Chimpy the foreign policy visionary imparts a msall tidbiot of his wisdom to the eager ears of theHerritage Foundation last Thursday.
And now we’re at the start of a new century, and the same debate is once again unfolding — this time regarding my policy in the Middle East. Once again, voices in Washington are arguing that the watchword of the policy should be “stability.” And once again they’re wrong.
Today we learn that “stability” is OK if you are Pakistan.
In Islamabad, aides to Musharraf said they had anticipated that there would be few real consequences to a state-of-emergency declaration.
They said Musharraf had not received phone calls of protest from Bush or other senior U.S. officials.
In unusually candid terms, they said U.S. officials support stability over democracy.
“They would rather have a stable Pakistan — albeit with some restrictive norms — than have more democracy prone to fall in the hands of extremists,” said Tariq Azim Khan, the minister of state for information. “Given the choice, I know what our friends would choose.”
Bush, 5/7/05: “We will not repeat the mistakes of other generations, appeasing or excusing tyranny, and sacrificing freedom in the vain pursuit of stability. We have learned our lesson; no one’s liberty is expendable*. In the long run, our security and true stability depend on the freedom of others. And so, with confidence and resolve, we will stand for freedom across the broader Middle East.”
* – Except for these suckers.
* – NYT, 11/05/07: “The government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president, making no concessions a day after seizing emergency powers, rounded up leading opposition figures and said Sunday that parliamentary elections could be delayed for as long as a year.
Security forces were reported to have detained about 500 opposition party figures, lawyers and human rights advocates on Sunday, and about a dozen privately owned television news stations remained off the air. International broadcasters, including the BBC and CNN, were also cut off.”
Freedom is on the fritz!
Given the Pakistani election results, 99% voting for Musharraf, and our leader’s approval rating approaching that of Osama Bin Laden, I can’t understand why the Pakistani people are upset and Americans aren’t.
Oh well, what’s the lateset on Dog the Bounty Hunter or Paris Hilton?
I’m so tired of hearing about 160 million people losing any kind of self-determination. What’s the LATEST on Oprah’s school controversy? Got to go…listening to Dana Perino say nothing LIVE.