TWO MORE ARRESTED IN PAKISTAN

We know that we're getting some great intelligence from the Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. He's talking, in part, because his parents got him to speak because they believe in the U.S. legal system (and not because of the threat of torture). Then came the arrest of Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s military commander and the deputy to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the movement’s founder. This capture came as a result of a joint operation by the C.I.A. and Pakistan’s military intelligence agency, ISI.

This morning the NY Times is reporting that over the past few days two senior Taliban leaders - also known as "shadow governors" in their northern Afghanistan regions - were arrested inside Pakistan. I'm just wondering how long it will take Fox News and/or the Republicans to spin this success into their now predictable Miranda warning death spiral.

Seriously. We could capture or kill every al Qaeda member, and their copycat wannabes, and Fox News would probably run with the headline, "Obama Asleep at the Wheel ... al Qaeda Masterminds Still Hiding in Hitler-like Bunkers?"

- Mark

PAKISTAN'S MUSHARRAF RESIGNS

With the threat of impeachment hanging over him Pakistan Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf has resigned. This is good news.

While the administration claimed that he was an ally in their War on Terror, Musharraf never came close to catching Osama bin Laden (and more likely allowed him to roam freely), was less than concerned about the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, cracked down on the democratic impulse in Pakistan by going after political enemies, went after judges and the court system for their role in questioning his policies, and did little when A.Q. Kahn was caught selling nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya, and Iran.

Perhaps more importantly, Musharraf did little to curb the growing Taliban presence in Pakistan. Today, the Taliban has been "rejuvenated" and "now virtually control Pakistan’s tribal region bordering Afghanistan."

Fortunately, after jumping from single digits in Pakistan's parliament to 56 seats in 2002, Pakistan's religious right has fallen on hard times (6 seats today). But Musharraf had little to do with their poor electoral showing earlier this year. The religious far right was criticized for not bringing home the bacon for their constituents, and for being too cozy with Musharraf in his on-again, off-again War on Terror in Pakistan's tribal regions.

I'll have more to say about this on Saturday.

- Mark