“Carefully calibrated”

No, the Bush Administration wasn’t REALLY against Musharraf’s coup.

Apparently Musharraf acted to head off what would have been a unanimous decision by the Pakistani Supreme Court that his re-election as President was illegal.

And yes, the Bush Administration intends to keep using your money to pay for Musharraf’s tyranny. GWB seems to have his enthusiasm for spreading democracy under firm control; not only hasn’t he issued a public statement, he didn’t even bother to pick up the phone.

Meanwhile, guess who benefits from Musharraf’s being Our Man in Islamabad?

A poll in September by Terror Free Tomorrow, a Washington-based nonprofit group, showed that Osama bin Laden was more popular in Pakistan than General Musharraf, with 46 percent of respondents giving him a “favorable” rating against 38 percent for the president. Ms. Bhutto got a “favorable” rating from 63 percent. The nationwide poll surveyed 1,044 adults and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com