Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has finally resigned - and may be heading to exile in Saudi Arabia.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...

This is going to be a short dairy.

He was going to be charged with subverting the constitution and impeached this week. Here is the chronology of Musharraf's rule.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...

Darling of the western media - Gen Musharraf switched loyalty from Taleban to US overnight after 9/11. Inspite of the great help he had given Taleban and Al Queda, he was embraced and made an "ally" of US in the "war on terror".

So, yet another ally of Bush departs. Couldn't have happenned to a better dictator ... one question though will remain. Was he with us or against us ?

Update 1 : Added obligatory "Breaking" to title. And what it means to US below the fold.

Under threat of impeachment by the democratically elected parliament, Pakistan's preisdent Musharraf finally decided to resign. This is the latest example of the failure of Bush and Mccain's foreign policy.

Pakistan's President Musharraf is about to step down, This move was expected since Musharraf has said many times he would rather resign than face his impeachment, which is about to get underway in Pakistan's parliament.    

Musharraf finally gives up "saving" Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Faced with the humiliation of impeachment, former army chief Pervez Musharraf quit as Pakistan president on Monday, having lost political, popular and increasingly even U.S. support.

Below ther fold is an excerpt from my diary writen last weekend:

That would be, or should be the picture on the postcard I would be sending back from this wonderful and beautiful country.  I would, if I were into sending postcards.

For real, or imagined security concerns or out of just plan caution I'm not going to tell you where I am inside the country.  But I am here, I have been past the walled military compound where Musharraf lives, and have seen the incredible amount of security that lines the streets where he passes.

I have many diary entries planned for when I get back to the states.  

I wasn't even planning to write a diary while here, but recent events have changed my mind.

I wonder why John McCain doesn't come right out and say he sold his soul.  We miss the straight talk.  He should run with the explicit admission that he plans to pardon Jack Abramoff, and make the former lobbyist Secretary of the Treasury.  Ralph Reed, McCain's newest best buddy, it should be admitted, will get a big role in McCain's administration.  McCain should tell us that Exxon will replace our current EPA.  He should regale us with tales of how his administration will be one big, happy oil company and lobbyist family, like his campaign.  That would be straight talk.

More, yo.

While we've all been focusing on the Russia-Georgia conflict, another Bush foreign policy failure is about to leave a nuclear power in a very unstable state:

Faced with desertions by his political supporters and the neutrality of the Pakistani military, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, an important ally of the United States, is expected to resign in the next few days rather than face impeachment charges, Pakistani politicians and Western diplomats said Thursday.

His departure from office would be likely to unleash new instability in the country as the two main parties in the civilian government jockeyed for the division of power. New York Times today

Big news from the main front of the war on terror today.
NY Times:

Faced with desertions by his political supporters and the neutrality of the Pakistani military, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, an important ally of the United States, is expected to resign in the next few days rather than face impeachment charges, Pakistani politicians and Western diplomats said Thursday.

Having spent a couple months in the country, I would argue that the removal of Musharraf should be viewed as a positive step toward democracy in the 21st century. We can only hope that true democracy will result from this new phase in the tumultuous history of Pakistan.

More below the jump.

Things are quickly falling into place for the impeachment of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. On Thursday the leaders of  the ruling coalition in Pakistan's parliament agreed to move forward with President Musharraf's impeachment. On Friday a two day meeting of the top brass of Pakistan's army concluded with a statement that didn't even mention Musharraf's troubles. Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani former head of Pakistan's ISI intelligence service is in a position to call the shots, but he has started to move the army away from politics. Today a top Musharraf political ally Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain confirmed that Musharraf won't dissolve the parliment (Musharraf is in Beijing). Musharraf would have to have the support of Pakistan's army to dissolve the parliament. The Army would be more likely to intervene in the political process if the impeachment of Musharraf turns into a prolonged constitutional crisis that creates more instability inside the country. Increased instability is also something that worries the U.S. which has strong ties with the Pakistani military.

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's ruling coalition will move to impeach President Pervez Musharraf on charges of plunging the country into a political and economic crisis, party leaders said on Thursday.

I don't usually do Breaking news diaries but I didn't see it anywhere else yet.

According to the Times Online, an agreement has been reached to impeach the President and force him to step down. Not, of course, President Bush, but President Musharraf of Pakistan. (Sorry, couldn't resist...)

The leaders of the two main parties in the coalition, the Pakistan Peoples' Party and the Pakistan Muslim League reached an agreement to force him to stand down in the early hours of this morning.

Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League said today: "Musharraf cannot stay in power anymore."

All jokes/puns aside, this is a bold and extremely deserved move by the Pakistani government (and sets a great example for Dems in Congress).

Or should I say the top ten things he SHOULD do on his first working day as President, the day following Inaugaration Day.

Of course we all have our own preferences, but since this is my diary, I go first.I encourage you to list your own priorities in your comments.

All of the things President Obama should initiate on that highly anticipated first day are important and serious. Some are more significant than others. So I will start with the least serious and work my way up to the most imperative actions with No.10 being the least serious and No.1 being the gravest .Above all he will need to make a strong first impression, both domestically and internationally.

We are fiddling while "Rome" burns. While Bush and his minions are pretending that the surge is working in Iraq and blowing smoke rings around Iran, the Taliban is growing by leaps and bounds, and the hatred toward the US is growing exponentially.

Pakistan's government fails once again to get its man.

I'm not claiming to be an expert on Pakistan and its history, but there are some pretty important issues taking place there lately and I feel the international media is not giving it the attention (or at least the volume) it deserves. With the Taliban steadily increasing its footprint closer to Islamabad, President Musharreef seems to be incapable on controlling the country. Pakistan is, in fact, the most dangerous country in the world because of the virtually unregulated Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) where al Qaeda has found a home, and because the country has working nuclear weapons. This is a disaster waiting to happen.

In a rare moment of humility, President Bush during this morning's press conference acknowledged that he knew little about Russian President Vladimir Putin's hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev.  Responding to NBC reporter David Greg's dubious assertion that neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama seemed to know much about Medvedev, Bush owned up to his own ignorance, "I don't know much about Medvedev, either."  President Bush's sheepishness is justified.  After all, in the run-up to his 2000 election, then candidate George W. Bush showed a comic - and tragic - ignorance of major world leaders.

He jails a judge and scraps a court
His word is all that counts
He use to love the Taliban
And human rights he flouts
His party lost in congress
But still he won't step down
Not the first time that votes didn't really matter

How do you bribe a ruler like Musharaff?
How do you know his guns are on your side?
What do you call a leader like Musharaff?
A general in chief? Al-president? The Shah?

How do you bribe a ruler like Mu-sha-raff?

Oh, kind of like this.

Once a month, Pakistan's Defense Ministry delivers 15 to 20 pages of spreadsheets to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad. They list costs for feeding, clothing, billeting and maintaining 80,000 to 100,000 Pakistani troops in the volatile tribal area along the Afghan border, in support of U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

No receipts are attached.

In response, the Defense Department has disbursed about $80 million monthly, or roughly $1 billion a year for the past six years, in one of the most generous U.S. military support programs worldwide.

Just more Republican fiscal responsibility at work.

Now that King's party lost elections in Pakistan, it is interesting (and important) to see what Musharraf does next.

Here is a nice primer and things that can happen next in Pakistan.

http://www.rediff.com/...

They (US and other Western countries) would like to work for a co-habitation arrangement with Musharraf as the president and Amin Fahim or Shahbaz Sharif as the prime minister. Will they succeed or will Musharraf have to quit?  The answer to this question lies as much in Washington DC as in Islamabad. Musharraf still has some wriggle room, if he wants to exercise it. Will he wriggle or call it quits?

More below the fold.

From AP at MSNBC:

President Pervez Musharraf will not step down as head of state and intends to serve out his five-year-term, his spokesman says, despite a sweeping election victory by his opponents — some of whom want to drive him from power.

His justification?

In his Wisconsin victory speech this evening, John McCain wasted no time in firing shots across Barack Obama's bow.  Hoping to highlight the Democratic frontrunner's inexperience, McCain to partisan cheers ridiculed Obama's promises as "eloquent but empty."  But in a preview of Republican duplicity to come, McCain blasted Obama's past advocacy of unilateral American attacks against Al Qaeda targets in Pakistan, attacks the Bush administration itself is now finally carrying out.