Outside the Beltway

A. Q. Khan for President!

· Monday, August 18, 2008 · 3 comments

In the wake of Pervez Musharraf’s resignation the Pakistan Policy Blog gives us a rundown of prospective candidates for the presidency of Pakistan. The interim president is Muhammad Mian Soomro, whose son is an old college chum of Sen. Barack Obama’s, and he’ll serve until a replacement is elected by a simple majority vote of parliament.

PPB’s list of possible candidates is substantial, starting with Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir Bhutto’s widower, and other members of his family. The list continues with politicians from various provinces and ethnic groups, retired judges, and popular opposition leaders. Few if any of these are exactly household names over here.

But one is more familiar. Under the category “National Heroes” is Abdul Qadeer Khan, A. Q. Khan, generally considered the father of the Pakistani nuclear program and by most reckonings the world’s foremost nuclear proliferator.

Now there’s a name to conjure with!

FILED UNDER: The Presidency, Uncategorized, , ,
Dave Schuler
About Dave Schuler
Over the years Dave Schuler has worked as a martial arts instructor, a handyman, a musician, a cook, and a translator. He's owned his own company for the last thirty years and has a post-graduate degree in his field. He comes from a family of politicians, teachers, and vaudeville entertainers. All-in-all a pretty good preparation for blogging. He has contributed to OTB since November 2006 but mostly writes at his own blog, The Glittering Eye, which he started in March 2004.

Comments

  1. Bithead says:
    Monday, 18 August 2008 at 18:12

    The interim president is Muhammad Mian Soomro, whose son is an old college chum of Sen. Barack Obama’s,

    I wonder how much attention the Dinosaur media will pay to that one. (Chuckle)

  2. John Burgess says:
    Monday, 18 August 2008 at 18:31

    Rather than a name to conjure with, I’m thinking a target to test the new airborne laser…

    Bithead: Why should it play much if any role in media coverage? Do you know something about Soomro that the rest of us do not?

    I had a friend in State who, when he was in college, used to bang Benazir. Didn’t have any effect on his work.

  3. Bithead says:
    Monday, 18 August 2008 at 22:02

    Bithead: Why should it play much if any role in media coverage? Do you know something about Soomro that the rest of us do not?

    Irrelevant to the point, which is a negative connotation, at at least an instinctive level among voters, for such relationships. Obama has spent his entire campaign trying to play such things down.

    Doesn’t help the mantra, doesn’t get printed, regardless of other factors.

Support OTB

Become a Patron

Popular Posts