What had increasingly become a media campaign against Pakistan’s “inadequate” cooperation in dealing with the resurgent Taliban has now turned into a broadside against President Pervez Musharraf’s rule, triggered by his removal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. In the last two weeks, the Pakistani leader, who was generally well regarded by the US media, has been portrayed as another old style power hungry Third World military ruler who is determined to stay in office regardless of what he has to do to ensure that, including summarily dismissing the holder of the highest judicial office in the land. Gen Musharraf, who always conveyed the impression of being a strong and resolute leader who called the shots and took all decisions that matter, suddenly looks vulnerable. With protests continuing in the streets and spreading well beyond the legal community, Gen Musharraf is no longer being seen by the American media as a leader whose writ runs any more effectively in the cities and towns of Pakistan than it does in Waziristan. Some idea of what has been appearing in the American press since the judicial crisis erupted on March 9, can be had from what follows. Ahmed Rashid, author of the much-read book on the Taliban, wrote in the Washington Post on Thursday that Musharraf was now a “lame duck,” unable to rein in Talibanisation in Pakistan or guide the country towards a more democratic future. The president’s desire to replace Justice Chaudhry with a “more pliable” judge has “badly backfired”.