The NY Times picks up the smell of freedom:

Several senior [Bush] administration officials said that with each day that passed, more administration officials were coming around to the belief that General Musharraf's days in power were numbered and that the United States should begin considering contingency plans, including reaching out to Pakistan's generals.

...

Pakistan's cadre of elite generals, called the corps commanders, have long been kingmakers inside the country. At the top of that cadre is Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, General Musharraf's designated successor as army chief. General Kayani is a moderate, pro-American infantry commander who is widely seen as commanding respect within the army and, within Western circles, as a potential alternative to General Musharraf.

The reassuring line is that "General Kayani and other military leaders are widely believed to be eager to pull the army out of politics and focus its attention purely on securing the country."

Right. Here's what the NY Times reported after Musharraf's coup in 1999:

But those who know the general personally, as well as military officers and defense experts, describe him as a liberal Muslim and a level-headed military commander whose commitment to democratic rule cracked when Prime Minister Sharif meddled once too often in the military's business by trying to get rid of a second army chief within a year.

That was after Musharraf himself proclaimed: ''I shall not allow the people to be taken back to the era of sham democracy, but to a true one. And I promise you I will, if God wills it.''

And as far for the military wanting to "pull...out of politics," here's what that means. In another 1999 NYT piece, a think tank president observed: ''The army does not want to run the country but the army wants to be the main repository of power.''

One way or another, looks like the Bush Administration will help to maintain the undemocratic status quo.