Bush Calls On Musharraf To End Crackdown

President Presses Pakistani Leader To Hold Elections; Lawyers Lead Street Protests

(CBS/AP)  President Bush on Monday exhorted Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to hold elections and relinquish his army post "as soon as possible." He said he instructed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to deliver that message in a telephone call with Musharraf.

Mr. Bush made his comments in the Oval Office of the White House after a meeting with Turkey's visiting Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was Mr. Bush's first public comment on the political crisis in Pakistan since Musharraf imposed a state of emergency over the weekend.

Mr. Bush would not discuss what action he might take - for example, how much U.S. aid to Pakistan would be cut - if Musharraf ignores his request.

"It's a hypothetical," he said. "I certainly hope he does take my advice."

But the president made a point of praising Pakistan's cooperation in the war on terror, and seemed resigned that, as a result, there is little concrete action he can take to influence Musharraf's behavior.

"All we can do is continue to work with the president ... to make abundantly clear the position of the United States," he said.

Meanwhile, lawyers led protests in Pakistan Monday, angered by Musharraf's decision to declare emergency rule, suspend the constitution and dismiss judges, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar.

At a now illegal demonstration in Lahore, police moved in, swinging batons and lobbing tear gas. Lawyers in suits and dress shoes were hauled off to prison, yelling their opposition to Musharraf.

Hundreds of lawyers have joined human rights activists and political opponents in detention. Thousands have been arrested, adds MacVicar. Hamid Khan, who is a senior lawyer, is a wanted man and protest organizer. He is in hiding.

"Last night I was not in my office and I do not sleep at any place known to anyone," said Khan. "So this is one way of evading the arrests."

Rice telephoned Musharraf from her plane as she was returning to Washington from the Middle East, a senior U.S. official told The Associated Press.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of Mr. Bush's announcement, said Rice had made clear that the United States was deeply disappointed in the weekend move and wanted Musharraf to rescind the decision as well as hold elections as scheduled in January.

Earlier Monday, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, was among a group of foreign diplomats to meet with Musharraf, who outlined his reasoning behind the step and reiterated his intention to step down as the country's military chief and return to civilian rule, the official said, adding that Washington wanted to see action on those pledges.

The Bush administration is currently reviewing U.S. assistance to Pakistan in light of the developments, including a crackdown on the opposition and independent media. Such aid has amounted to $9.6 billion dollars since 2001. That does not include another $800 million that the administration is requesting from Congress for Pakistan for the current budget year.

But Rice and other top administration national security aides have said that U.S. financial aid to Pakistan must be reviewed in light of the latest developments but that it's unlikely that money for the war on terrorism would be at risk.

At the White House Monday, press secretary Dana Perino told reporters: "The best option is for Pakistan to get back on its path to democracy.

Discussing the situation with reporters in Ramallah, West Bank earlier Monday, Rice exhorted Musharraf to sever his affiliation with the army and restore civilian rule.

"I want to be very clear. We believe that the best path for Pakistan is to quickly return to a constitutional path and then to hold elections," she said, adding that Musharraf must follow through on past promises to "take off his uniform."

And the Pentagon said that it was postponing a meeting scheduled for this week in Islamabad between senior U.S. and Pakistani defense officials.

Eric Edelman, defense undersecretary for policy issues, was planning to travel to Pakistan for the meeting, but "it was thought wise to postpone this meeting until such time that all the parties can focus on the very important issues at hand," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that both he and Rice suggested the administration doesn't want to disrupt its partnership with Pakistan in fighting al Qaeda and other militants - a relationship that dates back to the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We are reviewing all of our assistance programs, although we are mindful not to do anything that would undermine ongoing counterterrorism efforts," said Gates, who is on a visit to China.

State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said a review of "the broad spectrum of assistance that we give to Pakistan" was under way, but declined to comment on whether Musharraf's actions had triggered statutory aid suspensions. He also reiterated that the administration had to consider Pakistan's status as a strong anti-terrorism ally in the review.

"As we look at and review assistance here, we will look at what is both required under law and regulation as well as what would be appropriate to do in terms of U.S. policy," Casey told reporters.

Laws governing the distribution of U.S. foreign aid are clear as they apply to coups d'etat and other unconstitutional steps taken to remove a democratically elected government but are less precise about the imposition of states of emergency and martial law, officials said.

At the same time, Casey noted that U.S.-Pakistani ties would suffer unless Musharraf rescinds the state of emergency.

"It is difficult to see how our relations would remain the same if this step is not, in fact, reversed," he said. "It is our hope that this decision will be reversed in short order."

In the biggest anti-government gathering, about 2,000 lawyers congregated at the High Court in the eastern city of Lahore. As lawyers tried to exit onto a main road to stage a rally - in defiance of a police warnings not to violate a ban on demonstrations - hundreds of officers stormed inside.

Police swung batons and fired tear gas shells to disperse the lawyers, who responded by throwing stones and beating police with tree branches. The protesters shouted "Go Musharraf Go!"

About 250 lawyers were bundled into waiting vans, an Associated Press reporter saw. At least two were bleeding from the head. The government reported up to 1,800 arrests, although opposition groups put the figure at
twice that.

"The lawyers initiated trouble by throwing stones at police, and it forced us to take action against them," said Aftab Cheema, the city police chief.

"Sarfraz Cheema, a senior lawyer at the rally, condemned the police action. "This police brutality against peaceful lawyers shows how the government of a dictator wants to silence those who are against dictatorship," he said. "We don't accept the proclamation of emergency."

A spokesman for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan only recently to challenge Musharraf in elections after years in exile, said Monday that 67 members of her party had been arrested across the country.

[flipantflaw]

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[kjvprophet]

With the full support of Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain, President Bush recently signed into Law the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which, according to Senator Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually "encourage the President to declare Martial Law." It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of Laws that limits the President''s ability to deploy troops within the United States. The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic Law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions. Public Law 109-364, or the John Warner Defense Authorization Act (H.R.5122) (2), which was signed by the President in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the President to declare a "public emergency," suspend Congress and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of your Governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder." President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act. In a sense, the two Laws compliment one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad of those who dissent and are stripped of their citizenship, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America.

[tbweb]

What we need is a President who will show us the way.

Posted by KJVProphet at 04:48 PM : Nov 06, 2007,,,

What we really need is for you to "STOP" SPAMMING us to death under different screen names about Ron Paul and trust me you are not only turning people off about you but Ron Paul as well.

[kjvprophet]

What we need is a President who will show us the way. Not the old way. Not the same way, but a NEW WAY. Think about this for a minute. What if we pulled all of our troops out of South Korea? They''ve been there for 50+ years. What if we quit worrying about Iran, but instead, realized that its having a nuclear weapon will not mean the end of the world? What if we pulled all of our troops out of the Middle-East, and brought them all home? What if we realistically addressed the National Debt, and paid attention to REALLY DOING SOMETHING about stopping illegal immigration? These are the ideas of Republican Presidential candidate, Dr. Ron Paul. He''s a ten term Congressman and a physician who has delivered over 4,000 babies. He''s an intellectual who''s published four books, three of which are devoted entirely to sound economics and one to foreign policy. He was raised on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania as a pious Lutheran, but now he attends a Baptist church. Paul is given to mulling things over morally. Whenever he recollects the helicopter pilots he treated as an Air Force Flight Surgeon (Captain) during the Vietnam War, a war which he now says was "totally unnecessary and illegal," he laments, "They were gung-ho. I''ve often thought about how many of those people never came back." Candidates with the high level of personal integrity and proven track record of adherance to The Constitution, Congressman Paul has always demonstrated only come around once in a lifetime, if we''re lucky.

[kjvprophet]

My fellow Americans just don''t seem to care that our nation, along with The Constitution upon which it was founded, is being flushed-down the NWO toilet by our nations'' bought and paid for politicians and media. While the Oligarchs warn and insite fear in the sheeple about the prospect of terrorism, they at the same time leave our border wide open, and fund and conduct illegal wars overseas that do nothing but encite the terrorism which their Orwellian Laws like the Patriot Act and the John Warner Defense Authorization Act pretend to protect us from. Wake up America! It''s not about protecting you from terrorism, or saving the planet from Global Warming, or any of that other fear-mongering garbage the sold-out, mainstream media feeds you 24/7. It''s about feeding the bankers and the military industrial complex, and facilitating the global elite''s ability to ratchet-down control over the American people, placing us into a total control grid where they can surveille, track and control everywhere we go and everything we do. It''s the groundwork for totalitarianism. It''s the New World Order plan of Bush, Clinton, Edwards, McCain, Giuliani, et.al., being executed quite beautifully. You''re a frog in a pot. In order to cook a frog, you don''t throw him into a pot of boiling water. If you do, he''ll resist and jump-out. What you do instead is, you turn the heat-up REAL SLOW, and by the time the water is boiling he won''t be able to jump out anymore, because it''s too late--he''s already doomed.

[kjvprophet]

With the full support of Senators Clinton, Obama and McCain, President Bush recently signed into Law the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which, according to Senator Leahy (D-Vermont), will actually "encourage the President to declare Martial Law." It does so by revising the Insurrection Act, a set of Laws that limits the President''s ability to deploy troops within the United States. The Insurrection Act (10 U.S.C.331 -335) has historically, along with the Posse Comitatus Act (18 U.S.C.1385), helped to enforce strict prohibitions on military involvement in domestic Law enforcement. With one cloaked swipe of his pen, Bush is seeking to undo those prohibitions. Public Law 109-364, or the John Warner Defense Authorization Act (H.R.5122) (2), which was signed by the President in a private Oval Office ceremony, allows the President to declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of your Governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder." President Bush seized this unprecedented power on the very same day that he signed the equally odious Military Commissions Act. In a sense, the two Laws compliment one another. One allows for torture and detention abroad of those who dissent and are stripped of their citizenship, while the other seeks to enforce acquiescence at home, preparing to order the military onto the streets of America.

[kjvprophet]

RON PAUL SETS NEW GOP FUNDRAISING RECORD
Freedom is apparently popular, folks. I''m glad it is. In just the last 24 hours (Nov 5, 2007), he raised over $4,200,000 in grass roots donations from his supporters nationwide, beating Mitt Romney''s previous one-day (Republican) record of 3.1 million Dollars. Do the math, folks. Ron Paul certainly isn''t getting any money from the bankers or the military industrial complex like all the sold-out NWO candidates both on the left and the right who pretend to be his equal. He''s getting support from millions of REAL people who share in his Hope For America:

-- No more meddling in other country''s political affairs
-- No more aggressive military actions overseas
-- No more pseudo-wars like the "War on Drugs"
-- No more IRS and unconstitutional income taxes
-- No more Federal Reserve (the group of private banks which owns our government)
-- No more abortion
-- No more U.N. participation
-- No more federal Laws which are not authorized by The Constitution
-- No more federal erosion of State sovereignty
-- No more all-powerful federal government

They don''t call him "Dr. No" for no reason. The Doctor is in! Join us in this 21st Century political revolution at ronpaul2008.com

Remember, folks. Freedom isn''t free.

Thanks to everyone for your support!

[formrusmcsgt]

Bush wanted to kick some ME a$$ and now, as a result, Iran and Pakistan have this fool bent over a barrel and are having their way with him.

Cut off aid to Pakistan? What an empty threat that is consideringthe bulk of aid is military. With the aid Pakistan deal with the Taleban with one hand tied behnd its back. Take away the aid and the Taleban operates with impunity.

Attack Iran? Another completely empty threat. Our forces are so overburdened with Iraq and Afghanistan that tours have been extended and stateside time between tours cut. There are no resources available except air and naval power which, on their own, can only manage strikes.

Bush''s comments make one think that he believes there isn''t a soul on the planet with an IQ above 25......

[alphaa10-2009]

Simply moving Bush and the GOP back to Crawford should be enough.

Ron Paul boosters plead his positive points, but Paul is basically a Republican who never endorsed ALL the neocon globalist thinking and money driving Bush.

On the domestic level, however, the distinctions between Bush and Paul are harder to see.

For example, both Paul and Bush follow the Grover Norquist view that government is the problem, not the solution. Like most slogans, however, that doesn''t describe America or the problem.

For example, it is a private, not governmental health insurance system which left America behind Cuba in infant mortality and with 47 million of us uninsured as "subprime" risks.

And it was a private, not public sector mortgage fiasco that dropped the DOW 250 points and left 650,000 Americans foreclosed out of their own homes-- all due to fine print and the "wisdom" of the market.

And corruption? So many topics, so little space, but here-- a huge glut of no-bid, taxpayer dollars shoved at the private sector has left New Orleans reconstruction woefully behind schedule, with widespread waste and faulty construction leaving the city still exposed to the next Katrina.

[alphaa10-2009]

Ever considered the parallels between Musharraf and Saddam?

Both maintained secret police agencies that matched the Gestapo for cruelty. Both aspired to be "populists" in the sense of broad popular support, yet routinely pitted one social class or religious group against another.

While claiming to represent the wishes of their people, both scourged every effort at democratic reforms and hounded political opposition into exile.

Both defied the rule of law, establishing themselves as the ultimate authority. Both were bitter enemies of certain Islamic religious hierarchs, and clashes between the army/secret police and Islamic clergy were frequent and bloody.

One or both dictators were hailed by a president named Bush as staunch allies in the region.

Both dictators considering becoming a nuclear power, but Musharraf managed to do it-- all the while, under the non-proliferation scrutiny of both the US and Europe.

After 911, congress told Bush to find bin Laden in Afghanistan. Enlisting the aid of Pakistan, Bush pointedly did not demand Pakistan surrender its bombs. Nor did he seriously question Pakistan''''s nuclear transfers to other Islamic states of Iran, Libya, and Malasia. Or even those to North Korea.

Instead, he praised Musharraf, whose regime had winked at nuclear proliferation for some 30 years, and attacked... Iraq.