Musharraf Steps Down . . . What About The Nukes?

Sure, we're supposed to put our trust in democracy. One wonders, however, whether this is really a step towards democracy, or anarchy, or worse. Suffering from a death by a thousand cuts, threats of impeachment were the last straw for Musharraf:

"They want to impeach me now. Why do they want to do it?" a downcast Musharraf said in a televised address in which he denied any wrongdoing. "Do they want to cover their failure?"

As for Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, see if this makes you feel more safe, or less safe:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pervez Musharraf's departure from the presidency is unlikely to have a significant impact on how Pakistan's nuclear weapons are controlled. Experts say a 10-member committee, and not just the president, makes decisions on how to use them and only a complete meltdown in governance — still a distant prospect in Pakistan — could put the atomic bomb in the hands of extremists. "Pakistan's nuclear assets are not one man's property," said Maria Sultan, a defense analyst and director at the London-based South Asian Strategic Stability Institute. "Any (political) transition in Pakistan will have no effect on Pakistan's nuclear assets because it has a very strong custodial control." The committee, known as the National Command Authority, is served by a military-dominated organization with thousands of security forces and intelligence agents whose personnel are closely screened. The nuclear facilities are tightly guarded.

I have a bad feeling about this. We are going to miss Musharraf, sooner rather than later.