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Our Democratic Friends in the Middle East
by James Glaser July 20, 2007 Ever since George Bush came to power in the United States, he has been touting General Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan as a friend of our country. When you think about democracy, one of the first things that comes to mind is an election. Pervez Musharraf, came to power in 1999. He wasn't elected. He led a military coup that threw the elected executive branch of the government out of the country. Musharraf, then disbanded the parliament and threw out Pakistan's constitution. General Musharraf is George Bush's friend, and has been repeatedly praised by Bush as someone who fights for democracy. In Afghanistan we have Hamid Karzai in the presidency. It has been reported that our CIA gave out bags of money to the War Lords who originally put Karzai in office. During the next election Karzai was the only candidate with a security detachment, and the use of a helicopter to campaign with. All provided by the U.S. taxpayer. Right now, the Prime Minister of Iraq is Nouri al-Maliki. He is another hand-picked leader. Hand-picked in Washington to do our bidding. Al-Maliki has done an extremely poor job, which just goes to prove that even rigged elections can't guarantee a puppet that responds to the strings that are pulled. George Bush and Washington say they want democracy, free elections, and the rule of law in the Middle East. The only trouble is that they don't trust the local voters to elect people we can control. So we pour in money in hopes of putting "friends" in power, but that doesn't always work out. Remember, for years, Saddam Hussein was our "friend," and that didn't work out either. Out of one side of our mouth we are talking democracy, and out the other, pro-American officials any way we can get them. |
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