Democracy is a long forgotten ideal

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Everyone knows that the Bush administration doesn’t really care about democracy. They have taken away people’s rights in the United States (wiretapping, imprisonment, and the lack of habeas corpus to name a few). They abandoned any hope for democracy in Egypt a few years ago. The US supports the Saudi authoritarian monarchy and sells it plenty of weapons. But now the US has reached a new low. Within days of Pakistani President Musharraf’s crackdown on the courts and human rights advocates (what is essentially a second coup), the US has agreed to continue funding Pakistan to the tune of billions. There is no need to read between the lines in this article:

In Islamabad, aides to General Musharraf — who had dismissed pleas
on Friday from Ms. Rice and Adm. William J. Fallon, the senior military
commander in the Middle East, to avoid the state-of-emergency
declaration — said they had anticipated that there would be few real
consequences. They called the American reaction “muted,” saying
General Musharraf had not received phone calls of protest from Mr. Bush
or other senior American officials. In unusually candid terms, they
said American officials supported 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.”

And:

Mr. Gates said the United States had begun “reviewing all of our
assistance programs” to Pakistan. But, he noted, “We are mindful not to
do anything that would undermine ongoing counter-terrorism efforts.”

The Bush administration might as well just put a sign out in front of the White House that “Free Money as long as you say you fight terrorism. No other requirements necessary.”

Technorati Tags: pakistan, bush, terrorism, democracy

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