Captain's Quarters -

You know, the Cindy Sheehan types don't come and hang out, here. For them the sounds of gunfire means "quick! Surrender!! Look for a journalist whom you can surrender to, while you're at it.

Most of us? Believe it or not, Americans are made up of tough fiber. I'd say the same is true in Pakistan; not everyone is the same. And, their middle class is different from their ignoramouses. Which is about the way things fit "under the Bell Curve."

When Musharraf gets these reports, I'm gonna guess he doesn't go hiding under his bed.

I'm also gonna guess that he loves Pakistan with the same furvor that you'd get here, speaking to an American patriot. And, asking about courage.

It's the elite limosine liberal establishment that on the one hand can't keep their subscribers happy; and who have enough money in their trust funds, that they're dancing to the tune of "let them eat cake."

I've never seen such a collapse of a world, that I've seen happening to hollywood, and DC. And, you can toss in the daily fish wraps, as well.

So, tell me this. Since they're losing. And, you know of no wars in the streets. No police using water canons to control "the crowds," exactly what do you make of the information that comes your way from the "surrender now" crowd? Well, they're not a "crowd," exactly. But they keep banging their drums.

In a world that won't change.

In a world that's seen highway robberies, where the elected officials steal from ya. Like the cops do to American tourists, in Mexico. Okay. They also steal from Mexicans. But rot is rot.

While our system hangs together.

AND, we're militarily POWERFUL.

So, far "that" powder is dry.

Push comes to shove though, if a Bonkey gets elected to the presidency, next; boy are we in trouble. From the party of the brain deaad, the GOP would have to skip sanity, not to be playing ball. And, at least "searching for the mainstream."

No. The elite limosine liberal garbage is not the mainstream. Nor can they find it with a map. A flashlight. And, a compass.

In other words? Somebody, somewhere, should have the plans, and the executives at the top; who can carry them out.

Don't count on Romney, folks. Drudge is running the headline that he's calling Irak "a mess." I wouldn't trust him now, for beans.

It is not clear to me that terrorist attacks necessarily hurt Musharraf's standing as you imply Ed. Those who are pushing for democracy and Sharif may have pause if they feel the takfirists are getting out of hand and settle for the semi-democracy and stability of a Bhutto/Musharraf coalition. They could offer the President a vehicle to show decisive action against a group that 80% of the people are leary of.

Teh oppressed locals are only using bombs as a means of political expression!!!!111!! THey wouldn't be doing it if Amerikkka wasn't in Pakistan! When will BusHitler pull our boys out of a War we shouldn't have started in the first place!!!!

Oh wait. That's right... we AREN'T in Pakistan, are we? (Oh, maybe a few specialized teams here and there, but we wouldn't even admit to that publicly.) Could it be that Terrorists are targeting something other than US troops? (gasp!)

So far the Left's rants have worked their evil magic because the majority of Americans are ignorant about the targets of Al-Queda and the other radical Islamic groups... a few more attacks like this in Islamic nations where we have no military presence and the public will start to notice, and the left will have to move the goalposts again.

That's it EXACTLY, man! It's a false flag scenario, right out of the book! The CIA plants the bombs as a means of illegitimizing the true...

*Sigh*

We want Heroes not Villains please...

Choice between Villains...
Is it our destiny that we can only choose from a list of proven villains, each twice failed. Do we not deserve heroes? Or is it too much to expect? Perhaps. Where are the heroes? Who I consider as heroes is not the hero for others. There is only one undisputed hero and that is Mr. Jinnah. Every single leader after that is tainted one way or the other.

For me Ayub was a hero, probably he was the first Pakistani leader I heard about when growing up. I sort of liked him. But you talk to people they disagree. He is accused of derailing democracy and destroying the then existing institutions.

I even attended the funeral prayers of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. But no one agrees that he is a hero. He is accused of autocracy, arrogance, vendetta, lack of vision and above all integrity. For me his biggest blunder was nationalisation of industries that crippled the economy and stunted growth. He made many industries no more viable and Pakistan lost the world export market by overnight becoming uncompetitive. He is also blamed for dismembering the country into two.

Every thing that Zia did, I wonder if he did anything besides Umras, is over shadowed by his military credentials. It is a long story what he did and didn't.

However I can't recall any thing big he did on the domestic front in Pakistan. He may have had some successes on the international arena. His Kashmir policy was a failure so was Khalistan policy after initial successes. His crowning glory is the success achieved in ousting a super power in Afghanistan. But that did not help Pakistan but we fought a proxy war for another super power that has never been nor can ever be our reliable partner.

But the price we paid for America and Afghanistan is so great that for the next 50 years we are stuck with it. The Kalashnikov Culture. So Zia is most certainly ruled out also as a hero. I would have liked to call him a hero for his humility and his histrionic talents.

But one thing is clear in my mind and that is the regimes of Benazir, (now called moothorama by media) and Nawaz Sharif. My, what periods. Truely tumultuous for its incompetence and rampant corruption. They competed against each other in loot and plunder. If one was the patron of a 10%, later cent per cent, the other was a looter par excellence. Remember his "dollar bhijao and mulk bachao".

God alone knows where all that money went. The country went bankrupt in Nawaz's time and was about to be declared a default state. In moothorama's time her husband is on record as having said "things are good today, only 50 died." This is the state of our elected so called democratic leaders. Heroes? Where are they? Villains. Villains. Villains.

Don't we have a third choice? So far none, because whatever development Pervez Musharraf might have done is disregarded because he hails from the military. He is a very strong contender though from what he has achieved on the domestic front. An assembly completing it's full term is an achievement in itself. There has been development all over Pakistan even in remote towns and villages.

My driver who hails from a remote town in Punjab says they could never have imagined, roads and drainage there and he attributes that to the present people at helm and prays for Pervez Musharraf. People have benefited. The prosperity is visible. Mega projects have been completed in record time and the work goes on. If his policies reach there logical conclusion the country will benefit enormously. History will then judge if he was a hero.

There surely are the down sides like inflation that went uncontrolled. He did not introduce any measures to remove feudalism. He failed miserably to understand the Indian psyche in solving the Kashmir problem and did not even take advantage of 9/11 in solving the same issue. He did the dirty job that America should have done for itself. Why should we have been involved in problems which Arabs create for themselves by being inactive for past 100 years. Why should we pay for their follies when they do not even consider you as Muslims.

But what ever he may do he will never be accepted as a hero publicly although in heart of hearts of poor people he could possibly be a hero. So let us leave at that.

I have not the faintest idea how we could have a hero as a leader. I am clueless for the time being.