It could be argued that the kind of incompetence shown by the Bush administration during Katrina can't be beat. But if you look at the US in a global context, the diplomatic incompetence (fueled by neocon madness) which has led to the administration finding its back up against a wall in Pakistan beats all. Tens of millions (not mere tens of thousands) of lives are at risk. Pakistan, after all, is a nuclear nation and one which has loose nukes flying around daily, not just now and then. The navel of a black market for nuclear technology and equipment is in Pakistan. Messing up in Pakistan is handing extremists of all stripes access to the most destructive technology available.
The close relationship the US thought it had with Musharraf is not helping now that the administration wants to rein him in. The Pakistani people increasingly believe the US is not an honest broker in the political struggle that's taking place. The diplomatic failure is clear. "This has put the Bush administration in the position of choosing between political freedom and security. So far, the United States has landed on the side of security — both in Ms. Bhutto’s case and in the larger battle against extremist forces in Pakistan," Helene Cooper writes in the New York Times.
In continuing to support General Musharraf even as he has cracked down on political dissidents and the press, the Bush administration has acquiesced to his argument that he is a bulwark helping to guard his country, and the United States, from Islamist extremists in Pakistan’s frontier provinces.
Some of the most respected Pakistani political analysts are urging the administration to put up a stronger fight for free elections. Continuing discussions of a power-sharing agreement, they say, reinforce perceptions that the United States is manipulating Pakistan’s politics and that General Musharraf and Ms. Bhutto are its pawns.
They fear that American officials, convinced that General Musharraf is their only option in Pakistan, will eventually accept half-measures from the general. In that case, they said, the Pakistani leader would retain his post as army chief, the central source of his power, and win tightly controlled elections. The United States is underestimating popular discontent with military rule, they say, and the ability of open elections to stabilize the country.
But the Bush administration is nothing if not stubborn. After all, the dumber you are, the more you think you know. More to the point, what do the people of Pakistan know compared with the brilliance of Messrs. Bush and Cheney and their accomplished secretary of state?
