injuring only themselves.

All in all it's been a good week, and a trend that I hope continues.

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Packistani Standoff

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is learning that you can't play neutral when it comes to Muslim extremists. In a showdown between the government and the militant followers of Islamic cleric Abdul Rashid Ghazi, Musharraf has threatened to kill them all unless they surrender. The extremists, mostly students, have been holed up in a mosque in the capital city of Islamabad. They have said that martyrdom is favorable to surrender. The extremists want a change in Pakistan to Islamic rule similar to that of the Taliban. They have women and children in the mosque with them.

For too long, Musharraf has been straddling the fence on the war on terror, striking deals with the tribesmen in the north and pretty much making the north a safe haven for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. He is now discovering (like the Saudis) that deals with terrorists only last as long as the terrorists want them to. Musharraf needs to buckle down and get serious with these terrorists, just like the governments of Indonesia and the Philippines have. Both of these governments have made great strides in ridding their populations of these vermin and are truly players in the Global War On Terror.

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