Pakistan's Musharraf Leaves Military Post

Under extreme pressure from the USA and other allies, and with mounting political turmoil in his own country, General Musharraf turned over the military command of Pakistan and will now be sworn in as a civilian president.

Musharraf had suspended the Pakistan's constitution earlier this month, had imprisoned thousands of political protesters, and replaced the supreme court with his own judges in an attempt to hold onto power.

With the return of former heads-of-state Bhutto and Sharif, and with major pressure from the Bush administration, Musharraf had no choice but to hold to his original promise of relinquishing his military leadership and assuming the role of a civilian president.

How much control of the military Musharraf has really given up remains to be seen. He will most likely have a strong hand in military affairs until the next election, when a possible coalition government headed by either Bhutto or Sharif could see Musharraf out of power and possibly defending himself from prosecution on military or civil crimes.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration has to give whatever aid is necessary to make sure that Pakistan's nuclear weapons do not fall into the hands of terrorists.

The turmoil in Pakistan should be a lesson that no Islamic country should be allowed to obtain nuclear weapons. With terrorist organizations like al Qaeda having the ability to cause tremendous instability and the lack of respect the leaders in Islamic countries have for the rule of law, countries dominated by Muslims should be denied the development and possession of nuclear weapons.

The US should take the lead in blocking countries like Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. If preemptive military action is required to keep these Islamic countries from going nuclear, it is a small price to pay for a world free of nuclear terrorism.