Ivory Tower

   We send a dedication and a shout out to President Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf: “Bad Meets Evil,” by Eminem.

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   This is pure speculation, of course, but one has to wonder if Bush, at least indirectly, contributed to the assassination of Pakistan’s former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

   It was common knowledge that at the time of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, it was generally believed that Osama bin Laden was living somewhere in the mountains of northeast Pakistan. Instead, Bush chose to send troops into Afghanistan and Iraq.

   A relevant tangent here: We don’t feel the same animosity toward the CIA as many other people do; we believe the Bush administration has used the agency as a convenient scapegoat, and we’re just waiting for the books to come out as soon as a new president is in power and a few of our spies retire.

   Remember that as soon as the White House started talking about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, plenty — and we do mean plenty — of other government officials were quick to report that the CIA, as well as U.N. inspectors, had failed to find any evidence of those alleged WMDs. Once we were well into the war and people started to ask where those weapons were, the Bush gang blamed the invasion on faulty intelligence. Public reports already showed that that intelligence said there were no WMDs, and it was right all along.

   Same with Pakistan. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan, which may or may not assist, or at least permit, anti-Western terrorists. We do know one thing, however: Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai actually endorses factions that oppose the Taliban and bin Laden’s al-Qaida. In fact, Karzai has complained that Musharraf’s tolerance of terrorists has allowed them to create destruction and unrest in Afghanistan, then fleeing to safety in Pakistan. The tension between these two countries brought out the fact that Musharraf had actually signed a treaty with Islamic tribal leaders pledging no aggression toward their minions holed up in Pakistan’s mountain ranges. Pakistan was their safe haven.

   Musharraf was asked about the pact at a joint news conference with Bush held in September 2006 at the White House, where the two pledged mutual interests and support. Musharraf said the treaty did not give terrorists free rein, but rather was intended to stop terrorist attacks.

   ”I believe him,” Bush responded, calling Musharraf one of our top allies in the war against terrorism. Bush also lifted economic sanctions against the country that President Clinton had imposed during its nuclear standoff with India in 1998. Bush has send Musharraf $10 billion in aid since the 9/11 attacks.

   So before Bush sent troops into Afghanistan, the CIA already was reporting that bin Laden wasn’t there, but rather in Pakistan. Based on those reports, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage reportedly got a hold of Pakistan’s military intelligence chief and said the United States would bomb Pakistan “back to the Stone Age” if that country didn’t help bring bin Laden to justice.

   We think that reaction was appropriate, and could have been followed with a set of deadlines: U.S. bombers would fire missiles into one mountain every 72 hours, for instance, until bin Laden was produced.

   Instead, the administration at first downplayed Armitage’s threat as unauthorized, and more recently has even denied that it ever happened.

   Meanwhile, Musharraf has gotten more brazen since his buddy-buddy meeting with Bush last year. Reports of attacks on opposition members have increased in the past year, and in March of this year the president fired Pakistan’s chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry. After the Supreme Court voted to reinstate their leader, Musharraf declared martial law, fired numerous judges and suspended both the constitution and presidential elections scheduled for October.

   The Bush administration stepped in to keep the peace. They brokered a deal that would let Musharraf stay on as president for five more years without elections, but he had to relinquish control of the military. He also had to allow parliamentary elections next year and let Bhutto return from exile in Dubai. It was assumed that Bhutto, ever an advocate against violence, would maintain order among the opposition. It was also assumed she would be elected prime minister, and help serve as a counterbalance to Musharraf’s presidency.

   Since her return on Oct. 18, however, hundreds of opposition members have been killed — at least 140 on the same day she returned to Pakistan.

   Now that she’s been killed, Musharraf gets to enjoy the benefits of the deal he made with Bush, and probably doesn’t have to endure the concessions since the opposition probably has been driven underground. And, given his non-aggression treaty with the tribal lords, they essentially serve as sentries protecting the border with neighboring countries.

   And bin Laden? He remains safe as a frog in a bog, thank you very much.

   And that, as the song says, is what happens when bad meets evil.