Zardari; Our new BFF

September 8, 5:19 PMProgressive Politics ExaminerJay McDonough

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The Independent has a devastating article on new Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.  Following the resignation of ex president Musharraf, the Bush Adminstration made it very clear they supported the election of Mr. Zardari.  This was, in no small part, due to President Zardari's strong pro-West, anti-terrorist positions.  The Independent asserts Zardari is a mixed bag, with plenty of potential downside:

President Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto's widower, formerly known as Mr Ten Per Cent because of kickbacks received during his wife's time in office, has become one of the most powerful and potentially dangerous men in the subcontinent. Mad and bad. And now omnipotent. He is head of state, supreme commander of the armed forces, has the power to dismiss parliament, appoint the heads of the army and election commission – and, as chairman of the National Command Authority, has the final say in the deployment of nuclear weapons.

Earlier Zardari vowed to relinquish the executive powers that Pervez Musharraf gave to the originally ceremonial presidency. Now he's evasive. Despite the fact that he has little public support (14 per cent, according to a recent poll), holds no seat in parliament and has no mandate other than his association with the Bhutto name, he had every right to nominate himself or anyone else as President. His party – inherited from his late wife – was democratically elected in February and has the largest number of seats in parliament.

The man who now has his finger on the nuclear button was only last year declared unfit to stand trial in a UK court on account of multiple mental problems. According to court documents filed by his psychiatrists, he suffers from dementia, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress after spending 11 of the past 20 years in jail in Pakistan. According to their testimony last year, he found it hard even to recall the names of his wife and children.

Zardari has long been dogged by allegations of crime and corruption. In 2003, a Swiss magistrate found him guilty in absentia of laundering $10m. Musharraf's National Accountability Bureau estimated that he had looted up to $1.5bn from the treasury during his wife's two terms in office. In 1990, he was in trouble for allegedly tying a remote-controlled bomb to the leg of a businessman and sending him into a bank to withdraw money from his account as a pay-off. More sinisterly, he was charged with complicity in the murder of his brother-in-law Murtaza Bhutto, but the case was never tried. He was also implicated in the 1996 murder of a judge, Justice Nizam Ahmed, and his lawyer son.

It seems unlikely Mr. Zardari will be any more effective than ex President Musharrah, particularly without the backing of the Pakistan Army that Musharraf enjoyed through most of his term.   It's thought that Pakistanis will give Zardari the benefit of the doubt for now, but his strong pro Western positions will likely become "Zardari is a stooge for the U.S." before too long.