Sorry, zoned out there somewhere in the middle, but I got the gist.

I have been tracking Pakistan closely, including the region-by-region growth of Taliban/al Qaeda influence in the west.

You seem to think I approve of Musharaff. I don't, but I know who would be running that country if he were gone.

I wish I had a brilliant and morally indisputable answer for what to do right now about Pakistan. I don't. Iraq or no Iraq, at some point this was going to come up as a problem once al Qaeda had been flushed out of Afghanistan.

I'm hoping that Bhutto gets into a position where she has some influence. What choices are there to keep Pakistan at least marginally secular? I wouldn't shed any tears if she ended up in charge, although her own history doesn't exactly smell like roses, including supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan (before 9/11).