Washington, Nov 21: US President George W Bush has been labelled a hypocrite for not applying his agenda of democracy vigorously enough on Pakistan, as he did with Iraq, a US paper has said.

“The Bush Administration should be more principled and energetic in pursuing a discredited foreign policy,” The Washington Post advocate in its analysis.

The paper says that the Bush Administration could have urged the Pakistani military to overthrow Pakistan President General Prevez Musharraf, “or pressured him to get back on track by restoring civil liberties, taking off his uniform and conducting quick, fair elections.”

President Bush, it said, “took the latter course -- and would have been attacked as impulsive and intrusive if he had pushed for immediate regime change.”   

“We should have pushed harder over the years,” says one senior Bush official, “because, in the end, we need the people to be anti-extremist, not just General Musharraf.”

The daily further says that Pakistan has always been among the hardest of the hard cases “when it comes to democracy -- with its volatile combination of military rule, borderland terrorist havens and the Bomb.”

After 9/11, a few questioned the need for cooperation with Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf in the fight against al-Qaeda, but Pakistani cooperation was real, even though, as one administration official now recalls, "everyone knew they could have done more."

The daily points out that the additional pressure on Musharraf is not likely to result in an Islamist revolution in Pakistan, “So it would make sense to cut aid to Pakistan if Musharraf does not back off from emergency rule -- not humanitarian aid, or even counter terrorism aid, but military aid not directly tied to the fight against terrorists. This would give the army a stake in Pakistan's return to democracy.” (ANI)