The Peter Principle Administration

If there is anything more dangerous than an evil administration it's an evil and incompetent administration. Administration Peter Principle poster boy Alberto Gonzales is getting most of the attention today but there are plenty more in the State Department and at the Pentagon. Now we don't have a name associated with this newest bit of insanity but when it comes to stupid ideas this is right up there with attacking Iran.
US looks at plan to oust Musharraf

THE US has indicated for the first time that it might be willing to back plans by elite echelons of the military in Islamabad to oust Pervez Musharraf from power, as the Pakistani President was beset by major new difficulties over his attempts to sack the country's chief justice.
Reports yesterday quoting highly placed US diplomatic and intelligence officials - previously rusted on to the view that General Musharraf was an indispensable Western ally in the battle against terrorism - outlined a succession plan to replace him.
US officials told The New York Times the plan would see the Vice-Chief of the Army, Ahsan Saleem Hyat, take over from General Musharraf as head of the military and former banker Mohammedmian Soomro installed as president, with General Hyat wielding most of the power.

Now Pakistan is ripe for a takeover by al-Qaeda sympathizers anyway. Anything that further destablizes the country makes that even more likely. So, how does al-Qaeda with a nuke or three sound.

The US report suggests a growing disenchantment towards General Musharraf in Washington and indicates that the longstanding view that the alternative to his regime would be chaos and a takeover by extremist Islamic mullahs is no longer ascendant.

The US officials say hardline Islamists have usually not done well in elections in Pakistan and that if General Musharraf were removed, a doomsday scenario would not necessarily follow.

This is from the same people who brought you the "greeted with flowers" and the "war will pay for itself" scenarios in Iraq. The Peter Principle indeed.

Update
In the comments section my friend Cernig of NewsHog says he thinks I'm wrong on this. He says:

The mistake here is not allowing Musharaff to be deposed but allowing the military to continue its rule.

Yes, democratic governments in Pakistan have been notoriously corrupt but so have the military ones, they just cover it up better. The islamist parties have never polled well in Pakistan and in fact Musharaff relies on the Islamist parties for their support.

Add in the intelligence agency, the ISI, which controls and directs the Taliban and Al Qaeda and you have a scenario where if Pakistan ould give AQ a nuke they already would have done so.

Pakistan actually IS a place ripe for a return to democracy.

Well in fact he doesn't think I'm all that wrong and that the Peter Principle administration is making a mistake by letting the military stay in power. This history of this administration is one of making bad situations even worse. Yes, I agree Pakistan may be "ripe for Democracy" but it's unlikely that will happen in the turmoil following an overthrow of Musharraf. Much more likely would be the Taliban/al-Qaeda friendly ISI taking control.

Update
It looks like I may have been taken by Rupert Murdoch, Cernig has the details. In my defense it sounded like something stupid enough for the Bush/Cheney cabal to be considering.