Musharraf to Step Down

<p>Normally I would dismiss <a id="p:v9" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/24/wpak124.xml" title="a piece like this">a piece like this</a> out of hand, but the reporter on it is Massoud Ansari, and I know how he rolls. More on that in a second. For now, read:</p>

<blockquote>Pervez Musharraf is considering stepping down as president of Pakistan rather than waiting to be forced out by his victorious opponents, aides have told The Sunday Telegraph.<br />

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<p class="story2">One close confidante said that the president believed he had run out of options after three of the main parties who triumphed in last week’s poll announced they would form a coalition government together, and also pledged to reinstate the country’s chief justice and 60 other judges sacked by Mr Musharraf in November.</p>

<p class="story2">&quot;He has already started discussing the exit strategy for himself,&quot; a close friend said. &quot;I think it is now just a matter of days and not months because he would like to make a graceful exit on a high.&quot;</p>

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<p>OK, now the fun stuff. Back in the spring of 2004, John Judis and myself collaborated with Massoud on a piece reporting that the Bush administration had made a deal with the Pakistanis to have Musharraf time his counterterrorism strategy to undercut the Democrats in the presidential election. We were able to report a <a id="b.qo" href="http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/2227.html" title="pretty incendiary development">pretty incendiary development</a>: the White House asked the Pakistani intelligence apparatus to produce a high-value capture during the Democratic national convention.<br />

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You should have heard the right <a id="czus" href="http://www.nationalreview.com/mccarthy/mccarthy200407120818.asp" title="moan and whine about us">moan and whine about us</a>. Hysterics! Moonbats! Leftards! All that good stuff. Then, a couple hours before John Kerry gave his conventions speech, Pakistan <a id="kh.p" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25614-2004Jul29.html" title="turned in">turned in</a> Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who helped blow up the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.<br />

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I’m still pretty skeptical that Musharraf will step down, but I’ve learned to listen to Massoud Ansari.</p>