Pakistan institutes a State of Emergency. It could happen here too!

News item: Pakistan's Musharraf declares emergency. As I saw this on Yahoo News, I wondered why as there didn't appear to be any violence in the streets unless I missed something in the past day or two. It didn't seem justified. Here's a shortened version of the article on Pakistan:

Pakistan's Musharraf declares emergency
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan on Saturday ahead of a crucial Supreme Court decision on whether to overturn his recent election win and amid rising Islamic militant violence.

Eight Supreme Court judges immediately rejected the emergency, which suspended the current constitution. The government blocked transmissions of private news channels in several cities and telephone services in the capital, Islamabad, were cut.

"The chief of army staff has proclaimed a state of emergency and issued a provisional constitutional order," a newscaster on state Pakistan TV said, adding that Musharraf, who took power in 1999 coup, would address the nation later Saturday.

This came as a total surprise to me and caught many off guard. Consider the following, this could happen here while we are sleeping or while our "consciousness" is asleep. The Bush/Cheney Administration has "secret" plans to install a new government should a state of emergency ever be needed for reasons I will leave to your imagination. Musharraf has learned from Bush well. He sees what we citizens allow in our, so called, democracy and beats Bush to the punch.

We have no moral ground to ask Musharraf to do something we wouldn't do, to stand down. Remember as Senator Joe Biden said in the last debate which now appears prophetic, Paraphrasing the good Senator, he said that he was worried more about Pakistan than about Iran. Iran is trying to make 2 Kilo's of enriched nuclear material, Pakistan has made thousands upon thousand of Kilo's of this material and they sit atop Missiles pointed at India and Israel. That's what we should keep our eye on, said Senator Biden. But no, President Bush and Vice President Cheney are still rattling their saber at Iran instead of worrying about Nuclear weapons falling into the hands of Al-Qaeda. We took our eye of the war on terrorists for this war in Iraq and we may yet pay the ultimate price as a nation for doing so.

Terrorist tape taunts us not to leave Iraq

According to AP in an article today, "A new video of al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader released on Saturday mocks President Bush and U.S. legislation requiring the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, saying the bill would rob the group's fighters of the chance to kill more Americans."

When al-Qaeda asks you to do something, do the opposite. If they mock us for withdrawing, that is exactly what we need to do. Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahri taunted Bush today according to AP, "recounting an April 12 suicide bombing in Baghdad's heavily protected Green Zone when an attacker slipped through security and killed a Sunni legislator in the Iraqi parliament's cafeteria. An al-Qaeda-led amalgam of Sunni insurgents in Iraq claimed responsibility.

'And lest Bush worry, I congratulate him on the success of his security plan, and I invite him on the occasion for a glass of juice, but in the cafeteria of the Iraqi parliament in the middle of the Green Zone,' al-Zawahri said."

The complete article can be read by clicking here.

Looking at the AP Photo above, it looks as though the picture was taken in an educated person's home from the books on the shelves. It is a guess but I would wager it is in Pakistan and this backdrop was used to embarass President Musharraf and anger the U.S., as they continue to use Pakistan as a safe haven.