Or ... An Out Of Control Pakistan By: Mark W Adams

What is the greatest threat to the United States of America: 2.6 kilograms of highly enriched uranium in Tehran or an out of control Pakistan? It's not close.

-- Joe Biden

Hold on folks, it's about to get bumpy.

And how does Musharraf justify locking up all the justices of it's Supreme Court, shutting down all the independent TV stations, and suspending the constitution by declaring a state of emergency?

A copy of the emergency order obtained by The Associated Press justified the declaration on the grounds that "some members of the judiciary are working at cross purposes with the executive" and "weakening the government's resolve" to fight terrorism.

Of Course! Fighting Terrorism justifies any goddamn thing. Right Condi?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday it was "highly regrettable" that Pakistan's president had declared a state of emergency. She urged restraint on all sides and a swift return to democracy.

The United States "does not support extraconstitutional measures," Rice said in an interview with CNN from Turkey, where she was participating in a conference with Iraq's neighbors.

As usual, Condi forgot to add, "... in other countries."

Benazir Bhutto (the last legitimately elected civilian ruler of the nation) is sitting on an airport runway, waiting to be arrested, the country's legislators have been isolated and barricaded behind armed patrols.

Musharraf's order allows courts to function but suspends some fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution, including freedom of speech. It also allows authorities to detain people without informing them of the charges.

Military vehicles patrolled and troops blocked roads in the administrative heart of the capital. Paramilitary troops behind rolled barbed wire blocked access to an official compound housing lawmakers — barring even wives, children and even a ruling party senator from entering.

In Karachi, about 100 police and paramilitary troops surrounded Bhutto's house and a bomb disposal squad searched the building, witnesses said.

Taking a page from Shakespeare, all of the lawyers in the country a expected to be arrested shortly. They've already arrested the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan.

Reading excerpts of the emergency order itself you get a picture that the legal system in Karachi is filled with bomb throwing anarchists with grenades in their briefcases, hell bent on the destruction of all civil order. Honestly, this could have been delivered by Dick Cheney in an attempt to tie "activist judges" to terrorists.

... there is visible ascendancy in the activities of extremists and incidents of terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings, IED explosions, rocket firing and bomb explosions and the banding together of some militant groups, have taken such activities to an unprecedented level of violent intensity posing a grave threat to the life and property of the citizens of Pakistan.

... some members of the judiciary are working at cross purposes with the executive and legislature in the fight against terrorism and extremism, thereby weakening the government and the nation's resolve and diluting the efficacy of its actions to control this menace.

And it goes on that way for a while. Truly stunning. Putting a scolding from the bench on the same level as blowing up an IED.

... the humiliating treatement meted to government officials by some members of the judiciary on a routine basis during court proceedings has demoralized the civil bureaucracy, and senior government functionaries, to avoid being harassed, prefer inaction.

Wow. They're really going to "hate us for our freedoms" after this.