The Who on the What?

Jon Stewart has made a career out of finding the funny in the usually mundane. He's become increasingly popular in recent year with his faux news program, "The Daily Show" which airs on Comedy Central. He has had numerous celebrities and notable people on his show in recent years but there was probably no one as powerful or currently important than his latest guest, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Now while "The Daily Show" is probably among the higher rated shows out there, it definitely isn't the most.... mature show out there. After all, it is airing on Comedy Central. So what was President Musharraf doing there in the first place? Working the crowds baby!

You see, President Musharraf has a new book coming out this week which are his personal memoirs. Why is he writing his memoirs now? Well, after two assasination attempts on him in the past few years, he's a bit concerned he may not see the end of his term. So, he took time out and commited his memoirs to paper and now we have it in published form. You may recall that in 1999, President Musharaff, then a General of the Pakistani army, led a military coup that eventually put him in charge of the country. Promising to return power once the country settled down, it is now six years since he took power and he's still in place.

Some view him as a controversial figure. He took power in a way that most democratic nations would frown upon but seeing as how he has quickly become an ally in the war on terror, some of those dailiances can be... overlooked I suppose. Some see him as the lesser of other evils. The state of affairs in Pakistan cannot be termed as anything but volatile and seeing as how they are a nuclear power now, it's probably a safer idea to have someone friendly in office. There has been talk that he knows where Osama bin Laden is hiding, that he hasn't done enough to end terrorist cells in his country or any of a dozen other accusations. In the face of all that, he's still around, attempting to keep his country in control.

So then what was he doing on "The Daily Show"? Well a sad fact is that most people out there probably don't know who President Musharraf or where Pakistan is located. That's not a slight against Pakistan, but a sad truth. In his own country he is not popular among everyone. After all, one of the assassination attempts was made by members of his own military. Seeing as that is the case, book sales of his aren't likely to be high in Pakistan. That and the fact that there is rampant piracy in those parts means that income for the book will be limited. So what to do? Get your name out to the public. Crack a few jokes on a popular television show and make statements to the effect that your country was threatened to "be bombed back to the Stone Age."

According to President Musharraf, his Intelligence Director was told this by Deputy Secretary of Defense Richard Armitage. Is it true or false? I leave it to you to decide; but I am of the feeling that President Musharraf sees alliance with the United States as being a good thing. And although he probably wants to boost his book sales by having a bit of sensationalism leak in here and there, why would he do it by alienating his one most powerful ally nation? Something doesn't sit right does it? Maybe it will come to light someday that the statement was indeed never made and it was just a way to increase interest in the book. Whatever the case is, but it's a strange day when we have the leaders of nations on non-political shows all to help push the sale of their memoirs.