Why do we like Musharraf again?

President Bush probably feels a bit outdone by Pervez Musharraf. He uses "The War on Terror" to wastefully spend and clamp down on civil liberties. As the New York Times reports, the multi-billion dollar investment in Pakistan's military, an attempt to quell Al Qaeda, has been diverted to other projects. One example of this has been an effort on the part of the Pakistanis to shore up defenses against another U.S. ally, India.

In another classic instance of the administration seeming to have its foreign policy wander without direction, the aid had few stipulations or even specific purposes. Only now is it being evaluated as to its use.

It's about time we stopped feeling so obliged to support Musharraf at all costs. Bush obviously pushed hard for him to remove the martial law in place, but he didn't go far enough. Our image has suffered even more. And for what? The people protesting against Musharraf were not Al Qaeda -- in fact, they were the people we ought to have been encouraging: people who respected civil law and modernity. But we can't win. Bush would never allow us that chance.