After Musharraf, U.S. needs to win over people’s hearts

So when Russia invaded Georgia this August in a “peace enforcement operation,” America’s protests about invading weaker nations that present no threat rang a bit hollow after five years of occupation in Iraq.

Those of us in Pakistan, who long for individual freedom, free markets and the rule of law with a working constitution and an independent judiciary, can no longer cite the U.S. as an example. Because our country is a “frontline ally” of the U.S. in the “war on terror,” our political reforms have been held back.

Now that military dictator Pervez Musharraf has announced his resignation, the Bush Administration has lost its closest ally in this War on Terror. Yet, our new democratic process and our weak, corrupt and violent political parties need all the support they can get. This is a huge opportunity for America to help us and to reach hearts and minds in a country that views the U.S. with resentment, along with envy.

Democratic stability in Pakistan would also affect its neighbors India and Afghanistan, and by extension those losing soldiers in the Afghan war, due in part to Pakistan’s lawlessness. Americans create abundant wealth because they are economically freer than most nations on Earth. In consequence, that makes them politically freer. What underpins all that is the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights, with independent courts and news media.

Despite the federal government’s encroachments on freedoms since 9-11, Americans are free to pursue most economic, political, social, intellectual, philosophical, moral, spiritual and aesthetic enterprises — free to do whatever they like as long as they do not encroach on others’ freedoms.

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