| President Musharraf will be leaving shortly to perform a pilgrimage akin to Umrah in the United States. While he is there, he will be making the obligatory visit to the two hallowed cities of Washington and New York. It is a journey that many of his predecessors have made before in an attempt to obtain solace. At one level, they have felt the need to be reassured that the United States still cares for the country they purport to represent. At another, it is to demonstrate to their friends and more so to their foes that the United States stands for them rather than against them. And at its most self-serving level, it is to obtain, on an Oval Office letterhead, a talismanic chit of approval which they can carry home to continue in power. Ayub Khan did it in his time, Yahya did it, Ziaul Haq did it, every elected leader has done it, and now General Musharraf is doing it. |
| There is no shame in this. Better statespersons than them have done the same thing, even though they ran the risk of being labeled insultingly as an American pet. Despite his imperial bombast, the Shah of Iran had been effectively domesticated by the Americans, as had been his equally vulnerable contemporary Sadat of Egypt. The British Prime Minister Mrs Margaret Thatcher was accused by her detractors of being Ronald Reagan's poodle, and more recently, Tony Blair has had to shake a similar accusation apropos to Bush off his back as it were dirty rainwater. |
| It cannot be easy in today's world to get close to the class bully without seeming to curry favour. It cannot be easy to do his bidding without question and without losing one's self-respect. Ever since General Musharraf was confronted with the choice of siding with the United States in its war against terrors that he had helped incubate, and he chose to listen to America, he has taken all the right decisions, even if on occasions they have been for the wrong reasons. [EXTRACT] |
| Published in DAWN 13 Sept. 2005, and reprinted in WHEN BUSH COMES TO SHOVE & OTHER WRITINGS (2006). |
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