Forget Iraq

If you think we've got trouble with chaos in Iraq, imagine if Musharraf falls.

Chaos gripped the streets of Karachi yesterday as gun battles left at least 31 people dead and hundreds more injured, threatening a complete breakdown of law and order in Pakistan's largest and most volatile city. With plumes of black smoke billowing over the city of 12 million people, there were extraordinary scenes as gunmen on motorbikes pumped bullets into crowds demonstrating against Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, while police stood by and watched. Gun battles left at least 31 people dead and hundreds more injured In images more reminiscent of Baghdad, bloodstained corpses lay where they had fallen in the streets and bodies piled up in hospital morgues. As the sense of crisis deepened, a crisis meeting between Gen Musharraf and the prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, resolved to send in paramilitary troops to restore order, and to place the army on standby. The men agreed that a state of emergency would be imposed if the first two options failed. … .. Pakistan on brink of disaster as Karachi burns

Got the picture?

Bin Laden and Al Qaeda have been ensconced in the badlands between Afghanstan and Pakistan since Bush and Tommy Franks allowed him to flee Tora Bora with his miserable life intact. From this region, with obvious approval from Musharaff in order to keep himself alive, Al Qaeda has been exerting efforts into Afghanistan and throughout Pakistan to destabalize both countries, with growing success. Nothing in Iraq compares to what would happen if Musharaff was toppled. An Islamic fundamentalist state with nuclear weapons would be the result. Has it ever occurred to any of the geniuses in Congress, including those running for president, that Iraq has allowed Al Qaeda to work diligently in Pakistan – Afghanistan border regions while the “Great Satan” is busy blowing it in Iraq? Clueless doesn't even begin to describe it. Or perhaps it's even worse than that; Washington doesn't have a single option when it comes to Pakistan and what's happening in the border regions around Musharaff's turf, as Al Qaeda and the Taliban grow in strength and outreach. Think about that one for a minute.