Baby steps in Pakistan

President General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan is now just plain old President and maybe dictator for life. He took off his uniform and shed the formal command of the army Wednesday when he handed over his ceremonial baton to a hand-picked army successor.

The Bush administration called this “a good step” in restoring democracy to one of our key allies in the War on Terror.

A few other “good steps” are still in order – releasing all the dissidents he’s locked up, restoring the judges he’s fired, ungagging the press he’s muzzled and holding a truly fair parliamentary election on Jan. 8. The definition of fair would be one in which someone opposed to Musharraf has an actual chance of getting elected.

Pakistan is still under the state of emergency Musharraf declared on Nov. 3. The emergency was that a lot of people were suggesting the country would be better off without him. The United States is willing to put up with this “one-step-at-a-time” routine because we fear the alternative to Musharraf might be a radical Islamic state hostile to our interests.

Except the radical Islamist appeal is only strengthened by Musharraf’s abuse of power. We better hope he takes a few more “good steps” soon, or our interests could be trampled under a real stampede of resentment.