Psst, We Don't Need Musharraf

Why does the West prop up Musharraf? Well, we're told that he's the only thing keeping al Qaeda from having a nuclear weapon. But is he? It appears not if you look at Juan Cole's breakdown of Pakistan's election:

"Bottom line, the Pakistani public has demonstrated a dislike of extremism, including religious extremism, awarding a plurality of seats in the national legislature to secular parties and the rest to right-of-center parties, but roundly rejecting the fundamentalists."

If the election results are any indication, neither Pakistanis nor the West need Musharraf.