OK, class, someone tell us: what's been the attitude of the New York Times and the elite media at large toward democracy-building in Iraq?
What's that, Johnny? That it was naive for George Bush to imagine that democracy was attainable in a Muslim country riven by religious and ethnic factions? Correct.
OK, then, who'd like to predict the Times's reaction to Pres. Bush's measured response to the curtailing of democracy in Pakistan by Pervez Musharraf, perhaps our most important ally in the region in the war against terrorism?
What's that, Janie? Pakistan being another Muslim country riven by religious and ethnic factions, George Bush has adopted the appropriately pragmatic course?
Wrong! Call it a trick question, but I did say "the Times's reaction." No, the correct answer is of course that Times is blasting President Bush for the insufficiency of his efforts to promote democracy in Pakistan.
First came yesterday's editorial, "The Pakistan Mess," which contained these nuggets:
By imposing martial law, Gen. Pervez Musharraf has pushed nuclear-armed Pakistan further along a perilous course and underscored the failure of President Bush’s policy toward a key ally in the war on terrorism.. The events should not have come as a surprise to administration officials. This is what you get when policy is centered slavishly on a single, autocratic ruler rather than more broadly on his country.
Mr. Bush, who says he cannot win the anti-terrorism war without General Musharraf but clearly can’t win it with him either, acquiesced in his misdeeds. The Faustian nature of the bargain is more apparent than ever.
Ultimately, democracy, not dictatorship, is the best hope for a stable Pakistan.
Then this morning, Maureen Dowd sounds a similar note in "Mushy: "Handsome in Uniform." Dowd imagines herself as Bush, giving a revised version of his second inaugural address. Dowd-Bush delivers the following, the sarcasm-meter pinned to max:
Once I thought my daddy was a wimp for cuddlin’ up real close with dictators, tradin’ stability for freedom. But now I gotta admit, that’s a darn fair trade.
Three years ago, I believed that the most important question history would ask us was: Did our generation advance the cause of freedom?
But now I am older and wiser. I know that the most important question history will ask us is: What’s a little martial law between friends?
OK, class dismissed. Oh, last thing. For future quizzes on the NYT's opinion, remember, you'll never go too far wrong in assuming that whatever the Times' past policy, when it comes to the latest development, George Bush will always be wrong.
