Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is looking more and more like a dictator these days as he imposes emergency rule, suspends the Constitution, cuts off independent media outlets, and arrests thousands of protesters. He’s also pretty soundly unpopular with his citizens, with an approval rating of 38% as of September. That rating is lower than Osama Bin Laden’s among Pakistanis and not that much higher than President Bush’s approval rating in the U.S.
Yet, there has been no serious talk about cutting off aid to Pakistan (most of which goes to the military which is run by Musharraf), and Secretary Rice has been wary of speaking out because she might jeopardize the all important global war on terror. Faced with an unpopular dictator using our rhetoric and fear to consolidate his power, the U.S. is poised to do what it has done time and time again, to strongly support an unpopular authoritarian regime with disastrous results.
It is worth noting, then, that we as a country have gone down this road before. It’s never ended well. In fact, whenever we’ve backed a dictator instead of the people, not only has that dictator been removed from power, but we’ve actually worked against the interests that led us to back the dictator in the first place. Let’s take a look at some examples, shall we:
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