Bush's autocrat ally

For someone whose self-proclaimed mythology portrays himself as dedicated to his ideals to the point of obstinacy, President Bush has shown a remarkable ability to betray those ideals for political expediency.

This has been most clearly obvious in the support that an administration purportedly dedicated to spreading democracy shows for some of the worst tyrants in the world.

Take Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf...please.

(Sorry)

Musharraf has ruled Pakistan since 1999, when a military-led coup toppled the democratically elected civilian prime minister. The country is due for elections later this year, but Musharraf has said he wants the outgoing parliament to give him another five-year term before the public votes. He has also indicated he is reluctant to shed his role as head of the army, as the constitution requires.

Musharraf is allegedly a crucial ally in the GWoT, though, when he's not cutting deals to cede Pakistani territory to terrorists, seems mostly useful in capturing one of the seemingly limitless numbers of No. 3 ranking al Qaeda honchos when Bush needs a political boost here in the US.

So one must wonder what BushCorp™'s stance will be in the face of increasing pro-democracy challenges to Musharraf's dictatorship? So far the silence is deafening.