<<\/p>\n\n
p> <<\/p>\n\n p>That’s right – Barack Obama, a presidential candidate who isn’t even the front-runner for his party’s nomination has so scared the Pakistani public that the little General might have to declare a state of emergency to calm things down! I didn’t wanna do it, Ms. Rice<\/a>, but Obama was gonna make me!<\/p>\n\n <<\/p>\n\n p> Mr. President, there are better scapegoats than Obama. Why not blame the September 11 commission<\/a> or the Washington Post<\/a>, both of whom have advocated the same policy ? Or better yet, how about Tom Tancredo who has gone far further than any of the above. If any US Presidential candidate is scaring the Pakistani public, it should be Tancredo:<\/p>\n\n If that doesn’t start “alarm bells ringing” I don’t know what will!<\/p>\n\n Related posts: 1<\/a>, 2<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The big news of this morning is that Musharraf has backed down from declaring a state of emergency after flirting publicly with the idea: Pakistani president Gen. Pervez Musharraf, under intense pressure from his own advisers and the U.S. government … Continue reading ![](\"http:\/\/www.sepiamutiny.com\/sepia\/images\/PH2007080801635[1]_1.jpg\")
<\/a>Of the reasons offered for why he might declare a state of emergency, my favorite was “It’s Obama’s fault<\/a>!”<\/p>\n\nTariq Azim, the Pakistani information minister, … said some sentiment coming from the United States, including from Democratic presidential hopeful Barak Obama, over the possibility of US military action against al-Qaida in Pakistan “has started alarm bells ringing and has upset the Pakistani public”. [Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n
![](\"http:\/\/www.sepiamutiny.com\/sepia\/images\/Mushie%20Uniform_1.jpg\")
<\/a>Of course, this excuse is completely bogus. Musharraf’s likely motives for considering a state of emergency were purely domestic: a state of emergency would postpone upcoming elections<\/a>, and sideline that pesky supreme court<\/a> before it decides that he cannot be both President and head of the army at the same time. He also could have used rising domestic insecurity, including a wave of suicide bombings<\/a>, as a pretext, but that would have made him look weak.<\/p>\n\nTom Tancredo continued to defend his comments that threatening to bomb Muslim holy sites would be the right way to “deter any kind of aggression” from terrorists and said that anyone who wouldn’t do the same “isn’t fit to be president”<\/font> on Sunday morning. [Link<\/a>]<\/blockquote>\n\n