Now that I've had a few days to think about the Bhutto assassination and the future of our activities in Pakistan, particularly, I have come to my conclusion.  Feel free to jump in with your analysis and solutions; I'm all ears.  All I know is that something must be done, and done fast.

First, it is, in all honesty, irrelevant to United States interests who killed her.  It is well known that she had many death threats against her, as well as a rather large portion of the population who did not trust her.  Likewise, Musharraf's life has also been threatened on many occasions.  It is likely, in an atmosphere of such emotionally-driven ideologies, that all politicians in Pakistan have received similar threats.  So let's drop the unknowable and irrelevant.  What we do know is that an unstable Pakistan is definitely a threat.  For example, an attack against India could begin a myriad of shockwaves emanating outward - a cataclysmic spawning of attacks, crossing over into other nations.  These nations would then seize the opportunity of turmoil and distraction to attack their enemies.  This is not a hyped up possibility.  It is quite probable.

Second, we need to consider how stability can be regained since Bhutto's assassination and the subsequent postponement of elections.  Well, duh, who's in power now?  Musharraf.  We deal through him, and deal quickly - while the coals are still hot.  Calls for "democracy" in a nation with such adamantly independent and segregated ideologies are downright foolish.  For America's safety and interest, we need to act now.  We have to force him to regain control over the nation.  We can not allow extremists to gain control of the nuclear weapons in Pakistan's arsenal - PERIOD. 

Finally, don't be silly, we simply do not have the troop assets to dedicate to any sort of military action in that area at this time.  But I do have some suggestions which could certainly be quite effective.  We already know that we actually pay Pakistan for their allegance (basically), and Musharraf has delivered terrorists to us in the past.  Warning, my solutions may be difficult to stomach for those who place greater value on the Geneva convention than on America's security.  If that's the case, don't read on.  Honestly, the "democratic fairness" of Pakistan is of little consequence to me.  My concern is American security.  Okay, disclaimers aside, here's my tentative plan.

1) Coerce Musharraf to declare absolute Martial Law in all of Pakistan.  We can not do this publicly for the main reason that it will cause Musharraf to lose the respect of his army, and also cause the Pakistanis to question their own sovereignty - increasing anti-Americanism.

2) Demand that he remove all elements of extremism from his military.

    2a) we could make this worth his while by giving $1000 per terrorist/sympathizer captured.

    2b) make sure that there is legitimate documentation of suspect terrorists' affiliation.

    2c) allow him to try and punish sympathizers according to their Martial Law, and send us the more diehard members of Al-Qaeda.

3) After his military is cleared of extremists, then he should clear the civilian population of extremists, requiring the same methodology as used in purging his military.

4) Utilizing intelligence, to include satellite imagery, isolate and keep track of Pakistan's nuclear arms.

5) Keep a U.S. nuclear submarine in range of said targets. (Make sure that Musharraf understands the immanent strike possibilities, namely, if Musharraf loses power or is killed these targets will be struck with lightning fast precision - ALL of them will be liquidated; we have that ability.)

6) Once Musharraf has stabilized the nation, then, and only then, can they even approach the idea of democracy.  And until Pakistan is so stabilized, we should pretend that we are uninvolved.  Once stabilized, however, we can begin "official" dealings with Musharraf (or the elected official if one so exists) from which meeting, we can then utilize Pakistan's cooperation in routing Al-Qaeda in the mountains of NW Pakistan and SW Afghanistan in a more thorough way.

Well, that's my idea.  I am not, by any means, a strategist.  I am an American who is concerned with American security and interests.  But this kind of discourse is what's needed in deciding our path of action.  If I hear another presidential candidate say something like "we hope that Pakistan strives toward democracy" as some kind of solution to this mountain of a problem, I'm going to throw up.  Let's talk about real plausible solutions which could actually accomplish something positive for America.