Via the AP: Bush: Musharraf is ‘man of his word’

Bush said the embattled Pakistani leader has been a loyal U.S. ally in fighting terrorists, has vowed to step down as head of the military and has promised to hold parliamentary elections. The president, in an interview at Camp David with ABC’s “World News,” also noted that Musharraf freed thousands of opponents from jails Tuesday in a sign he is rolling back a wave of repression under emergency rule he declared on Nov. 3.

“So far, I’ve found him to be a man of his word,” Bush said. “The fundamental question I have for President Musharraf is, ‘Will these elections be under emergency rule or law?’ Because if they are, it’s going to be hard for — well, it’ll be hard for those of us who have belief that he’s advanced Pakistan’s democracy to say that’s, that’s still the case.”

Hmmm. Call me crazy, but somehow I don’t think one really deserves a lot of credit for releasing thousands of political prisoners that one was responsible for jailing in the first place–especially when the arrests where made to quell opposition to one’s legally dubious emergency decrees.

The notion that Musharraf is a “man of his word” would appeared substantially strained by the fact that he acted like he was going to abide by the Supreme Court’s rulings, at least until it was clear he wasn’t going to get want he wanted. I expect the Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto probably would have a thing or two to say about the purity of Musharraf’s utterances, for that matter.

And really, Bush’s ability to assess the character of world leaders was pretty much exposed with the whole looking into Putin’s heart bit in his first term.