Maybe next General, er, President Musharraf will name Idiot Al "The Torture Guy" Gonzales as Pakistan's next attorney general?

Interns undergo a training session held in Islamabad under the Parliamentary Intern Program. Introduced in the national Parliament and all four Provincial Assemblies, this program has provided members with much-needed analysis, research and assistance.

--from the USAID/Pakistan website ("Developing Strong Legislatures")

There are, of course, people who think that if Chimpy our Prez were serious about spreading democracy and freedom, he would start by halting his assault on them at home. These people are known as "godless liberals," and God will make them burn in hell for eternity.

Many of those same people look at the ungodly mess in Pakistan, throw up their hands, and declare the whole thing utterly beyond repair--not exactly reassuring considering that it's not only a nuclear power but a nuclear power butted up against another one, India, where war could break out at any time not just from historic hatred but from the political convenience of one or the other government. (The likelier candidate is usually our Pakistani ally, whose government clings to power by a thread despite its determined protection of our old chum Osama bin Laden.)

As usual, the Washington Post's Al Kamen is awake at the wheel, reporting this exciting development:

Do Your Part for Pakistan

Are you an architect or engineer? Worried about losing work if we slip into recession? Think international. Think Pakistan.

That nuclear-armed country -- beset by jihadists, facing rebellion in the northwest provinces, confronting nuclear India over Kashmir, having had a democratically elected leader for only less than half of its 60 years as an independent nation -- is chronically unstable. These days, even the lawyers are rioting in the streets.

Washington is hunting hard for ways to shore up the country and improve the Pakistanis' view of the United States and democracy. A recent Pew poll found only 48 percent of Pakistanis think democracy can work.

Here's where you can help. The Agency for International Development is proposing a project vital to the country's future: the new Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services building. This building, which you will design -- offers must be submitted by Jan. 4 -- will house the Pakistan Legislative Strengthening Program. We're told this will "address the needs of members of Parliament and their staff to perform essential legislative processes such as budgeting, operation of committees, and rules of parliamentary process."

Of course! Kind of their very own Congressional Research Service. That's the ticket! Wait till the tribes in Waziristan find out about this!

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