What makes Pakistan’s present political crises so difficult and frustrating is that there really aren’t any true ‘good guys’ wearing solidly white hats, just lots of black and dirty gray ones. The relationship between the United States and Pakistan has never been based on true mutual respect and friendship, but rather on the political philosophy of “the ENEMY of MY enemy is my FRIEND.”

Osama bin Laden has called Musharraf an ‘infidel’ and called for the people of Pakistan to rise up against him. Anyone who is called an 'infidel' by Osama probably deserves some benefit of the doubt. However, it’s been almost 10 years since he went on the air to announce, following his coup, the 'temporary interruption of democracy'?

After September 11th, when we really needed Pakistan’s help in the opening stages of the War on Terror, he finally agreed to enlist as an ally. And all it took was one phone call from the deputy secretary of state to tell him Pakistan was either 'with us or against us'. Oh, that plus our promise to send billions of dollars in economic and military aid to Pakistan--and we’ve sent $11 BILLION since 2001 and are now sending about $150 MILLION a MONTH, which translates to about $5 MILLION a DAY.

So there is plenty of reason to believe that Musharraf was never a true friend of the United States, and instead was in it for the money -- and to avoid having his country turned into a parking lot.

And the US has not been consistent when it comes to Pakistan foreign policy. After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan we ramped up our foreign aid to Pakistan, sending billions of dollars to them if they would ‘look the other way’ while the CIA sent money and supplies through their country to Afghanistan’s Mujahedeen. And 10 years later, as a result of that deal, the Soviet Union left Afghanistan empty handed after losing thousands of troops -- and we simultaneously left Pakistan, reducing our foreign aid. Then after September 11th we return with threats and money to renew our ‘mutual friendship’.

So, although there are not really any ‘good guys’ in this crisis there are several lessons we can learn:

LESSON #1: You Can’t Trust Military Dictators to Actually Do What They Promise to Do

• We should know by now that you can’t trust any dictator, but ESPECIALLY those that insist on wearing their MILITARY uniforms after the shooting has stopped. Hitler, Castro, or Uganda’s Idi Amin -- they never did what they promised; especially when those promises were to give up or share political power.

• Musharraf is both Pakistan’s President and top military commander. He’s always told his people -- and us -- that he was going to give up his military position ‘as soon as the extremists in his country were defeated or controlled’; a promise he’s made since 1999.

• And Musharraf HAS tried to stop the tide of Islamic extremism in his country. Pakistan is generally a moderate Muslim country but parts of Pakistan are governed by extremist Muslims that have established ‘no go zones’ -- where not even the Pakistan military has control.

• And it’s easy for the Democrats and main stream media to criticize Musharraf for not doing enough to promote democracy or moving fast enough to give up his military powers, but consider that:

o Since 1999 when he took over there have been at least 4 assassination attempts on his life.

o In the last three months alone he’s faced: extremist militants staging almost daily attacks on local police forces using small arms and explosives, multiple deadly attacks by suicide bombers, and during a political rally, two bombs were detonated in a large city killing 139 people and wounding over 300.

• The problem with Musharraf is that his State of Emergency isn’t targeting the Islamic extremists – but rather his political and judicial opponents.

The United States is saying the right things now. We have come out and told Musharraf that we will be reconsidering our aid to his country because of his announced State of Emergency. Our mistake was not making it perfectly clear to him, publicly, that if he imposed a State of Emergency either all or a portion of that aid would be automatically suspended. We will not have any credibility when we talk about the blessings and benefits of democracy when we don’t always stand firmly against those who suppress it.

LESSON #2: You Cannot Trust or Make Deals with Militant Islamic Extremists

In September 2006 Musharraf entered into an agreement with pro-Taliban Muslim extremists tribal leaders along the Afghanistan border following several months of fighting that killed hundreds. The militants agreed to stop attacking the Pakistani army and to stop crossing the border to fight in Afghanistan, and the government agreed to halt major ground and air operations (and although it was never admitted, the government also gave up hunting down Osama bin Laden in this mountainous region). The hope was that this deal would promote stability -- just the opposite has happened. Not only did these same tribesmen continue attacking Pakistan’s military stationed in the area, militants in other areas of Pakistan saw what concessions the government gave to these extremists and were emboldened to increase attacks on government personal and buildings.

LESSON #3: ‘No Go Zones’ Are Unacceptable and Accommodation has its Limits

Two examples of this:

• The riots in France, where young disenchanted Muslims were burning cars by the hundreds a few years back should have taught every political leader in every country a lesson: promises of peace in exchange for creating a temporary safe haven never work.

• There are tribal areas of Pakistan where the government provides limited services and is unable to impose national law. Locals in these areas consider themselves members of these local tribes more so than Pakistanis; they have their own set of laws and freely carry weapons.

Whether in France, Pakistan, or England -- the unofficial (and sometimes official) creation of these ‘no go zones’ is a very short-term solution that will eventually, if not checked, lead to national conflict -- because it just emboldens and encourages anti-government behavior and attitudes.

All people should be free to worship and assemble. We need to be proactive in making sure that the freedom of religion is more than just a slogan. However, as with all freedoms -- there are limits. And when ANY religion not only teaches that its followers need not obey the laws of the land, but incites violence against local or national authorities -- it crosses the line

LESSON #4: Nuclear Weapons Complicate Things

One lesson that we really need to learn is that when a country possesses nuclear weapons everything changes. Pakistan conducted its first nuclear test in 1998. Not much was done or said before or after the test by most of the world. The United States made some “adjustments” to its foreign aid to Pakistan as punishment for the test.

Because the world wasn’t willing to act while Pakistan was acquiring nuclear technology we are now confronted with the reality that an unstable political government -- with the increasing inability to police its own country -- contains a handful of nuclear weapons and could collapse into outright anarchy and chaos.

Even after Pakistan went nuclear, and the United Nations demand to interview members of the nuclear team, including Dr. A. Q. Kahn, was denied -- the world did nothing. Is there any doubt why Iran and North Korea felt encouraged to pursue their own nuclear programs?

Right now, I suspect (and I hope to high heaven)—that our CIA and other intelligence organizations are tracking the location of these nuclear weapons and are prepared to go in and secure them if total chaos breaks out. That’s not even the hard part. The hard part is tracking and preventing the INFORMATION and KNOWLEDGE about how to build and develop a nuclear weapons program from gushing out -- not only to places like Iran -- but to terrorist organizations around the world.

LESSON #5: No Crisis is too important to Avoid Political Pot-Shots

The first busload of lawyers hadn’t even been arrested before the first Democrat weighed in on the Pakistan crises. Senator Biden offered the un-insightful sound bite that the US had a “Musharraf policy, not a Pakistani policy.” Well Senator, you’re running for President, how about instead of always telling us what the Administration has done wrong -- why not tell us what you would do?

I am tired of political opportunists who lay out these grand plans when it comes to spending money or raising taxes. These candidates have massive plans filled with details about how they’re going to spend $120 billion or $150 billion to impose a national healthcare system.

But, ask those same candidates about what to do in Iran or Pakistan and you get the “I’m not going to discuss hypothetical situations” or a 10 minute non-answer that just attacks the Bush Administration. Right now, we need leaders with ideas -- not political talking points.