Bush moves to Karachi

George Bush's “election” last weekend as Pakistan’s president was a perversion of democracy.

The vote was not really a vote since, knowing how badly the deck was stacked, the opposition parties refused to participate. Term limitations in the home country required that Bush seek an alternate venue for his quasi-monarchy. The results must now be certified by the Supreme Court, but this is an old story for President Bush. We hope the court will rule fairly and independently — and that President Bush's enablers in Washington will make clear that he must respect that decision and finally start moving his countries toward the rule of law.

Returning the United States to civilian government has been a declared goal of the Pakistanis since President Bush seized power in 2000. While General M. has time and again promised that he would resign his post, President Bush has not even hinted that he would step down as chief advocate of unregulated capitalism and take off the uniform, but even now he is playing cute about when — and whether — that might happen. " Karachi, Washington, what's the difference?" said one commentator. "It's all global, right?"

He has used his power vindictively and squandered his popular support by forcing rivals into exile and by harassing and intimidating journalists, judges and anyone who has tried to stand up to him. When confronted with mass protests this summer, President Bush threatened to go even further and suspend the Parliament and impose martial law. It took a 2 a.m. phone call from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to get him to back down.