Democracy for Vancouver

Dick Cheney is the original bad penny. If anything, anywhere in the world, is fucked up, it’s guaranteed to have his bloody paw prints all over it. From the WaPo via Digby:

The roots of the crisis go back to the blind bargain Washington made after 9/11 with the regime that had heretofore been the Taliban’s main patron: ignoring Musharraf’s despotism in return for his promises to crack down on al-Qaeda and cut the Taliban loose. Today, despite $10 billion in U.S. aid to Pakistan since 2001, that bargain is in tatters; the Taliban is resurgent in Afghanistan, and al-Qaeda’s senior leadership has set up another haven inside Pakistan’s chaotic border regions.

The problem is exacerbated by a dramatic drop-off in U.S. expertise on Pakistan. Retired American officials say that, for the first time in U.S. history, nobody with serious Pakistan experience is working in the South Asia bureau of the State Department, on State’s policy planning staff, on the National Security Council staff or even in Vice President Cheney’s office… “They know nothing of Pakistan,” a former senior U.S. diplomat said.

Current and past U.S. officials tell me that Pakistan policy is essentially being run from Cheney’s office.The vice president, they say, is close to Musharraf and refuses to brook any U.S. criticism of him…

[R]umblings of alarm can be heard at the Defense Department and the CIA… These officers, many of whom have served in Islamabad or Kabul, understand the double game that Musharraf has played — helping the United States go after al-Qaeda while letting his intelligence services help the Taliban claw their way back in Afghanistan… Ironically, both departments have historically supported military rulers in Pakistan. They seem to have learned their lesson. It’s a pity that those calling the shots have not.
…
A secretary of state with vision … could have recognized that Musharraf’s time is up. Instead, we have Rice and Boucher and Cheney, who — just as in Iraq — can only reinforce a failed policy. Washington is doing itself no favors by serving as Musharraf’s enabler. Indeed, the Bush administration’s policy of sticking by Musharraf is fast becoming eerily reminiscent of the Carter administration’s policy of sticking by the shah of Iran.

And we all remember how well that turned out. We may soon look back fondly at the Iran hostage crisis, thankful that at least Khomeini didn’t have nukes.

I would point out the irony of Bush’s WWIII/Iran nukes rhetoric in the face of nuclear Pakistan’s incipient disintegration, but that would make me too fucking miserable on my birthday.

Isn’t it great that the grown-ups are in charge?

[emphasis added.]