Freyne Land

St. Patrick of Middlesex was “live” on CNN International Wednesday. Sen. Leahy of Vermont chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee that handles money for our “ally” Pakistan. Ah, yes - Pakistan! That's where President Pervez Musharraf has put the uniform back on and is playing Ol’ Gen. Musharraf, suspended the judiciary and declared a “state of emergency.”

But he's got a little problem named "Patrick J. Leahy."

Leahy: I still think we should move to cut off the aid unless they restore democracy. When you remove the courts - by definition - you do not have a democracy.  Unless you have a free judiciary, you don’t have a democracy. I’ve talked to a lot of senators, both Republicans and Democrats who are just outraged with what their seeing on television - lawyers being arrested, members of the judiciary being set aside. The reaction against Ge. Musharraf is very, very strong here.

CNN: What are you going to do about it?  Are you going to cut off aid? Can you force anything to happen?

Leahy: I think there’s going to be a very strong effort in Congress to cut off aid unless there are changes and I’ve talked to the State Department and told them that message has to go out, otherwise I will be one to make efforts to cut off that aid.